WAGYU BEEF VIETNAMESE PHO & Best LA Korean BBQ | 48 Hours Eating in Los Angeles

This is the first drive-thru car wash I've ever been to with all these like cool colors like going through a car wash nightclub. So today's plan, really simple, get to Los Angeles. It's not going to be nearly as tedious of a drive as the first day. Still in San Jose right now. Gotta get some breakfast before we leave. All right, this area, this is where I used to come for breakfast almost every single day. This is like a like a little area with a bunch of Vietnamese restaurants and Chinese shopping malls and a Chinese supermarket. And this is the food court with all these great little Vietnamese food stalls. And the reason I used to come here for breakfast almost every day was that this place would open at like seven in the morning. So they would start serving pho super early. So before I started work, I just want to come and grab some breakfast noodles. This is where I go. I'm here for this. Haven't had this since I was in Vietnam. Since it's a long drive, I'm also getting a bowl of pho from this place. That's actually my go-to pho place. Like every morning I will come here and that's where I will get pho. This place got fresh noodles. I want to try this place out. I'm the only one sitting outside in this courtyard. This dish here is the bolognese. It's basically Vietnamese scrambled eggs and beef. And this obviously has a lot of French influence. You get a baguette. You get two perfectly cooked runny eggs. You get the steak. You dip the baguette in the gooey eggs. And that's how you eat this dish. Awesome. Look at this. Tender pieces of sirloin. Those things bloody too with a half piece of spam. That is pretty rare. That is pretty rare. Oh man, that's delicious. You gotta eat this dish quick. Otherwise, the eggs won't be runny anymore. Also, give you a thing of chili oil. Just gonna add a little bit of that to the meat. Bread, incredibly fresh and toasty. Also, make sure just to dunk it in that awesome gravy. Amazing. This is so nice. The meat is cooked a little more rare because it's going to continue to cook on the plate as you're eating this dish. Guys, this is so good. One bite of this makes me miss my time in Vietnam so much. I can't believe this is the first time I'm having this dish again after leaving that country. I ate this many times when I was over there because they would start serving this so early in the morning. So late at night, you can always find a place serving this dish. And it's just great mashed up organ meat. Oh, it's such a nice liver flavor. If you've never had this dish before, come here and try it. You're welcome. I don't know what I love more, like the process of eating the pho or just how I feel afterwards. Just pure, 100% like content feeling. All right, let's go to LA. I'm going on a slight detour. If you guys never been here, Monterey is one of my favorite places in the country. It's one of the most beautiful places in the country. I used to come down here a lot because it's so absolutely stunningly gorgeous. And the place I usually go where I am now is called 17 Mile Drive. It's basically this, well, 17 mile long drive where it has pristine beaches, beautiful lookouts over the ocean, multi-million dollar houses, and of course, the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course. And there's a reason why this place is so special to me. But first, just look at this. Anyway, as I was saying, this place has a fond memory for me because when I first came back from China, my cousin was working in Silicon Valley and he took me and my dad to 17 Mile Drive. And I remember it was just the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The white sand beaches and sea lions everywhere and the ocean was so blue. I'd never seen something like that ever before. I was 15 years old. When you see certain things in your life, like for the first time, something so pretty, something so memorable, it just kind of stuck with me. That's one of those memories I always go to where every time I think about it, it makes me sort of happy. So this is pretty much my happy place. One of them. This and buffet. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Okay, I'm still a little scared. Seashell. Why is it every time I come to the beach, I get hungry for seaweed. You guys ever play that game where when the waves retreat, walk as far into water as you can and then just run like crazy when it comes back in. Oh, crap. Yeah, I just lost that game. You win this time. Waterproof shoes don't work if the water goes above your ankles. Lesson learned. I think I'm ready to go to LA now. That was a good drive. First leg of the drive, 13 hours, second leg, six hours, felt like nothing. And this is a really good plaza for food, by the way. There's a really good Vietnamese place. There's meat, fresh, blazing chicks. So bak choy, one of the best. Actually, last time I ate here, I called it the best Korean barbecue in Los Angeles. They opened a location here in the 626. This is nice. Outdoor dining. I was sitting outside, but they were nice enough to give me kind of like a table that's kind of far away from people inside. Because only in the inside can you get the cheesy corn and the river of eggs. That's like part of the reason why I come here is for the river of eggs. I'm not even joking. So last time I came here, I really liked the meat quality. I liked the banchan. And of course, all this stuff that's here. So the combination of all that together, that made me decide that this is one of if not the best Korean barbecue in Los Angeles, which