1. No chains
2. Local/regional is preferred
3. The harder it is to find, the better
4. Use the internet

On a recent trip to Los Angeles I was presented with a bit of a challenge. I knew exactly what I wanted, but tracking it down was another matter.

For over a year I’ve been hearing about the Korean taco trend that has overtaken the L.A. street food scene. The most famous is Kogi BBQ, a truck-based operation that is always on the move. Luckily, they post a schedule of their stops on their website, so finding them shouldn’t have been very hard. Right? Wrong.

I was only in town on Sunday and Monday, and guess which days they don’t run? Yep, Sunday and Monday. Nuts. Additional investigation turned up a ray of hope. Kogi’s menu is served at one bar in L.A. I was in luck. Conveniently, it is only about ten minutes away from the airport, so Korean tacos were back on my menu.

After I was done working, I headed over to The Alibi Room to taste what I’d been hearing about. Let me tell you, it was worth the effort. Warm corn tortillas housed a perfect mix of Korean BBQ, dressed with a wonderfully fresh cabbage-based slaw. Now, since this was my first time back to L.A. in about ten years and it could very well be another ten before I get there again, I needed to make the most of my dining experience. So, naturally, I ordered almost everything on the menu.

Well, not quite, but I did have tacos with short ribs (classic Koren BBQ fare), pork, tofu and calamari. You must realize that not only did I intend to sample and enjoy the food, but I also planned to deconstruct the dish, identify the ingredients, and export this local delight back to the frozen lands of my home. After properly documenting my experience, I headed for the airport confident with my assessment of the specimen.

Upon my return home, I began searching for existing recipes for Korean tacos. I did find a few, but none seemed to hold true to the original and my intent was to recreate the experience for my wonderful family. The following is, in my opinion, a fairly accurate remake.

Begin with the meat and marinade. Assemble your marinade using soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Set a 1/2 cup aside, and pour the rest over the meat. If you have the time, let this marinate overnight, but if you’re pressed, a few hours will have to do.

Regarding the meat: Since short ribs are usually associated with Korean BBQ we’ll go down that road, however, if you’re not into red meat feel free to use chicken, or if you’re not into meat at all, you can try tofu. For our purpose, we’ll talk about short ribs. If you’re shooting for authenticity, you’ll probably need to talk to a decent butcher or go to a well-stocked Asian market for flanken-style beef short ribs. This kind of short rib should consist of a meaty rack sliced around ½-inch thick perpendicular to the bone, so the resulting cuts are long thin rectangles with five bone cross-sections in them. If you can’t find these or don’t want to bother, a good substitute is a bone-in rib steak (or rib eye) cut to about the same thickness.

For the slaw, thinly slice the Napa cabbage and daikon (a little coarser); add bean sprouts and rough-chopped cilantro, too. If you can’t find daikon, you can use water chestnuts cut into strips.

Make a dressing with soy sauce, mirin, lime juice, olive oil, sesame seeds and sriracha chili sauce. This might seem similar to the marinade, and it is, but the difference is that we want this a little more sour (extra lime juice) and have some spice to it.

Pour the dressing over the vegetable ingredients, stir to combine and refrigerate until it’s time to use.

When you’re ready to eat, fire up the grill and scrape it clean. You want a nice hot grill, about 550 degrees or so. Throw your protein of choice on, but don’t go far. These are thin pieces and the grill is hot. The intent here is to flash cook the meat while simultaneously caramelizing the marinade. Flip after about three minutes and remove after another three; wrap these in foil and set aside. If you are doing chicken, you will want to lower the heat a bit and extend the cooking time.

The last step on the grill is to warm the tortillas. Turn your grill down to medium and spread one layer of tortillas on the grate. You’re just trying to warm and soften them a little so flip them after about 45 seconds and remove after another minute. A few grill lines aid in the final presentation.

Head inside and chop your meat into small pieces being careful to avoid some of the tougher bits near the bone.

Now all that’s left is to assemble. Tortilla, meat, slaw, done. I like to add one last squeeze of lime and some extra chili sauce, it looks nice, and enhances all the flavors to boot.

I couldn’t take my family to L.A. with me, but at least I could bring the fresh fusion flavors of the West Coast back to them.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep. In fact, I can’t remember the last time in my life where I did get the recommended amount of sleep, which tends to be around six hours. I’m thinking it was probably sometime in middle school, before the piles of AP homework kept me up or long nights on the phone or a job or the ever-present worry, disregarding the four kids I had in there.

