The Spice Table in downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo is a welcome distraction from the neighborhood’s Japanese food. The restaurant at the corner of 1st Street and Central Avenue combines Singaporean and Vietnamese flavors, the culinary heritages of chef and owner Bryant Ng and his wife Kim, respectively. Ng, a former Mozza chef de cuisine, serves Southeast Asian-inspired sandwiches by day and all kinds of grilled satays, fried vegetables, noodles and more by night.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of having lunch at Lazy Ox Canteen in Little Tokyo with some cool folks from KCET. Actually, they filmed me while I ate my lunch (it was a little awkward). See, this meeting was for a webisode of KCET’s Free Lunch, in which KCET buys you lunch and you talk about it. Anyone can do it — just leave a comment on one of their videos, and you’ll have the chance of being chosen for a gratis meal on the station. Cool, huh?
So, without further ado, I give you my small-screen debut.
I had the burger, which came with cantal cheese and green peppercorn mustard, as well as a side of fries dusted with dill. The burger was juicy and flavorful, and the fries were cooked perfectly. The dill was a really nice touch, too. I also ordered the roasted cauliflower with chili, mint and pine nuts, which I loved. There was also some lemon juice in it, too.
Lazy Ox burger
Lazy Ox French fries
Roasted cauliflower
You’ll notice in the video and KCET’s blog post that I waited a long time for my order to be taken. It was a bit ridiculous, though I couldn’t tell if they were just giving us space to do our thing, or what. The servers also didn’t want to be on camera, so that’s why it looks like I’m talking to no one. Oh, well, I had fun anyway!
