This week on The Food Fad Frontier , our resident fad expert Carly Come Lately gets sexy with some tear-stained, rotten vegan fare.
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Baroo is likely the cutest name you’ve ever heard for anything. What you might not expect is that it is Los Angeles’ new hyped restaurant specializing in fermented vegan Korean-inspired concoctions.
The Faddists among you may have noticed that fermented foods have been all the rage recently; yet again leaving us Eastern Hemispherians asking “where the hell have you been for the last 4 thousand years?”
I first stumbled across Baroo in this strange Eater LA article directing me to go to an unmarked shop in a strip mall next to a 7/11. Well, I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. It wasn’t until a review from Himself (Jonathan Gold) ran in the L.A. Times, calling Baroo’s offerings “the taste of the future,” that I finally decided that I needed to put these peoples’ pickles in my belly.
The shop is set up by chef Kwang Uh, a veteran of Noma , the Michelin three-star Piazza Duomo , and some other spots that I’m sure are impressive (okay, we get it). The menu features about a thousand versions of mold, none of which include blue cheese, so there’s mistake number one. My expectations remained appropriately low.
I arrived with my $11 fish-eye lens, girlfriend, and an appetite. The place is essentially a deli counter with no signage outside, a chalkboard menu, a single piece of “art” on the wall, and a shelf lined with pickle jars and to-go containers shoddily labeled with blue gaff tape. It was a lot like Casper’s basement, if only more minimalist (<3 Devon Sawa).
There was one group sitting down and another two folks on a tinder date. This was on Friday night! Have you ever tried to take a Jonathan Gold suggestion on a Friday night? It’s usually impossible! My skepticism was on high alert.
We ordered of the most discussed dishes, the Noorook and the Celeriac.
From Baroo’s equally minimalist website .
What exactly are Jobs tears? Your guess is as good as mine, but I assumed this meal would be a Steve Wozniak favorite.
As I dared the patrons of the small space to not pay attention to my cool new camera lenses, my Partner in Crime brought over a few small treats from the free bowl. Point, Baroo.
We both partook in the house kombucha, which came in multiple flavors. We tried the rose and lemon, both of which were A LITTLE EFFING INTENSE FOR ME and I’m a huge booch bitch. Love me some probies. Intense or not, I wasn’t going to let a little bitterness get between me and a healthy digestive system.
Our food arrived briskly (Baroo back in my good graces) looking like the belle of the ball. The perfect food for a professional photographer like myself to bestow their artistry upon. What were we about to eat? No clue.
Turns out, the noonook (pink dish) was a kind of nutty, grain based goodness. The only recognizable taste were the rose-pickled onions. To my delight, it had some sort of Dorito on top. It tasted like a hearty bulgur bowl, but sweet and salty all at once. It also had flowers on it (awwwWWWWWWWWW!!!!!).
The Celeriac was a pasta dish with noodles made from celery root. It had all the textural goodness of a Maggiano’s fettuccine Alfredo, with the light herbal touch of my bubbie’s matzo ball soup. These people are mad geniuses, considering there’s no Italian lineage in my family.
Both meals were out of this world strange, and both blew my mind. We all but licked our plates (kidding, of course we licked our plates.) For about $30, we got two house-made expert-level booches, two fine-ass meals, and two Japanese Oreo candies from the free bowl. Not a bad bill.
The meals left us feeling light and happy. Many v smart v informed discussions about the cuisine were had but I won’t bore you with our outstanding intellect. So why was Baroo so empty? Could it be that people are not into having an adventure with their taste buddies? Could it be because no one knows what Jobs tears are? All I know is that I’m more than happy to keep this gem to myself because baby hates waiting for vegan food.
We drove away with our minds expanded and our stomachs feeling healthful. SOMETHING FELT VERY WRONG. On the ride home this uneasiness grew, until we realized it was just that we were still hungry as hell.
We picked up just a few things to satisfy our Friday night cravings:
So there you have it folks. A food faddist adventure that pays off. We decided this is a spot to try again soon on a day when we’re craving something light and delicious (which comes around once every couple of months).If you’re in L.A., don’t want to wait in a line, and have plans to get Jeni’s Ice Cream later, you’d be a dang fool to not try Baroo. I mean, just LOOK at those beautiful photos!
