K Town and the Frog and Grog
Another great part about Los Angeles it's ability to make you feel like you're in one country and about 5 blocks later, make you feel like you're in another country. Almost in the same way cities such as Chicago and New York hace dedicated certain parts of the cities to specific cultural backgrounds. On route to downtown L.A., is one of the biggest cultural sections of the city, "K Town" as we call it or otherwise known to outsiders as Korea Town. Although it stretches more than a few city blocks, it gradually became it's own through businesses, restaurants, and housing developments. I had only been to one restaurant in the past during our usual huge gathering of friends and one reason is that these places usually are able to accomodate parties of 10 or more, plus, it's also become somewhat of a tradition to dine there once every so often. This time, our party of 20 and over decided on The Safety Zone and later on the Frog and Grog with one last stop at The Brass Monkey (yes, more than just a Beastie Boys song.)
The Safety Zone, an odd name indeed for a Korean BBQ restaurant. It's the kind where you watch the food cook in front of you and it's halfway outdoors and yet still enclosed so the NO SMOKING rule is pretty much tossed out the window since, well, there are no windows since technically you're outside. It's not the mose classy looking place and it's extremelely well lit so it's not the place you want to go for a romantically lit dinner. But best of all, you can be loud, obnoxious, and have a great time with your friends without the worry of embarassment. There's also not a full bar so if you want to experience LITE beer and soju shots, this is the place. Afterwards we shot over to THE GAYLORD. It's a hotel on Wilshire and drank more at the hotel bar, FROG AND GROG. It was a little ironic being in K Town yet at this very PUB place filled with an industry party in one room and what looked like a scene straight out of Ireland at the bar. It was about 1:30 a.m. when we got the sudden urge to try and hit one last spot. We quickly went to The Brass Monkey across the street and walked in to find a huge bachelor party chanting the lyrics to Kelly Clarkson's "Since You're Been Gone". It was enough to end the night on a funny note and we sat there, with our one drink minimum in hand, and watched as full grown men jumped up and down like Argentinian soccer players and finished the song to the end.
