Enjoy Jakarta Festival by Steven

There are a lot of events in Los Angeles that promote the diverse cultures that exist here such as Greek Fest and Brazilian Day. They also provide us a small taste of the food and art from those countries to encourage us to travel there. One such event was the Enjoy Jakarta Festival that was held on December 2nd in the Hollywood & Highland Center.

Despite the rain, the Enjoy Jakarta Festival had a wonderful turnout. Compared to most cultural events I’ve attended in the past, this festival was small with only four booths present. By the entrance, you could find the LA Weekly booth and a booth that provided free samples of Indonesian cuisine catered by Wong Java House. We were given a sweet and crunchy salad consisting of greens, bean sprouts, fried tofu, noodle, and shrimp chips covered in peanut sauce. I wished there were food booths selling Indonesian cuisine because that left me craving for more. Afterwards I visited S.Sn Margono‘s booth that was selling shadow puppets called wayang kulik. They’re made of water buffalo leather and consisted of intricate, colorful designs so it’s not surprising that some of them costed at least $150. The types of shadow puppets ranged from people to horses to palace sets. The final booth in the festival, Visit Indonesia, sold vacation packages to those interested in visiting Indonesia. For a newcomer like me, they recommended the “Bali Escape” package. While it costs over $1,750, it also includes round-trip air tickets as well as accommodation for twelve consecutive days, daily breakfast, three full-day tours, and two half-day tours to Lake Beratan, the Holy Monkey Forest, Batubulan Village, the volcano Mt. Agung, and more! In addition to the booths, there were also music and dance during the Enjoy Jakarta Festival.

The rain didn’t stop performers onstage from exciting the crowd. Harpist Maya Hasan played a fusion of Indonesian and Western music while a couple wrap themselves together with cloth and dance as one. (Imagine a sack race but with dancing.) The dreamy, jazzy melody complemented the romantic dance splendidly. You can check out a short clip of her performance here. The Enjoy Jakarta Festival also encouraged participation from the crowd by holding a mask dancing competition where the winners won Barbie dolls and free Indonesian coffees. While it was hilarious to witness strangers from the audience attempt mask dancing, they should be applauded for their courage. The festival ended with a bang when the crowd danced and posed with the Indonesian performers.

Enjoy Jakarta Festival‘s a great way to introduce people to Indonesian culture, and I hope it will continue to expand with more participants in the future. The festival was held in the Hollywood & Highland Center on 6801 Hollywood Blvd right above the Hollywood/Highland Metro station. The Hollywood & Highland Center also provides two-hour parking for only $2 with validation. Please check out our Facebook page for more photos as well as our Phereo page for some 3D photos of the event. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for future events!

Until next time,

Steven

Pop-Up Restaurant: KTCHN DTLA by Steven

Recently we at “Surviving LA on a Budget” went to explore a new dining sensation in Los Angeles. That phenomenon is the pop-up restaurant, also called a supper club. Some of you may have recalled one of these pop-up restaurants appearing in a popular Bing commercial. So what is a pop-up restaurant? A pop-up restaurant is essentially a temporary establishment that can be used to help aspiring chefs. Without worrying about the logistics of running a restaurant full-time, chefs are able to utilize pop-up restaurants to come up with interesting and creative plates for patrons. Since these restaurants are typically hidden, diners need to use social media to locate them, and “Surviving LA on a Budget” is all about social media! We recently went to one of these pop-up restaurants, KTCHN DTLA, for a weekend brunch.

Like other pop-up restaurants, it can be difficult to locate KTCHN DTLA initially. We eventually found out that it’s located inside another restaurant, The Gorbals, which is inside The Alexandria. Since pop-up restaurants are small, and their opening hours are infrequent, reservation on their respective websites are usually required. However, the bar and kitchen counters in KTCHN DTLA are available on a first-come, first-served basis for those without reservations.