And while this post here isn’t about sleep and worry, it is about radishes and how adding them to your steak sandwich will change your life. Maybe if you have been sleep deprived like me, you’ll start sleeping. You’ll sleep a full eight hours, rising revived the next morning. (Does that really happen?) And if you’ve been down, radishes, people – radishes will make the world look brighter…or at least your sandwich will be brighter. Okay. So, probably not, but it is pretty freaking good.

Steak sandwiches are one of my favorite ways to reuse leftovers because they don’t really feel like you’re eating leftovers. Of course, I said that about fried rice, too. I’ll have to think some more on that. Life can be confusing when you don’t get enough sleep after all.

For my sandwich I started with a lovely bunch of Easter egg radishes that Ole brought home from the organic farmers market at his work. Yes, there is an organic farmers market located feet from my husband’s desk. Sure enough, he does take photos of the sign where it lists what’s available so I can tell him what I want. Yes, I realize this makes me spoiled. I like it. (Note: I’d rather lazily walk around the farmers market at 6:00 a.m. before the crowd shows up, taking my dear sweet time, but that hasn’t happened since we got married.)

To the radishes add an equal number of onions, and while you’re at it, slice off a few thick slices of sharp cheddar.

Next, toss the vegetables on a flat griddle over a medium heat to get them started cooking.

Chop your leftover steak into thin strips. This happens to be remnants of a porterhouse steak (part of Roundy’s Black Angus by Swift line at Rainbow*) that we had grilled earlier in the week. If I’m being honest, this was in June. It is now August. How did that happen, and where did July go? It’s not like I slept through it.

Toss the meat up on the griddle with the vegetables, which should just be starting to sweat, and butter a large loaf of bread…or a small bun. We make steak sandwiches on whatever bread is lying around the house, and twin French loaves won here.

Toast your bread on the griddle next to the meat and the vegetables.

When your vegetables are tender and your meat is nice and hot, top the meat with the cheese.

Then top the cheese with the vegetables to act as a lid to aid in melting. Plus, your sandwich will stick together better.

Move your layered meat to the grilled bun and behold the best leftovers (on a bun) you could ask for. In a bowl? Go for the fried rice. On a bun, the steak with a spicy radish to change your life.

The oft overlooked radish is present here, but it doesn’t overwhelm. It adds a bit of complexity to your favorite steak and cheese.

*We were provided with a gift card to try out the new Roundy’s Black Angus Beef by Swift Beef at our local Rainbow Foods store, which happens to be just two blocks from our house.

Fajitas are usually something I order at restaurants. I love to get a sizzling skillet full of peppers, onions, seasoned beef and a stack of warm tortillas. The dish is always a feast for all the senses. When it comes to Mexican food at our house, we usually stick to tacos, nachos or burritos. Recently though, I felt the need to leave leave the usual and venture into the chicken and beef fajita territory. Why should the restaurants have all the fun (and my extra dollars)?

These particular fajitas are called “top shelf” because we chose to use a very nice New York strip steak as the beef offering in the dish from our local Rainbow Foods with their new Roundy’s Black Angus Beef by Swift line. Don’t let that stop you from using your own cut whether it be sirloin or skirt steak or anything else you fancy.

While the steak might make up the bulk of this dish, the seasoning mix is the heart. Sure, you could buy a premade fajita seasoning packet, but where is the fun in that. Follow the recipe below to make your own mix that will blow the doors off a packet in both freshness and flavor.
In a large freezer bag combine the oil, lime juice and two tablespoons of the seasoning. Seal the bag and shake well to combine. Then add your steaks to the bag and refrigerate for an hour.

During the marinading process cut up some peppers….

…and onions.

Get your grill hot (around 450° F) and combine your peppers, onions, oil and a teaspoon of the fajita seasoning and stir to combine and stir frequently to evenly cook the mix.

After the veggie mix has been on the grill for five to eight minutes. Add your steak. The grill should still be around 450° F. You want a good sear on the outside and a nice pink inside. Give it about three minutes on each side, and then another two minutes between the second and third flip (rotate it for nice cross hatches). Gently press to determine doneness. Your vegetables should be softening up but still retain a hint of crispness. Then bring everything in.

Thinly slice the steak against the grain and place in foil along with as much of the juice as you can save (there’s flavor in there!).
Assemble your fajita in a warm flour tortilla with all your favorite fixin’s. Layer steak, peppers, onions and add cheese, sour cream, your favorite beans, salsa, guacamole or any combination of toppings.

These fajitas were a big hit with the O6, mostly because of the top shelf meat and the fresh mixed spice blend. So next time you want fajitas, skip the restaurant, and make them yourself. Your tongue and your wallet will thank you.

We were provided with a gift card to try out the new Roundy’s Black Angus Beef by Swift Beef at our local Rainbow Foods store, which happens to be just two blocks from our house.