Everyone’s written about this place and people may be suspicious whether it’s authentic. But you know that this is in Koreatown, and it’s by Roy Choi, the guy who started with a Kogi food truck. This hotel is newly renovated on Wilshire Blvd. and Normandie Ave. The restaurant is really delicious and the ingredients are extraordinarily fresh. It’s pretty traditional, more traditional than you’d think for a guy who sort of made his reputation on fusion stuff, but I love it. It’s delicious! And the other thing is they have a real bar there, like a full bar, so you can get a glass of cabernet with your Korean food instead of just beer or soju. So I’m digging that place right now. My favorite dish at this place is a seafood hot pot. There are shrimp, clams and soft tofu, I think. Yes, it is a lot of chile. I think they make their own sesame oil there because they’re roasting sesame seeds there. 

That place is excellent. The chef, Masa, is very inventive. All their meat is unbelievable. So is their crab. I always just get beef because I feel like Shabu Shabu’s best with beef. They have Wagu Beef as well. They make a little porridge, out of what’s left over. And that’s probably the best part. Masa has a couple of appetizers that he works on that are different every day. You order and then he just surprises you with the appetizers and then a couple of dessert choices. And they’re all great. That place has a limited menu but they do what they do perfectly. I think you can’t go wrong there personally. 

It’s a place where they have real steam engines. Kids can go inside these trains and play. It’s where I took my boy many, many times because I think all boys go through a train obsession phase. They have a bunch of old steam engines there. They can ride a little train that goes around it but the real attraction is the old steam engines. They’ve got picnic tables and you can bring a little something. I’ve seen little birthday parties there too. I think they do a Christmas event there during December. Santa Claus will take you on a ride around Travel Town at night. But we haven’t been to that yet. 

The best movie theater in Los Angeles is the New Beverly Cinema. This theater is owned by Quentin Tarantino. He bought it a few years ago. The co-owner is a guy named Michael Torgan who we’re all friends with. It belonged to his father before he passed. This theater is a revival house. It’s a great way to see 35mm prints of your favorite movies. They’re always playing stuff that you love but have kind of forgotten about. If you live close by it’s a great way to spend an evening. I have to drive but I wish I lived close by. It reminds me of a place I used to go to in college. In Berkeley, there was a place called University Theater. I didn’t really know anything about film history, but the University Theater played old movies. I saw Woody Allen movies and old comedies. It was a place where I learned what American and international cinema was all about. The New Beverly Cinema is that in Los Angeles. So I love it. I haven’t seen many movies there yet, but it comes to mind because they’re showing a double feature of “Harold and Kumar” and we did a Q&A. That’s another thing they do is invite artists there to talk about their movies. 

I’ve been to CBS Seafood and it was good. I think the name started because there was an ABC Seafood and that was supposed to be American-born Chinese. Then a place opened that’s called CBS Seafood in Chinatown. I start with the vegetables. I like to get snow pea tips or steamed Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. And then whatever steamed fish they recommend. I like pork spareribs. But I don’t know Chinese food that well.

I have friends from New York who tell me, “There aren’t any good Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles,” because LA’s Chinatown is pretty small compared to New York’s Chinatown. Also, they’re used to a certain kind of food there. But I always tell people that you have to go to Alhambra and Monterey Park to get Chinese food. It’s where the great Chinese food is. It’s just everywhere. There’s just great Chinese barbecue and there’s great Chinese grocery stores and seafood restaurants. And dim sum. It’s all there. There’s so many over there it’s overwhelming. You just have to go on the 10 freeway east, pass downtown, and keep going, make your way up to Valley Boulevard. It’s not a whole lot of English signage, but I encourage people to explore east of downtown, those cities over there, for Chinese food. 

One thing that people probably won’t get there that I really like there is their mushrooms. They’ll give you a platter of mushrooms to grill and they make a mean fungus platter. Usually for the meat, there’s a sesame oil sauce that you can dip in. And there’s Gochujang!

In Glendale, there’s a music and art library there, and it’s got a very distinctive façade. It kind of looks like the Taj Mahal or something. But inside is an amazing music library. There just aren’t many music libraries that I know of. I know there’s some libraries that rent out videocassettes and CDs and stuff but this place has an amazing art book collection and music albums. It’s unbelievable. It’s a beautiful place, and a little gallery there. And it’s a very nice park as well. I used to go when I was a boy and check out albums there. At the time when I was in high school, I was checking out older rock, because as I became more familiar with American pop music, I was sort of curious where it came from. I’m pretty sure I listened to all the Beatles’ albums from the library because my parents didn’t have any of those. They were so famous and yet I didn’t know much about them and I was curious. And it’s free. In high school, I didn’t have a fat wallet. John is the lead singer of his band, so it seems this library helped with his love of music.

A costumer on a show I did told me about him. Every man should have a good tailor and this guy is amazing. I actually had a suit built for me by him. I still get stuff in department stores but always take it to him first. But he builds a lot of suits for movies and television and you’ll see some of his pieces at his shop. But primarily he is the most bad-ass looking Korean man in LA maybe. He has an Abraham Lincoln beard. To go in there is just a real treat. You’ll see all of the pictures he’s taken with actors over the years. I’ve been going there for a few years. But it’s a good thing to have a tailor who makes sure everything fits right. He’s made or he’s mostly tucked in every suit that I own now probably.