Restaurant: Moodaepo
Location: 3014 7th St, Los Angeles, CA. (213) 381-9990
Date: February 28, 2023
Cuisine: Korean BBQ
Rating: Actual place is just a AYCE joint
Okay — this was a strange dinner. Originally, Jeffrey, Erick, and I were supposed to go to Teleferic — but in classic Jeffrey fashion he jumped the gun, went a few days earlier, then wanted to do a big gang bang instead in order to make a show for his Instagram buddy — so we ended up going with Bovon to Moodaepo.
Now, normally, Moodaepo is just a big chaotic KTown AYCE KBBQ joint. I never go to that sort of place as I’m not price sensitive and you just have an odd format and lower quality in service of a perceived lower price. It also misaligns the resteraunt incentives in a way that I really dislike.
Others obviously don’t feel that way, because the place was packed.
The typical multi-tier AYCE format. Not relevant for us because Bovon brought most of the proteins — including ones that weren’t on the menu. So this was sort of BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) as well as BYOG and BYOB.
Banchan bar. This wasn’t for customer’s directly, but the staff were using it to refill banchan dishes.
Kimchee, macaroni, etc.
Fish cakes (my favorite), glass noodles, bean sprouts.
Potato salad.
Veggies for the grill and spicy miso sauce.
A different (slightly sweet) spicy sauce, salt, and yummy sweetened spicy soy.
Rice wrappers and pickled daikon.
Salad. Neither my most or least favorite Korean salad. Just ok.
The wine was as gang bang as the food.
Caviar bump!
Bovon going all Salt Bae.
Too much filming. I may take pictures but I kinda loath video at dinners. Gets in the way of being a hedonist.
White rice. duh!
Fresh scallops marinated in tumeric sauce. Delicious, particularly when lightly cooked.
Scallop with its own caviar bump.
Sliced prime rib.
Cooked up thinnly.
A4 Short rib. Much more fat and flavor.
Garlic sizzling in sesame oil. The beef was great “cooked” in this!
More meat!
Rip cap and porterhouse.
Juicy!
Giant bone marrow!
First cooked on the grill, but when that was going too slow…
into the oven it went. We scraped this out, some people on rice, me myself on rib cap!
Posers. hehe.
Tomahawk!
So juicy. The sizzling rip cap parts of this were some of the best steak I’ve had.
A5 slices.
Very juicy.
Elk Tenderloin. Lean and flavorful.
On the grill.
One of my earliest Signature Flavors —Tiramisu Gelato — The base is a highly technical Zabaione of Egg Yolk, Fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and Sweet Marsala with Fresh Brewed Espresso. It’s dusted with Valrhona Cocoa powder and layered with house-made Vanilla Rum Espresso syrup-soaked Lady Fingers — the final result is totally Tiramisu — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #Marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone
Overall, a very crazy big “mass market” AYCE KBBQ with a huge crowd of the young and the hungry (or at least plus size). But we took over a huge triple table and Bovon (who supplies to the owners) brought all his own premiem proteins, none of which are actually on the menu. I think as to actual restaurant food we only had the banchan/sauces etc and the sliced Prime Rib. This was a fun (if chaotic) and tasty meal, but it’s not really reflective of Moodaepo on a normal night.