After sitting down, we are greeted by one of the servers working that day. Probably because pop-up restaurants provide a more intimate, private setting due to their secrecy, servers were generally more helpful and friendly towards their patrons in my opinion. They often go out of the way to make sure you have a fulfilling eating experience.

Chefs use pop-up restaurants to experiment with new cuisine. Therefore, it is important to remember that the menu is never the same, and substitutions are discouraged. It is a journey for both the chef and your taste palette. As a result, the dishes that I’m reviewing today may not necessarily be the same as the ones listed in the future. I ordered the $18 short rib and polenta, which was the special for that day. I’m glad the chef didn’t try to hide the taste of the rib with seasoning because the ribs were really tender and flavorful! The plate also included two over easy eggs and a brioche, a type of breakfast roll. The brioche was so flaky and delicious that I felt like I was eating a croissant. Despite the image of a pig being displayed prominently on their website, vegetarians have nothing to fear. On that day, we were surprised to find out the majority of the selections on their menu were vegetarian-friendly and under $15! Golda ordered a habanero scramble with goat cheese, scrambled eggs, pumpkin seeds, and greens, and our friend Allie got a beet hash with a creamy Hollandaise-like sauce drizzled over fried eggs, greens, and roasted potatoes. The habanero scramble was surprisingly not spicy, and the beet hash was like a variation of the popular eggs benedict with fried eggs instead of poached eggs. Golda also ordered a drink made with fresh beets. I’m not a big fan of beets so I got the sparking orange juice. It tasted like an Italian soda except you could tell that the orange was freshly squeezed! Overall we loved their takes on brunch and their emphasis on vegetables.

Like most pop-up restaurants, KTCHN DTLA may only be around for a short time so don’t hesitate to check out this establishment. KTCHN DTLA is located inside The Gorbals at 501 South Spring Street, Los Angeles. There are plenty of metered parking, which are free on Sundays. Otherwise, you can take buses 2, 4, 16, 18, 20, 28, 33, 35, 38, 40, 42, 51, 52, 53, 55, 60, 62, 83, 92, 302, 316, 352, 355, 460, 701, 721, 728, and 733. It is also only two blocks away from the Pershing Square Metro Station. Please note that they are only open on Saturday from 10AM to 1:30PM and on Sunday from 10AM to 3PM and they only accept cash. Make sure to reserve beforehand. Please check out our Facebook page for more photos, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @SurvivingLA!

Now you can decide where we’ll head next by voting on our Facebook page!!

What are some of your favorite pop-up restaurants in LA? Leave us a reply!

Until next time,

Steven

Mar Vista Farmers’ Market by Steven

A place I enjoy going to for lunch on Sundays is the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market. A lot of booths in the farmers’ market sell food and drinks for under $10, including delicious crepes, tacos, burgers, pies, and freshly squeezed lemonade. After grabbing my food, I normally sit down at the tables that are situated in the center, where a performer or DJ will play music to the crowd.

If you are the type who wants to cook your own food, there are obviously tons of fruits and vegetables for sale in the booths on the farther end of the farmers’ market. While the produce may cost more than those in Vons and Albertsons, there are definitely a larger selection available, and you will also be supporting local farmers. There’s even one popular stand that allows you to sample their various types of seasonal peaches and plums. In addition to fruits and vegetables, you can also find different kinds of cheese, hummus, olive oil, and more for your snacks. Occasionally they also offer arts and crafts and jewelry as well.

Mar Vista Farmers’ Market is definitely a relaxing way to start out Sunday with your friends, family, or even by yourself. For those with dogs, they also provide dog sitters for your benefit. Mar Vista’ Farmers Market opens every Sunday from 9AM to 2PM on Grand View Blvd off of Venice Blvd. There are street parking available. If you are coming from Downtown or Santa Monica, you can also take Metro Line 733 or 33 for only $1.50 for a single trip.

