Did the "California Dream" finally end this week after a long struggle?

[gunna]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Wherever there is a Chipotle you can get a fairly decent burrito.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Are there any Korean fast food chains?

There is one main Norcal Korean fast food chain: KoJa Kitchen. Korean taco truck inspired. It's more like fusion though with bulgogi tacos and rice burgers and kalbi bowls. Kinda like poke bowls but with Korean marinated meats instead.

https://www.kojakitchen.com/locations

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by LA21st

I heard they had plans for a Silver Lake location pre covid, because apparently there's been more Chicagoans moving to LA in the last few years. But who knows what is gong to happen with those plans now. The Phoenix location is great though. I've been haha.

Phoenix is just too hot in summer. The San Fernando Valley is too hot (was a kid there). I like moderate coastal summers. One thing holding me back from moving east (maybe upstate NY, finger lakes) are the hot humid summers. The cold winters I can take. The fall with the colorful leaves are glorious.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by gunna

I should have qualified that...Chipotle has a fairly decent FAST CASUAL burrito. Same with Panda Express....fairly decent FAST CASUAL Chinese.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by homebucket

There is one main Norcal Korean fast food chain: KoJa Kitchen. Korean taco truck inspired. It's more like fusion though with bulgogi tacos and rice burgers and kalbi bowls. Kinda like poke bowls but with Korean marinated meats instead.

https://www.kojakitchen.com/locations

Kimchi takes some getting used to. Same with Vietnamese/Thai fermented fish sauce. Some call it umami, others call it stinky.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Phoenix is just too hot in summer. The San Fernando Valley is too hot (was a kid there). I like moderate coastal summers. One thing holding me back from moving east (maybe upstate NY, finger lakes) are the hot humid summers. The cold winters I can take. The fall with the colorful leaves are glorious.

I think I dislike humidity more at this point. I dont want to be outside in it too long. 30s, 40s isn't too bad. The low 20s and below is when the cold really gets to me.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Wherever there is a Chipotle you can get a fairly decent burrito. What is the best pizza chain? I prefer thin crust NY style over Chicago style, but Chicago hot dogs are the best. Are there any Korean fast food chains? As far as Chinese, don't laugh, I like Panda. Are there any Panda franchises in the east? For burgers, I like In'nOut. Shake Shak, nope.

There's Panda everywhere.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by LA21st

There's Panda everywhere.

Even upstate NY?

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Even upstate NY?

Im sure it's in Rochester or Buffalo. They're in Nebraska.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by The North One

I have to laugh, yeah a little humidity is just too unbearable but the forest fire smoke is so glamorous! How could you leave it? Montana and Wyoming have harsher winters than Minnesota and the only urbanity you're gonna find there are mostly super expensive resort towns.

The main reason is mostly proximity, it's a lot easier for people to move to Texas and Idaho from California than way out to Ohio. Although a few Californians do trickle out there. The Midwest gets a lot of people from the East Coast looking for better affordability.

Proximity has little to do with it. I frew up on the east coast. My remaining family lives in Florida and Ohio. Much as I might like to be near them, no way am I moving back to those sweat boxes.

Laugh all you want but if you've never lived in the American West you don't know what you're talking about.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I should have qualified that...Chipotle has a fairly decent FAST CASUAL burrito. Same with Panda Express....fairly decent FAST CASUAL Chinese.

THIS is where you get a decent burrito. Yeah it looks sleazy. If it didn't, I wouldn't even consider it for a burrito.


https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/taqu...aveI_BUsVCwBJw

On the other hand, I kind of like Panda Express. It's got nothing to do with Chinese food. It's because of their Beijing Beef which is so sweet I call it "beef candy" and is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I doubt any Chinese person would recognize it though.

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Kimchi takes some getting used to. Same with Vietnamese/Thai fermented fish sauce. Some call it umami, others call it stinky.

I guess I'm used to both of them then. I pretty much keep both on hand along with little cans of Thai curry paste:


https://www.amazon.com/Maesri-Thai-R...10022839&psc=1

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Proximity has little to do with it. I frew up on the east coast. My remaining family lives in Florida and Ohio. Much as I might like to be near them, no way am I moving back to those sweat boxes.

Laugh all you want but if you've never lived in the American West you don't know what you're talking about.

Everyone i know who's visited California from the east or midwest comments on the humidity thing almost instantly.
It matters to a lot of people.
The "comfortable" weather hits you in the face once you step out of the airport and vice versa.

Fires suck, but they go away. Humidity doesn't.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by LA21st

I think I dislike humidity more at this point. I dont want to be outside in it too long. 30s, 40s isn't too bad. The low 20s and below is when the cold really gets to me.

