Gold Dig #43

Kogi started out as a Korean-taco truck, and has since expanded to three taco trucks (whose schedule you can find on their website) and two taqueria locations – one in a Whole Foods in El Segundo, and the one we went to in a little strip mall in Palms. The whole Kogi empire gets grouped together on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list.

In the past I’ve chased the trucks and waited on the lines, but it was so much easier to just drop in at the Palms location which has pretty much the same offerings. The wall is painted to look like the back of a truck if that makes you feel more like you’re getting the full experience. It’s a tiny box of a space, with room for nothing more than the walk-up ordering counter and a high community table.

The Dish

If you’re wondering what exactly a Korean-taco is, it’s a taco filled with Korean BBQ and topped with fermented condiments. They’ve expanded to burritos, quesadillas, sliders, and hotdogs, but their origin is with the taco and your choice of short rib, spicy pork, chicken, or tofu fillings.

World Famous Short Rib Taco

The short rib taco will cost you 50 cents more than the other fillings, but it’s worth it. There’s a reason these short ribs are “world famous” – tender, juicy, savory sweet. They are served on two soft corn tortillas and topped with salsa roja, cilantro-onion-lime, and Kogi slaw. The short rib tacos are my favorite item on their menu.

Kogi Dog

Another item people talk about often is the Kogi Dog. It’s a kosher hotdog with the same toppings as the taco, plus sesame mayo in a toasted hotdog bun. To be honest, I don’t understand the hype around the Kogi Dog. The hotdog itself was uninteresting, and I’d rather have those toppings on the flavorful Korean BBQ meats.

Sliders

The Sliders are pretty much the short rib tacos, only in toasted slider buns instead of soft tortillas. There is also some shredded cheddar and jack cheese and a little sesame mayo, but somehow those didn’t seem to add anything to differentiate the sliders. I much preferred the short rib tacos, though I will caveat that by noting that when these sliders were first handed to us, they were completely bare (no toppings or mayo, just bread and short rib that was much drier than what we’d gotten in the taco). We had to go back to the counter and ask what happened to all the toppings, at which point they were added, but it’s likely an indicator that this wasn’t their finest work and therefore perhaps not the best measure of this item. I’d be willing to give the sliders another chance.

Pacman Quesadilla

They also have a handful of items in the Chef’s Special section of the menu. We were sitting at the community table reading this over and debating whether we should add the Pacman Quesadilla to our order – short rib, spicy pork, and chicken inside, topped with sesame mayo, salsa roja, verde, and blueberry habanero – when the friendly guy sitting next to us leaned in to tell us the Pacman Quesadilla is awesome and we should totally get it. So we did. Thanks friendly neighbor! The BBQ meats were great and the rainbow of sauces tasted as good as they looked. If the Pacman Quesadilla is on the Specials list, get it.

Sriracha Bar

The Sriracha Bar is another Kogi fan favorite. It’s a spicy dark chocolate bar with Chinese peanuts and caramel over crispy rice. This sounds incredible, but I have to admit it didn’t quite live up to expectations for me. The spice was almost indiscernible, and there were only trace amounts of caramel with a hefty amount of crispy rice that left the candy bar with an overall dryness I didn’t love.