pretty much translates to one of the best Korean barbecue in the country. Because I've always said this, best Korean food in the country is in LA. Corn and cheese is ready. If you've never tried this, buy some corn, cook it up, dump a massive amount of cheese on there. You'll begin to understand why if you go to Korea, they put pretty much everything in cheese. I know I just got yelled at by a bunch of you guys for not using a spoon for using chopsticks. Look, I'm sorry. I grew up using chopsticks. My family ate everything with chopsticks. We'll eat soup with chopsticks. Oh, that steamed egg It's not bad. Oh, when I tasted that hot sauce, eat it with some of the steamed egg. Well, actually, that's a great combo. When you guys are here, try that. Wow, this sauce is pretty good. I mean, I remember last time I was here, the fermented soybean soup was something I loved. Look at this. Oh my gosh. Did they have meat in here last time? Clams, fatty beef. I don't remember all this stuff was in here last time. Was it? Delicious. This is great. Really good fermented bean soup. And this is something else I love dunking the steamed egg in. Just to have it soak up some of that soup. Ah, so good. I think when it comes to banchan quality, this place really excels. I'm trying to eat things as fast as I can. So I ordered the combo that's supposed to be for two to three people. I think that's what I did last time. There it is. That's what I'm tasting in the meat. And I was like, why do I taste smoke when this is a gas grill? Now I see the charcoal in there. Wow, I'm addicted to the steamed egg and hot sauce combo. I almost finished this whole dish of hot sauce. Burning me up a little bit. All right, now things are really heating up. The ribeye just went on. So with this combo, you can choose short rib or ribeye. I love short rib, but nice fatty ribeye. Like I was saying, nice fatty piece of ribeye. I never turn that down. And look at this. They cooked it perfectly. Gonna have to call that the Halle Berry Bites. Pretty much as perfect as it's gonna get. Especially the pieces with all this nice fat with a little bit of char. If that doesn't automatically just make your day better, I think you might be going to bed upset. The only problem with like Korean barbecue sometimes is I usually go by myself and I try to eat this as fast as I can. Because usually if you're eating this with like two to three people, obviously it's gone in like 30 seconds. If Nicolas Cage is watching, I just thought of a great movie for you. You know, the whole Gone in 60 Seconds with him and Angelina Jolie stealing cars. Nicolas Cage should make a new movie about eating Korean barbecue called Gone in 30 Seconds. Probably more people would watch. Anyway, like I'm saying, I don't want this meat to get dried out. So I'm like literally just shoving this in my mouth. So I eat it at its peak quality. Also, I want to say about the soup again. This thing, like usually you get a fermented bean soup. It's just a fermented bean soup with tofu inside. Sometimes there's a little meat. This thing has meat, tofu, clams. What is that commercial that did this Senkei guy? You know, the most interesting guy in the world? This is the most interesting fermented bean soup in the world. Also, our sauce is great. I put the rest inside the soup. Just a little bit. Oh, you guys can tell already. What do the kids say nowadays? This is hella tender. Is hella still a thing? Am I too behind on hella? I swear. The marinade's honey, so it's slightly sweet. Got that great umami flavor from the soy sauce. What's really good about using that glaze is that it seals all that juice into the meat right away. So this thing, when you take a bite, like a little beef grenade. Also, it gives it a nice char on the outside, so you get that slight bitterness. I absolutely love in barbecue, any barbecue, I like a little burn. My mom used to tell me when I was growing up, she used to tell me like if I eat anything burnt, it would poison me. So for the longest time, I feared anything that had any type of burn to it. Now, I'm an adult. Every meat I eat is burnt. Kids, seriously, I'm telling you. Growing up, there's not a lot of perks. All right, I'll see you after dinner. You've seen it your whole life. Even if you've never been here before, this place is like a second home to you. This is the first time I'm actually watching this whole series all the way through. Anyway, I talked about this on the last video, but View and Chew is this travel food series I shot with Kehlani and Stephanie, the show creators. So we traveled for about a month filming this show, and this was the last time I traveled around the US. So last time I was in Los Angeles, I was filming this show. Anyway, they reached out to me, told me not a lot of people actually have seen this show, so I kind of want to plug it a little bit on my video. So in case you want to watch, this is really well shot. It's like a TV travel channel food network type show, and it is behind the paywall, I think, but they're only charging, I think, like $2 for the entire season. So if you have the means to do it, and you want to see me act even more goofy and cheesy than I ever am in my own videos, this is the show to see. Actually, I watched a few episodes. This is pretty good. I think travel channel or Netflix or somebody should pick this up. I especially like the star. I think he's a good guy. Anyway, if you want to check it out, I'll put the links down below for you. Also trying to plan out my day for tomorrow. So I am leaving to Las Vegas tomorrow, but I want to hit a couple places