The older I get, the more i can handle the heat and the dryer the better. I was in the Central Valley a year or so ago and it was 110+ and didn't really phase me. Zero humidity. Unlike here at 90 degrees and 90% humidity. I could never move back East...can't do the cold. Don't like wearing pants.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Not to be dismissive, but the nature in the east coast, while beautiful, is just not comparable to the Sierra, Cascades, Redwoods, San Gabriels, etc

But our beaches are better.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by JManc

The older I get, the more i can handle the heat and the dryer the better. I was in the Central Valley a year or so ago and it was 110+ and didn't really phase me. Zero humidity. Unlike here at 90 degrees and 90% humidity. I could never move back East...can't do the cold. Don't like wearing pants.

I wish I had your heat tolerance. I can't stand the heat, and especially the humidity. I'm over here advocating for Global Cooling, not global warming but global cooling. We need another ice age. Too hot, too humid.

When that wonderful 45F weather comes by, crisp autumn day, mid 40's, clear skies.... nice chilly wind, the type that you take a deep breath and it purifies the soul and mind... that is the right weather.

I don't mind 30's either. I'm the ahole wearing a t shirt when its 35F outside, so there's that... but heat... nah... can't do heat.

Originally Posted by LA21st

I think I dislike humidity more at this point. I dont want to be outside in it too long. 30s, 40s isn't too bad. The low 20s and below is when the cold really gets to me.

This is the right way. 30's and 40's are great. You sir, are in the right.

Plus. the cold keeps my enemies, them bastard mosquitoes away.

[Crawford]

I still think the worst part of the country, by far, for weather-climate issues, is the Great Plains. North Texas up through the Dakotas has stifling heat and humidity, bone-chilling cold, tornado alley, flooding and drought, and constant, year-round wind. The wind never freakin' stops and everything outdoors needs to be tied down. It sucks. Somewhere like OKC is as bad as it gets in the continental U.S., IMO.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by chris08876

I wish I had your heat tolerance. I can't stand the heat, and especially the humidity. I'm over here advocating for Global Cooling, not global warming but global cooling. We need another ice age. Too hot, too humid.

When that wonderful 45F weather comes by, crisp autumn day, mid 40's, clear skies.... nice chilly wind, the type that you take a deep breath and it purifies the soul and mind... that is the right weather.

I don't mind 30's either. I'm the ahole wearing a t shirt when its 35F outside, so there's that... but heat... nah... can't do heat.



This is the right way. 30's and 40's are great. You sir, are in the right.

Plus. the cold keeps my enemies, them bastard mosquitoes away.

Yuck. The only thing sub 50F weather is good for is skiing. I do hate humidity, but I'll take a humid 80F over a 45F any time. Coastal southern California is my ideal weather. The mosquitos are also not nearly as bad there as they get here because of the low humidity.

[ChrisLA]

Back in 2005, a friend I made over the internet, who I had been talking with for about 3 years, decided to visit LA, his first trip ever west of the Rio Grande. Anyway, my partner and I took him to a Chinese restaurant, and he complained that they didn't have something called egg fu yung. I'm still not sure what that is, and I don't care to look it up. I figured it's an Americanized Chinese food thing. And it was a good authentic Chinese restaurant we took him to,..

Much of the San Gabriel has way better Chinese food than most cities across America. I remember tasting Chinese food in St Louis and I almost didn’t recognize the fried rice, I think they must have put beef bouillon in it because the rice was dark brown.

But I’m sort of coming to the defense of your friend, I grew up eating Egg Foo Yung, and Chop Suey and I’m a native Angeleno. Just about all Chinese restaurants in South Central LA and many of the South Bay cities (Hawthorne, Lawndale, Gardena), and south east communities such as South Gate, and Lynwood have it on their menus. For many years I didn’t even know this was not traditional Chinese food. I was privileged to have a good friend who was a first generation Chinese American and he took me to many authentic Chinese restaurants in LA, and the San Gabriel Valley. I remember once meeting up with him after a late shift at work and he took me to this restaurant on Valley Blvd and at 1am in the morning this place was packed with patrons.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

Much of the San Gabriel has way better Chinese food than most cities across America. I remember tasting Chinese food in St Louis and I almost didn’t recognize the fried rice, I think they must have put beef bouillon in it because the rice was dark brown.

Curious, what does your preferred version of fried rice look like? When I first moved to NYC years ago, I was horrified to learn that many of the neighborhood Chinese restaurants use yellow rice to make fried rice. Since then I realized that different parts of America have different standard versions of fried rice, and it has kind of been a hobby of mine to see how local fried rice is made in different cities.

[Crawford]

I've notice the yellow rice too. I always thought that was a local "Hispanicazation" of Chinese American food. A ton of non-authentic Chinese restaurants in NY are owned by Chinese from Latin America, hence all the Chinese-Cuban, Chinese-Dominican places, and it seems to have filtered to the local takeout joints in heavily Hispanic areas.

Arroz amarillo loaded with saffron is a Carribean Hispanic staple, and we all know that NYC has huge Carribean influences. If you live near Puerto Ricans or Dominicans, you probably see the yellow rice.