Jon and I met up with two foodie friends to try Street this past Sunday. I haven’t been to Susan Feniger’s other establishments yet (Ciudad and Border Grill) so I’m not sure what to expect. I like the concept of Street: small plates gourmet version of street food from around the world (mosty Asia). Though due to its locations and the decor, the non-street-food-price is of course expected.
The place was packed because of the dineLA event and we had to wait 40 minutes for a table even though we made reservation. Just when we started to get grumpy, the hostess gave us some small bites for compensation. We didn’t go for the dine LA menu because it didn’t have the more interesting dishes on the menu. Four of us ordered 7 small plates, 2 big plates and 3 desserts.
Kaya Toast-Toasted bread spread thick with coconut jam, served with a softboiled egg drizzled in dark soy sauce and white pepper.
We almost didn’t order this but the waitress strongly recommended it, I’m glad we listened to her. This Singapore/Malaysian snack dish is so incredibly delicious. It’s hard to define whether it’s a dessert or not, the coconut jam + toast was sweet but the egg and soy sauce were savory. Suprisingly they go well together well. I think this would be a really good breakfast/morning hangover treat.
Vada dumplings-homemade urid dal fritters topped with yogurt sauce, mint and tamarind date chutney. Very good! My 2nd favorite of the night. Refine tasting and multiple flavors in one bite.
Indian semolina cakes-crispy pan fried cakes of utma semolina with toasted cashews, peas, tomato and spices, topped with tomato chutney. Good!
Moldavian meatballs-ground beef and kasha meatballs simmered in a sweet and sour tomato sauce with dill sour cream. This one is a little normal, it would be nicer to have a little bit more dill sour cream.
Mung Bean Pancakes-griddled with anise glazed pork belly, scallions, kimchi; with hot mustard sauce. Another favorite of mine. I wish they had more kimchi in it but the mustard is a nice addition to make it taste different from Korean restaurant.
Singapore Chile Prawns-classic Malay-style with spices, chiles and ketchup; served with chunks of white bread, pickled baby coconuts, okinawa sweet potato, baby corn, cilantro and lap cheong sausage. The prawn was originally crab on the menu but they didn’t have it that night. It’s too bad since I prefer crab. The red sauce was very good.
We also had Vietnamese Corn (in the background), a good side dish to accompanied the big plate. We also got the Okinawa sweet potato (not in pix) that wasn’t so good. The sweet potato was too mushy for my taste.
Korean barbequed shortribs-thinly cut braised beef short ribs in sweet and spicy Korean glaze, served with Asian pear salad and roasted mushrooms. The short ribs were a little burned and I would prefer more kalbi sauce. The Asian pear salad was good though, refereshing. But you can definitely find better short ribs at Korean restaurants.
Saffron yogurt pudding-sweetended with jaggery sugar and topped with coconut tapioca and candied pistachios. Light and refreshing.
Espresso, chocolate and halva-Triple layer dessert with espresso jelly, chocolate ganache and sesae halva cream; served with sesame-matzo candies.
We also got the Turkish donut which wasn’t very good, the donut was mushy.
Overall I think the small plates outshine the big plates. I would definitely get the Kaya toast and vada dumplings again. There were some Chinese and Japanese dishes I didn’t get since I know where you find good ones for cheaper price. For example, why pay $15 for Shio ramen when you can have much better ones at Santouka for half the price. I think it’s better to just stick with the small plates at this place.
STREET
742 N. Highland, Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 203-0500
Tags: Asian, hip, small plate