Until next time,

Steven

Pasadena Food Crawl Round Up by Steven

Last Wednesday night, our tastebuds received a sensual overload from the variety of food the Pasadena Food Crawl provided. Set up by the Pasadena Magazine and Yelp, this event allowed Yelpers the chance to experience food from various local Pasadena establishments that included Le Grande Orange, the Luggage Room, Dog Haus Biergarten, the Pita Jungle, AKA, and Sushi Roku.

We checked in at Le Grande Orange at 6:30PM, where we were given a tote bag with the recent food and wine issue of the Pasadena Magazine, some flyers, and a pair of Yelp fingerless gloves. As I was carrying a conversation with one of the Yelpers at the event, I was astonished to find out that she has heard of our blog before. It may be a new blog, but this proves that word of mouth can still be a very effective tool. After that, it was onwards to the food tastings.

Since the Food Crawl was a free event, I originally thought that they will hand out tiny samples with toothpicks. However, they served a really generous portion, and after the first two restaurants, my stomach was already feeling satisfied. Le Grande Orange offered a cool, refreshing white sangria with freshly cut fruits. The Luggage Room made margherita pizza (roasted tomatoes, cheese, and basil), the gladiator pizza (housemade sausages and salumeria biellese pepperoni), and the mushroom party (duxelle of crimini and oyster mushrooms, sweet onion, and fennel). Since the Luggage Room was the first restaurant we visited and I assumed most of us arrived with empty stomachs, the pizzas were devoured as soon as they’ve arrived. As a result, Golda and Olga were only able to taste the margherita. I was also able to try the mushroom party, which was sweet, filling, and a perfect alternative for vegetarians along with the margherita.

Afterwards we moved on to Dog Haus Biergarten, where we sampled various draft beers, fries, a slider, and one of their specialty hot dogs called “The Cowboy.” I am a big fan of hot dogs wrapped with cheese or bacon so it’s pure bliss to find a pub that wraps their dogs with cheese AND sprinkle them with bits of smoked bacon. They even had a $1 special on most food and drinks the following Friday to commemorate 11/11/11, which I sadly was unable to attend due to lack of time. I still prefer the more exotic dogs and larger selection of beer offered in Wurstküche, but for those residing in Pasadena, Dog Haus Biergarten is affordable with dogs at $5.95, fries at $1.95, and sliders at $1.50. It’s the perfect place to eat and drink beer with friends on a Friday evening.

We then walked to the Pita Jungle, where we tried their wood-fired lavish pizza. I love how thin and crispy the crusts were due to the use of flatbread. You can hear it crackle in your mouth as you bite into it. Both AKA and Sushi Roku brought out glasses of cocktails to the group. If the Pasadena Magazine and Yelp were attempting to get us drunk with all those alcoholic drinks, then I approve. The Blood Orange Cosmos from AKA and the Roku Fusion from Sushi Roku were sweet with heavy hints of fruits, but the Roku Fusion definitely carried a stronger alcoholic taste. On a side note, I found it strange how despite us already checking in to this 21+ event earlier, a waitress from Roku Fusion still asked me and only me to show her my ID. At AKA, I only ate one and a half portobello fries with truffle aioli dipping because I did not want to fill up my stomach with hot fried batter. Instead, I was saving room for the spicy tuna hanabi at Sushi Roku, which was a thin slice of spicy tuna placed on top of a chunk of fried sticky rice. The hanabi is definitely a catering dish that would be popular in parties and other functions.

The Pasadena Magazine and Yelp have both done a terrific job teaming up to set up the Food Crawl, allowing food lovers in and outside of Pasadena to try out what locals businesses have to offer. These establishments are good alternatives to the mundane franchises we’ve been used to, and after this evening, you can rest assure that you will see me frequent Pasadena more often.

Until next time,

Steven

LA Halloween under $15 by Golda

Hi there, Los Angeles! I’m a bit under the weather, but I’m not going to let that keep me from having fun this Halloween weekend! Below is a list of great Halloween events to check out this weekend for under $15!

