Kogi Quest #2: Hitting the Alibi Room

Alibi Room
12236 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 390-9300
http://www.alibiroomla.com/home.php

My wonderful friends were in town from the OC and San Diego just to hit the Kogi truck. And what does Kogi do but decide to have an eastside free evening. Kogi fail. There was nothing to do but take a stab at the infamously busy and obnoxiously understaffed Alibi Room in Culver City, sadly the furthest east distributor of Kogi on the night in question. While the bartenders were sorely overwhelmed (and one of them sorrowfully rude beyond all excuse), there are some benefits to eating Kogi at the Alibi.

The first thing that comes to mind is availability of booze. One must first find a bartender available and willing, and after some effort we procured just such a person. He took good care of us the rest of the evening. Hint: stand to the back of the bar, with your back to the wall. If you see the bar as an isosceles triangle, stand with your back to the hypotenuse. You will get served faster and get some breathing room. Please note above item, not on the Kogi truck menu, the kim chee hot dog. D died and went to Korean heaven. Not exaggerating. Tequila shots and kim chee hot dog. Nirvana.

Another benefit of eating at the Alibi is the profusion of items one cannot get on the truck. Above is another one of these items. Vegetarian lettuce wraps. Kim chee, tofu, greens, radish, and this thin savory brothy sauce. H flipped for these.

Again, another wonderful item not on the Kogi truck and hands down my favorite. Short rib bbq'd sliders. ZOMGWTFROFRMT. (zohmygodwhatthefuckrollingonfloorrubbingmytummy).

And the wonderful and ubiquitous classic, the Korean BBQ'd Kogi taco. K, P and K all agreed that this was the bestest. The above is actually not a shot of the tacos. It's another shot of the lettuce wraps. Apparently I did not get a shot of the tacos this time.

I was a little saddened by the kim chee quesadilla. This is offered on the truck, but what comes on the truck is way better. I thought I remembered tasting potato in the quesadilla from the truck when reflecting back the next morning. While eating the first time, I was fairly well on the way to being tipsy and things only went downhill from there. Maybe I was eating kleenex that had fallen out of my pocket and into the quesadilla. We will never know for sure. Still good this one, the one from the truck was better.

More Kogi to come in the future.