ink.sack – Little Bites of Overrated

Top Chef hype – whatever. There’s probably a dozen ex-TC cheftestants and probably a million Food Network rejects in LA cooking weird foams and “____ three ways.” Usually attaching this kind of TV celebrity with a restaurant makes me want to avoid a place. But Ink.Sack tempted me because it’s little sandwiches with gourmet ingredients. How could this go wrong?

Tsujita – Ramen Perfected

Let’s just say it – this might be the single most delicious thing in LA right now.

Plan Check – Umami Burger in Little Osaka

It sounded strange when I first heard that someone was going to open a burger place on Sawtelle, the epicenter of Japanese cuisine in LA. If you could get a burger in Little Osaka before Plan Check opened, it wouldn’t have been anything to write home about (ersatz Tommy’s on Pico aside). But the news rolled in that the man behind Plan Check was responsible for the beautiful eponymous Umami Burger and that he had withheld a gimmick from the Umami cartel – ketchup leather:

Slice Truck – Like Shaved Truffles on Hot Dogs

I had read something comparing the local joint, Slice Truck, to what many New Yorkers say is the best pizza in the world, Di Fara in Brooklyn. So I made a point to stop in, even though I was in the neighborhood to have dinner somewhere else.