Simon’s 3-star review:
Talk about never knowing about a place till you walk by it, this was exactly that place. So me and my dear decided to hang around Chinatown, walk around, find some new things, and we walked by this place twice, once parked, and then going back, and I did not see this place the first time. Probably because it wasn't opened till 5:30 PM is why I did not notice this place one bit, that and the shady area it is located in. On any given day you will see peddlers, crack addicts, interesting people coming in and out of the alleyway, and this is the surrounding area, I wonder how I missed this place. There is no new looking store front, just a very simple front, with the name shown as the initial D S, the only thing that tipped me off of this place was that they put out their sandwich board.
We just finished snacking at another place, so there was really no intention of eating, or looking for any food, but the curious people that we are made this a must hit, just looking at the place there was curiosity as to what they do, what they serve, is it any good, and why in this area? This place has a very simple look, forget about rustic, this place keeps it's roots, with old wooden tables, worn, beaten fold-up metal chairs, high ceilings with nothing covering the ceiling, open kitchen concept, and a menu that looks like it only has 10 items max (maybe more, but it was small), this place looks very promising! My dear kept on looking at the menu and one thing kept popping into our faces "Pork Belly Steam Bun", whoa..... I thought we weren't hungry, but the thoughts of meals we had in the past came back like Scrooge with the ghost of Christmas past, and that's when the hand started reaching the wallet. There was a predicament, one bun, or two, we could go for 1 for $5, or 2 for $9, we ended up doing the latter, two buns, each different, the first was the "Pork Belly, Spicy Cilantro Salad, Lime Gochuchang" the second was "Korean Fried Chicken, Lime Mayo, House Kimchi". The conversation between my dear and the chef was funny too, as she kept on asking him, "how is your Korean fried chicken" and he just kept on coming back that, "it's good". So money was given and we waited.
We sat near the window, observing everything of this place, it's charming to be sitting in Chinatown and having such a hip place. It is a snack bar, so the plates are of smaller variety, and it's a good place to have a few drinks. The place is spacious, yet cozy, and they have this funky, white, papered chandelier hanging above. I would use the word 'hipster' (alright, I can click that tab for ambience!) to describe this place. Our buns eventually came, served on a metal plate, back to back on eachother. These were pretty, from the bright white of the Pac-Man shaped bun housing all that meaty goodness, where to begin, which one to eat first? We started on the Korean Fried Chicken, and it wasn't what we expected, no honey glazed gooey sauce over the fried portions, but this was nicely done, crispy on the outside, juicy white meat on the inside, a little messy, where the bun wouldn't keep all it's contents in place, but a great bite to this whole package, mixing with the kimchi, this would definitely go good with a beer.
We saved the pork belly for last, and this was pretty nice, there was bite though, and it wasn't just a chunk of belly fat melting in your mouth, but who else serves this in town. The glazed goodness of this belly meat definitely would go good with a beer. This place has what you can call 'snacks' it's in their name after all, and it is very promising what I see here. A 3.5 for now, but I will come back, as I heard they serve a pretty good BiBimBap made in house, the staff is very friendly, and it seems like Chinatown is growing out from it's shell, I hope to try more things on their menu next time, but do check this place out!