I coordinated a blogger’s dinner (with the help of Kim Tracy Prince) so that you could hear it from someone other than me, how awesome or not, pan-Asian restaurant Buddha’s Belly really is.
I know you’re already jealous because Hey! Free food with Nanny Goats in Panties! Woo hoo! and also because I got to eat and hang out with several bloggers like Kim Tracy Prince and Florinda Vasquez and Suebob Davis and Jessica Bern and Lexi Rohner.
If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you may have already heard of or even dined at Buddha’s Belly in Santa Monica or West Hollywood. But did you know they just opened a new location a few miles north in Thousand Oaks?
And by now you’re probably saying “Good God man, just tell us about the food already!”
OK, Jeez - you don’t have to be so hostile.
First of all, let me just start out by saying that you absolutely positively MUST start with the Shao Bing appetizer: little mini-sandwiches with chicken and steak.
The Shao Bing
Unless you’re deathly allergic to cilantro, in which case you absolutely positively MUST NOT start with the Shao Bing appetizer, because it will kill you.
And unless you’re deathly allergic to chocolate, you must abso-tively posi-lutely finish with the fondue where you don’t just dip fruit, but cheesecake!
That mug? Is not coffee. It’s a mug-o’-chocolate kept warm with a hidden candle.
You can either daintily dip the strawberries, bananas and pieces of cheesecake into the chocolate, or you can chug the mug like a pig, it’s entirely up to you, really. Just don’t expect me to invite you out to dinner any time soon, is all.
So anyway, I had the Korean beef. Mmmmmmmmm…
I know. I know it’s blurry. It doesn’t say “Blurry Korean Beef” on the menu. I know that. It’s why I’m not a professional food photographer.
I also didn’t go out with blurry people, or drink blurry drinks, but…
If I were a real photographer, you would have seen something like this, a photo of their lettuce wrap app and fancy cocktail:
Photo Source: bbfood.com
but sometimes my photos suck, man.
And the only thing that keeps me going is knowing that you love me in spite of my pictorial flaws.
Anyway, personally, I love Buddha’s Belly and so do many of my friends whom I have met there for one meal or another. I’ve had private birthday parties there. I’ve had celebrity sightings there (at the one in West Hollywood, anyway).
But hey, don’t listen to me, ask these other guys. (Because, to be fair, while this meal was comped, I am also an investor in Buddha’s Belly- but I’ve paid for all my other dozens of meals at this place- and I’m telling you this food rocks, but you should definitely ask someone else who’s been there. Ask Jessica Bern, she’s been to the one in West Hollywood a bunch of times. Or Anna Lefler. Or Suzy Soro)
Also? My fellow bloggers who gathered there the other day wrote some things about Buddha’s Belly:
Get in Buddha’s Belly by Kim Tracy Prince (Agoura Hills Mom).
Food with Friends at Buddha’s Belly by Florinda (The 3R’s Blog).
Perks by Suebob Davis (Snackish)
I Don’t Cook by Lexi (What a Trip)
* * *
Buddha’s Belly is now located at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks right across from The Cheesecake Factory.
