A frame

Los Angeles, CA

First and foremost, I now realize amidst our gorging at A-frame, that I didn't take a picture of the two best dishes we had, the infamous crackling beer can chicken and the pan roasted brussel sprouts. The whole reason for the trip to Culver City was to try the chicken at Roy Choi's small, hipster restaurant housed in what was previously an IHOP. We came with my cousins which elevated the dining experience tremendously. You want to come to A frame with a couple of people so you can try a bunch of different bites. We ordered ten dishes in total for the four of us. Let me start off with the chicken. It's only chicken right? Well, It's pretty damn good. Light, crispy skin, moist juicy interior, and combine that with some excellent salsa roja and verde you got yourself a delicious creation. I can't overlook the century egg, which was pickled and very tasty. You have to get this, or the trip is a waste.

FURIKAKE KETTLE CORN - buttered Blazin’ J’s Hawaiian style 

The cocktail and beer selection is pretty good and we enjoyed our drinks (Coconut Porter from Maui, Weihenstephner Hefeweissbier, and the Trick, tequila, cucumber, lemongrass, ginger and chile). The Furikake Kettle Corn would have been better fresh, but armed with a kick of spice, it went well with our beers. 

WARM CORNBREAD AND CHICKEN SALAD 
with Italian sausage ragoût, salsa verde and pickled red onion 

The warm cornbread and chicken salad wasn't the best thing to start off with since it was heavy, but the concoction was tasty and original. 

CHARRED BABY OCTOPUS with carrot kochujang puree, bok choy,
pickled vegetables and nori seaweed 

The Charred Baby Octopus was one of the few misses of the evening, not anything particularly special about this dish other than the bok choy was raw and for Chinese people, that's weird to us.

BABY BACK RIBS - air-dried and hoisin-chili glazed 

The baby back ribs were a little dry and salty but packed a lot of flavor.

KNUCKLE SANDWICH- braised bowl of oxtail, tendons, knuckles and other 
forgotten pieces served with soy chili dipping sauce, and toasted bread 

The knuckle sandwich was another one of those interesting creative dishes that you can't find anywhere else. The oxtail and tendons were very tender, but the broth was extremely bland. We were recommended to dump the soy chili dipping sauce right in, which did add some flavor. Then we would soak our bread with broth, mounted with tendon. It was a different dish, fun and messy, but not sure I'd order it again.

KITCHEN FRIES - wedges of purple Okinawan potato, yam, and Korean 
sweet potato with kimchi sour cream and sea salt  

Everyone liked the Kitchen fries which were a mix of yams and sweet potatoes with a nice kimchi sour cream sauce.

Not pictured, we also had pan roasted brussel sprouts with rice cakes, kimchi bacon puree and diced apples. The real interesting part of this dish was the preparation of the gummy, pan fried rice cakes shaped like ovals, found in Taiwanese cooking. The dish at a whole blended together very well and was one of the winners of the night.

COTTON CANDY - Dolly's Sweet Dreams Premium Cherry

After nearly finishing all eight dishes we ordered, we were way too full for dessert, so we ordered light, starting off with the cherry cough drop tasting cotton candy. The presentation was pretty discerning, coming out of a prepackaged plastic container. But like little kids we are, we complained about the flavor but ended up finishing the whole thing.

CHU-DON’T-KNOW-MANG - pound cake cinnamon churros, 
with malted chocolate milk and vanilla ice cream 

If chicken wasn't already enough of a highlight, the Chu-Don't-Know Mang, send us all home with a good memory. The pound cake churros were crisp on the outside but warm and delicate on the inside. Combined with malted chocolate milk and vanilla ice cream, everyone was happy and overly stuffed to end the meal.

We all had a good time at A-frame, some dishes better than others, but no shortage of creativity or options on the menu at Roy Choi's homage to LA "pinic" food. Make sure you get the chicken, brussel sprouts and churros for dessert, all delicious and memorable. 

Rating 7/10

January 8, 2012