Kogi BBQ

(I took this pic with my cell phone, so it's a bit blurry!)

Pictures of Kogi BBQ have flooded Eater for the past few weeks, and I somehow successfully ignored them. I am actually not quite sure why I wasn't as interested in Kogi as others were...and then last weekend my friend Linda texted me asking whether I had tried Kogi yet. I answered I had not. Last night Brad and I were driving back from his basketball game in Culver City, and we drove up Abbott Kinney and I happened to noticed a Kogi truck parked in the parking lof of The Brig. Immediately, my curiosity peaked, and I told Brad we had to go back and try it. "What is it? Is it healthy?" Brad asked? I said it was some type of bbq stuff like grilled meats...that is what I had guessed. I was kinda pretty wrong. Firstly, when we got to the truck, there were about six people in line ahead of us. No menu was available, and I cursed myself for not researching Kogi before we went so we would know what to order (I always like to research where I am eating and know what to order in advance). So, quickly I pulled up the Kogi website on my phone and tried to browse the online menu. Before I got to the website I caught some Yelp reviews saying to order the spicy pork tacos and short rib tacos. The online menu was pretty short and when it was finally our turn to order, Brad and I practically ordered one of everything--except for the most celebrated item, the short rib tacos--because they were out. As was their other downtown truck. I know this because the guy next to me had a guy on the truck call the downtown truck to find out if they had any left (which they did not)- intense. (Was he planning on driving all the way from Venice downtown for short rib tacos?)


So, Brad and I ordered the kimchi quesadilla, spicy pork tacos, chicken slider, pork slider, burrito, chicken quesadilla....yeah, lots. Contrary to my initial hypothesis of grilled meats, Kogi is really like a Korean take on the traditional taco truck. It's like Mexican meets Korean, if that's even possible. The kimchi quesadilla was great! Really tasty, a bit hot and spicy (but not too hot) with cabbage and shredded crunchy veggies and some orange melted cheese. I also really liked the spicy pork taco (it wasn't so spicy) that had really juicy bits of pork that had been marinated in some hotish orange sauce with the traditional taco toppings. The sliders were fine, they were both solid.


The chicken and pork sliders tasted similar, though I preferred the pork because the meat was more moist. To make our late night dinner experience complete, we were served a little dish with radishes (to cut the heat), limes, and some orange chunks for dessert. Cute!
So, I finally did the research I should have done last night, and here are some thoughts from your fellow Yelpers:

Testimonial #1
"There's things in life that go well together and there are things that don't

Things that don't:
- Teenagers and cars
- Oil and water
- me and tequila
- Britney Spears and children

Things that do:
- bacon and ANYTHING
- chocolate and bananas
- me and a hot woman
- korean bbq and mexican food"

Testimonial #2
"Basically Kogi=the food equivalent of a boy playing hard to get."

Testimonial #3
"Finding the Kogi BBQ truck is like seeing a shooting star with a unicorn riding it with a leprechaun on the unicorn's saddle holding the holy grail."

Testimonial #4
"Kogi BBQ is something that you can only really find or even attempt in a place like LA...As my friend and I spotted the truck trying to park, all sorts of people popped out of their hiding spots, running and yelling 'KOGI!' in anticipation. We knew then that we were going to get some good food."