FRIDAY
1. Halloween Night Dive, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, 7pm-11pm: DJ, live bands, artists, cocktails and thousands of sea creatures. $12.95 admission
2. Zombie Prom, 610 S. St. Louis St., Boyle Heights: Costume contest, DJ music, and a zombie royal court at the Historic Linda Vista Hospital? Admission will only cost you one food can donation
3. South Gate’s Carnaval de los muertos, 4900 Southern Ave, South Gate, 7pm-11pm: Mazes, battle of the bands, food trucks and awards for best zombie costumes. $5-$7

SATURDAY
1. Hallovegan, Verdugo Bar, 3408 Verdugo Rd, 3pm-12am: Raffle for prizes, costume contest and day of the dead make-up. Oh, don’t forget the grain. FREE
2. El Dia de los Muertos, 10933 Valley Mall, El Monte, 12pm-5pm: Performers, arts, crafts, music, poetry, food and dance at the Valley Mall all in traditional Mexican style to celebrate the Day of the Dead. FREE
3. Old School Halloween Deadly Dance Party, 1517 N Cahuenga Blvd, 10:30pm: Bobbing for apples, costume contests, desserts, cocktails, music and a haunted maze all for a great cause! $10 for 2 tickets, $3 for drinks
4. Vivan Los Muertos, 4700 Western Heritage Way, 3pm-9pm: Day of the Dead educational event with food, music. dancing and altars. $10 museum admission
5. Long Beach Zombie Walk IV, Downtown Long Beach Promenade, between 3rd and Ocean, 2pm-12am: Zombie make-up, zombie food and drinks and a chance to be part of the largest zombie army in Southern California. FREE

SUNDAY
1. Halloween Burlesque Show, 8462 W Sunset Blvd WeHo, 9:30pm: Need I say more, it’s a burlesque show on Sunset Blvd! And it’s FREE

SATURDAY-SUNDAY
1. Halloween Stuntacular, 14006 Riverside Dr, Sherman Oaks 12pm-10pm: Celebration of the Hollywood stunt community with live action stunt shows in Westfield mall with food trucks, carnival rides and games, raffles and live music. FREE
2. Fiesta Muertos, 25 Paseo de la Plaza, Olvera Street, 12pm-6pm: Day of the Dead celebration with face painting, strolling mariachi bands, Aztec dancers, puppet shows, ballet folklorico and other fun family activities. FREE

SUNDAY-MONDAY
1. Halloween Film Selections by Joe Dante, 165 Beverly Blvd., Park La Brea, 4pm-7:30pm: H.G. Wells “Islands of Lost Souls” and bug gem “Them” play at New Beverly Cinema, picks of “The Howling” and “Gremlins” director. $7

MONDAY
1. West Hollywood Halloween Carnival, Santa Monica Boulevard from Doheny Drive to La Cienega Boulevard, WeHo, 6pm-11pm: Food booths, live entertainment and some of the most creative and barely-there costumes on the planet all along one boulevard.

ALL WEEKEND
1. Halloween Harvest Festival, 20800 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, 10am-10pm: More of a kids festival with a pumpkin patch, corn maze, farm animals, haunted house, hay rides and more. $5 admission, $2-$10 attractions
2. Haunted Trails, 29751 Crown Valley Parkway, Laguna Niguel, 6:30pm-10pm: Small groups will be guided through trails of confusion and horror. $10 admission

Have a happy Halloween everyone!

-Golda

Dia de los Muertos Round Up by Steven

Most people are waiting in anticipation for Halloween this weekend, but that’s not the only celebration happening in LA this month.  Dia de los Muertos, also known as “Day of the Dead,” is a Mexican holiday that pays remembrance to the departed with roots tracing back to Aztec traditions and Catholicism introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese in the sixteenth century.  Even though the holiday generally takes place on November 1st and 2nd, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery received an early celebration last Saturday.

