The Musings of a Wannabe Foodie and Irish Pub Enthusiast: Roy Choi is My Best Friend

This week I present to you a spectacular restaurant in Las Vegas. I know some of you just got on your scornful holier than thou high horse and thought “Eww. I hate Vegas.” To which I say, “careful not to fall off that high horse. It’s a long way up there.”

Vegas is what you make of it and it offers food options that are nothing less than world class. And I’m here for the food.

Fun fact – there are lots of outdoor activities around Vegas that would surprise many. One example is Red Rock Canyon west of the valley. Beautiful.

But, I digress. Let’s do a restaurant review.

Restaurant Review – Best Friend. For those of you who are unaware of Roy Choi, he’s a classically trained chef who made his name with food trucks in LA. These food trucks weren’t your average food truck Friday food trucks. They have a near cult following.

The signature item? Kogi short rib tacos. More on those later. Choi now has a number of brick and mortar locations and the flagship location is Best Friend in the Park MGM in Las Vegas. Think Korean-Mexican fusion.

Ok, you ambiance sluts. Check this out. Here’s the front.

Here’s where you check in. It’s designed to look like a Korean bodega in LA. And it definitely does! You can eat out here, if there’s room.

But, the real ambiance is in the restaurant itself. You walk through plastic freezer curtains (think industrial walk-in cooler) to get inside.

It’s all unabashedly L.A. themed. Photos and murals everywhere. Very cool. Ambiance sluts rejoice!

My friend B and I settle in and make the easy choice – the Chef’s Menu. Banchan (all the little side dishes), Kogi Taco, Slippery Shrimp, Kimchi Fried Ric, Garlic Chicken (bbq), Kalbi (beef bbq), and date cake or strawberry cheese cake thing.

We added lumpia because who doesn’t love lumpia?! Yes. I know lumpia isn’t Korean. Whatever. If Roy Choi’s making it, I’m eating it!

Once you order the Chef's menu, you better buckle up butter cup because the food is coming. Banchan was naturally first. Kimchi cucumbers? Yes please. Shortly after that is the star of the show – the humble Kogi Tacos. Here they are.

They’re not fancy. Just bbq short rib meat in a sweet and spicy sauce, salsa verde, and Korean style tangy slaw. These may not be life changing tacos, but they are at least life affirming tacos. Wow!

Then the slippery shrimp (definitely low calorie sauce on those), kimchi fried rice, and the bbq beef and chicken.

I think the kimchi fried rice is the other star of the show. You may have had this before, but you haven’t had Roy Choi’s kimchi fried rice! This hit a lot of buttons for me. Tangy, slightly salty, a little spicy, and behind all that the warm embrace of the kimchi. Funky umami. Funky umami – put that on a great t-shirt!

Oh, the date cake was great, but I could only have a bite. I already felt like a middle aged dad at Thanksgiving. Where are my stretchy pants?!

This is truly a spectacular restaurant and absolutely one of my favorites. Put it on your list.

What am I cooking? Recently I made all-belly Porchetta. What the heck is that? Well, it’s pork belly rolled up. Before rolling, you score the meat and rub it fresh black pepper, crushed fennel seeds, garlic, salt and fresh herb.

After you roll up the belly, you tie it up and rub baking powder and salt. The former helps the skin dry out. More on that later. Roll it up in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for a day or two.

You roast it at 300 degrees until the meat is tender when you puncture it, basting occasionally. Then blast it at 500 degrees for 20-30 minutes until the skin bubbles and crisps up. When it came out it was super crispy. You could hear a thunk when you tapped on it! Think haute cuisine chicharrones.

I served it with a tangy chimichurri of sorts. The review? Delicious, but certainly very rich. The skin was amazing. Thanks to my friend P for helping make it even better the second time.

The World is full of amazing places. Go see them. This is the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin. I’m not sure that fairies and pixies exist. But, I am sure that if they do, they live there!