As a Los Angeles POS (Person Overwhelmed with School), I decided to take my Friday off exploring a place that seems to attract UCLA students like moths to a flame: Koreatown.
The first stop: Out of Ordi. A place specializing in salt bread that has recently exploded on social media not just for their soft, delectable breads, but also for their incredible range of flavors, from truffle to corn, and even yuzu cream and ube. Their popularity is evident from the snaking line that curves around the block, even though it’s 11 a.m. on a Friday morning. Most patrons here seem to be college students, chatting away as they debate which flavor to get. With each bread costing between $4.50 to $6.75, it takes sheer willpower (and a declined debit card) for me to limit my decision to just three: truffle, original and pistachio cream.
From the moment I take my first bite, I know I’ve made a grave mistake.
Three was not enough.
From the lightly crisp exterior to the pillowy soft inside, and the slightly umami yet sweet pistachio cream that is neither too heavy nor too light, the slight saltiness baked into the bread brings it all together into a perfect bite. Almost ravenously, I devour the bread, committing the experience of each bite into my memory for future me to reminisce on. While transient, the delectable culinary experience has provided me with much needed fuel to continue on my adventures in Koreatown.
Now that I’m done demolishing bread in the parking lot, I reckon it’s time to find a place to settle down and study. Luckily, DAMO, a cozy cafe, is only a few stores away. Widely regarded as one of the best matchas in Los Angeles, DAMO is known for its cream-topped drinks, offering not just matcha but also Americanos and Hojichas. Since it’s a Friday morning, I’m lucky to find a seat right next to a power outlet. They also have their free Wi-Fi details on the menu, making it a perfect place to focus in the afternoon. While working, I sip on my Strawberry Einspanner (though not a matcha enjoyer myself, those who do enjoy it should try the matcha latte, strongly recommended by my friends). The sweet tartness of the strawberry concentrate cuts through the creaminess of the milk, and the slightly salty foam ties it all together. It serves as a perfect studying companion for the rest of the afternoon, with every rewarding sip marking a checkpoint for completed work. The atmosphere is lively, with cafe-goers coming in and out, the air rich with conversation. Rather than serving as a distraction, I find the background noise calming, almost filling in as white noise to the calming cafe playlist. It beats pure silence, and after a while I find myself taking off my headphones to tune in to the cafe’s music.
As the sky’s sunny glare mellows into a landscape of orange and blue, I start packing my things, now eager for dinner. There’s no one meal I crave more than Korean barbecue, and with Pigya just a couple blocks away, I find myself gravitating towards the heavenly smell of roasted pork.
At Pigya, rather than the regular all-you-can-eat fare, they go by set menus, sharable in portions for three to six people. On top of the regular courses of meats, they also provide cheesy kimchi fried rice (fried on the grill using the fragrant oil left over from grilling the meats) and a pot of instant ramen (perfectly al dente). Suffice to say, I’m more than satiated by the time I leave. The dinner passes in a blur, with conversations hastily made between bites of food and laughs shared between courses.
As I leave Koreatown, I look back on a day that when boiled down to its simplest elements, was just eating, studying and more eating. While similar to what my everyday life looks like at UCLA, perhaps it’s the charm of Koreatown that brings these experiences to life.