in Los Angeles before I do. So I already know where I want to go for lunch, so now just trying to narrow down some breakfast spots. And this trip is moving along fast. So after San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, it's just Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Dallas. That's it. So the trip is basically halfway over. A little anxious to get to Dallas and see what that whole hotel situation is going to be like, because I think I'm going to get there maybe a couple days before my apartment is actually going to be ready. Little worry, not going to lie. All right. I'll see you at breakfast. Finished filming my Los Angeles video for Strictly Dumpling. I'm here in Orange County because I just like staying around here. It's easier to drive, easier to access food. So I was looking around to new food places that I haven't been to. Check this place out. This is a new foot place that everyone's been talking about. So about a thousand reviews on Yelp. Five stars. We name it after the breed of cow. The cow? Yes. Oh, okay. I'm excited to try. Thank you. All right. Menu, very, very simple. Pho combo or pho rib cube. Pho veggie, no way. Ain't nobody here for that. An extra meat. Okay. Fairly reasonably priced, like a wagyu pho for large for $17. You know that's the price for a regular, any pho in New York City, right? About $17. All right. I'm going to get that and a Vietnamese iced coffee. Grace is here too. What are you going to get? Hi. I think I'm going to do the combo and the iced coffee. You're going to That's why we hang out. Nice to meet you, Tom. Mike. Mike. Disclaimer. What's the disclaimer? Even though we have very high rating on Yelp. Yes. It has nothing to do with our cooking ability. Oh, it has something to do. Well, I'm sure it has something to do with your cooking ability. Don't, don't sell yourself short. Mainly it's the material. Mainly it's the wagyu. Wagyu. That's what you're saying? Yes. I'm thinking it's both, Tom. Don't sell yourself short. The broth is fantastic. What do you think? It's good. Very light, but tons of beef. That's good. Better quality beef makes better quality soup. Well, I don't know if they're actually using wagyu bones in this broth, but it's really good broth. I feel like the cooked brisket, the tenderness, you can't really differentiate that too much between what I just had in a regular bowl. But this is where I feel like the difference is going to be. Yeah. A hundred percent. Right away, you can tell that is way fattier, way more buttery. Oh, that's delicious. Thin slices of meat makes so much difference. There's certain things I love about pho and certain things I really don't understand about it. Like, I don't understand why people put a bone marrow on your pho. Like it looks good, but there's already so much, you know, collagen and fat in pho, in the broth already. You don't need like a stick of it. Unless you're eating like a, eating that with a baguette. This is an actual good improvement to it by adding more tender, fattier, higher quality meat. That is great. As long as your broth is good, that's the number one thing. And their broth is excellent. But that is a huge difference between a thin slice of wagyu than a typical slice of brisket. Just that extra butteriness is very noticeable. Whoa. Did you have the big chunk of beef? So thin and light. Stuffed it with meat too. Good place. Come here and try this. All right. See you later, Tom. Okay. So these are the spring rolls you're raving about? Yes. The nan nang spring roll. So I never had these and apparently that's because I'm a horrible person. That was the quickest pick up ever. We just paid it and it just showed up. I remember when I first came to eat in this part of the city and they were like, yo, are you getting this? The spring rolls from, oh my god, they're sticky. Oh wow. It doesn't want to let go. This is really good. I think the secret of this is the crunch. Do you ever watch Friends? You know how like Ross has the moist maker? Oh. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. What do you mean, ew? I don't like that word. Moist makers, you don't like the word moist? No. Ew. Why is that ew? It's like such an ugly word. Anyway, my point is it's the middle part that makes the sandwich and this middle part makes the spring roll. Crunchy. You want more than one, huh? I do. But we're going to get a, what do you call it? Strawberry croissant? I showed you guys before. It's so awesome. So I'm going to save some space and get some dessert. No, I'm part of the club. Whatever this random Orange County club is there where everyone has to have one of these. Otherwise, I'm not really part of the inn. No, I am. This feels like your trip is just not complete unless this becomes part of your system. This is like a movie blockbuster type of ending type of pastry, you know? It just ties everything up and you feel like you can now walk out, leave the area. Yeah, you won't have many loose ends or regrets. Even though it's stuffed with cream, everything is so light. Plus I'm eating strawberries, which is nice and healthy. Also, I never had this before. Oh, this is heavy with a foil on the bottom. It's good. It's definitely more hefty. Still good though. I'm telling you guys, this place, no matter what you just ate, a bowl of pho, 10 bowls of pho, whatever it is, come here and pick some of this stuff up. I think I'm good. I can leave LA at least temporarily without too many food regrets. Only got to spend a couple of days here, but got to keep moving on to Texas. Next stop tomorrow morning, Las Vegas. See you there.