Echo Park: Get Your Starry Kitchen Fix at Button Mash

 

Do you find yourself missing Starry Kitchen‘s tofu balls? Well, I did and I’m glad you can find their food at Button Mash, Echo Park’s barcade. The bright space also features craft beer in addition to arcade games and the fabulous Asian fusion cuisine.

 

I was a bit amazed to find three kinds of wings on the menu. We decided to go with the tangy though I thought about getting all three — you know just for comparison’s sake. I suppose there’s always a next time! The tangy winds have a Korean gochujang sauce base with a touch of rice vinegar and honey. They were super crunchy which makes sense considering they’re double-fried. I was very excited to see it came with a side of pickled watermelon rind. I love pickles of all sorts and this was a great accompaniment to the wings.

The other wings available are ginger and tamarind. Maybe Button Mash should do a sampler!

 

I love noodles of all sorts and dan dan noodles is one of my favorite dishes. Button Mash’s dan dan noodles are unusual. There’s a goodly amount of meat and nuts with preserved vegetables– all the things you would get but not as much sauce as I expected. There’s only the slightest hint of Sichuan peppercorn but the staff will warn you just in case you don’t like the buzzing feeling you get from eating that peppercorn. We enjoyed this very hearty version.

 

 

I always order a vegetable and my favorite dish of the night was the beautifully grilled eggplant. Every tender bite exploded with good flavor.

I can’t wait to go back to throw some tokens at the games and drink some craft beer with the food.

Button Mash

1391 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026  —  (213) 250-9903

 

© The Minty 2016