Eat Out. Starry Kitchen.

You know people really love food when they start accidentally start a business selling food out of their apartment to their friends and friends of friends, and then get popular enough to get shut down because it's all illegal. I guess that also means the food must have been really good.

And it still is. That was the story of the beginning of Starry Kitchen, headed up by self-professed foodies Nguyen and Thi Tran. It all started from their apartment in North Hollywood, but now they're legally and officially set up right in downtown in the Grand Performances Plaza, mostly serving up for lucky businesspeople in the area for lunch. But due to even more popular buzz, the restaurant started opening up for dinner on Thursdays and Fridays.

So with great hype comes great expectations, but I'd have to say Starry Kitchen passes the test. It's Asian (Vietnamese) soul food at its simplest -- it's mainly a lunch joint and you shouldn't expect more. But the attention to the food is admirable, and the flavors work in all the right places. Get ready for a great comfort meal here.

The menu, the staff warned us, changes every week, so stay tuned to the website for the latest dishes. But overall, the process is the same: pick a protein, a vessel (banh mi sandwich, salad, or wrap) and a side, and you end up with a boatload of food. My date and I were able to enjoy what seemed like regular favorites, including the lemongrass chicken and pork belly, both in banh mis and with pineapple fried rice and glass noodles. I don't even like lemongrass chicken that much, but the Trans totally hit the right spot with it, and the pork belly was super flavorful.

Simple, friendly, and full of good food. Just like home.

Starry Kitchen is located at 350 S. Grand Ave. in the Grand Performances Plaza in downtown. Open for lunch every weekday 11am-3pm, and for dinner on Thursdays and Fridays 6pm-9:30pm.

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: the BEAT

Eat Out. Test Kitchen.

It's notoriously difficult to open a restaurant, and even more rare for it to be successful. So why not take a test drive, and bring some brave foodie customers along for the ride? Enter the Test Kitchen.

The Test Kitchen is a new sort of restaurant, conceptualized to allow chefs try out new and different dishes in a setting outside of their own eateries. They get the chance to do some experimenting, and customers get the chance to eat dishes that are rare or maybe haven't even been done before. The chefs will also be working with mixologists, meaning there'll be some interesting drinks being formulated as well.

First up in the hot seat is Jordan Kahn, who just happens to be the best sort of example for what the Test Kitchen hopes to accomplish. Kahn is the chef from Red Medicine, a Vietnamese restaurant that hasn't opened yet, but already has a ton of hype behind it because it's being opened by Umami Burger's Adam Fleischman. For Test Kitchen, Kahn will be offering a $40 prix fixe menu ($10 for cocktails) for what is presumed to be Red Medicine's future offerings. And with caramelized chicken dumplings and a coconut cream dessert, it's already looking good. But of course, if you head to Test Kitchen, you'll know first!

But make your reservations now--Kahn will only be there from tonight until Sunday, to be followed by Chef Richard Zapate and others in the following weeks. Keep up with the chef line-up through the website or Facebook, and happy (experimental) eating!
The Test Kitchen is located at 9575 Pico Blvd. in Beverly Hills.

-- Chau Tu