There were two things that immediately caught my eyes when I first entered the cemetery.  The first were the extravagant skull-themed costumes that a majority of visitors wore during the festival.  It’s believed that skulls contain spiritual powers so it was common to find hundreds of people walking with elaborate skull designs painted on their faces.  In fact, there were numerous booths in the vicinity that specialized in doing skull face painting.  Painting half a face ranged from $10 to $15 while painting an entire face costed $15 to $20.  However, the price definitely reflected the quality and detail of the designs.  There were many variations offered with some including images of flowers representing the Goddess of Death, Mictlancihuatl.

The second thing that really made an impression on me were the elaborate public presentation of altars in the cemetery.  While some individuals were paying respect to family members with these altars, others paid tribute to celebrities, soldiers, and many others.  Color lights illuminated a majority of these displays, projecting an aura of mystique to them.  Modern technology were also incorporated into some designs with one altar utilizing a high definition monitor to provide a full multimedia experience to observers.  People in costumes also integrated themselves into several displays, posing to the crowd.  There’s no doubt that the intent of these colorful altars were to keep the memories of the departed alive by reminding us of their time on Earth.

In addition, musical performances echoed throughout the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, ranging from traditional Aztec dances to modern popular guitar music.  Ruben Albarran, lead singer of Cafe Tacuba, was also present on one of the various stages to perform his rendition of “Alfonsina y el Mar” (“Alfonsina and the Sea”), a song filled with melancholy that was dedicated to the untiming death of the Argentine poet, Alfonsina Storni.

The air was not only filled with the sound of music; it was also filled with the scent of food.  Numerous food vendors situated themselves near a performance stage on the southeast corner of the vicinity.  Because I went there between 7PM and 9PM, the area was extremely crowded, but fortunately, the vendors behind the stages fared better for customers.  One type of food I recommend is LA’s own danger dog, a hot dog wrapped and grilled in bacon with a hot pepper on top.  Danger dogs are a stable of LA, but those who sell them often do it illegally because they fail to provide a license to sell or provide the adequate washing equipment to handle the meat properly.  The booths inside the cemetery provided a rare opportunity for people to buy these juicy, spicy dogs legally and safely for only $4.

The Cathedral Mausoleum also stood near the food vendors, where local artists displayed and sold skull-decorated paintings and sculptures inspired by Dia de los Muertos.  Many of these artworks held a personal meaning to them since they were often dedicated to a loved one who passed away.  Small prints were available at an affordable price as a nice reminder of the festival, and many artists were nice enough to sign them too.

For a $10 entrance fee, I was able to enjoy hours of entertainment in Dia de los Muertos in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  There were an abundance of decorations, art, and music to keep me captivated.  However, I do not recommend the event to anyone under three since I witnessed many frightened infants crying at the sight of skulls.  Getting your face painted at the booths can be pricey, and the wait is long so I recommend everyone to apply it themselves beforehand.  Although it does seem more fun to attend at night, be wary that it will be extremely packed by that time.  Street parking is available west of Vine Street as long as you avoid Sunset Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd, but please pay attention to street signs.

You can see more photos of Dia de los Muertos below.

Until next time,

Steven

Non-Sequitur by Olga

I know we said we were going to focus on Venice this month, but this find got me so excited I couldn’t wait! At the risk to my own life and against my better judgement I explored Mid-Town Los Angeles (Pico/La Brea intersection area) on foot today and I found a Soul food place that’s so inexpensive I couldn’t wait to share it. Buffet Soul, a soul food place that only does to-go orders that’s so inexpensive I got a whole meal for $7.

I highly recommend it for get togethers and quick to-go lunches. I tried a little bit of everything while I was there and everything was delicious! The service was excellent (I went in around 8:30 pm) and I was pleased with the quality-to-price ratio. It’s nice to know that I don’t have to drive to Inglewood for decent soul food and I don’t have to pay for the sit down, slow-as-glacier service of Roscoe’s just a block away.

Buffet Soul
5068 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Love,

Olga