all sapped out

Sapp Coffee Shop
5183 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 665-1035

price: $
verdict: it's aight

like a food lemming after watching anthony bourdain's travel show, i too went to sapp to check out their now infamous boat noodles. heck, i LOVE offal and couldn't wait for a bowl of it. did it disappoint? shucks yeah.

sapp is most definitely a hole in the wall establishment. it's located in a strip mall with really limited parking. fortunately for us, we rolled in just when another car rolled out. ahh, movie star parking! score! the restaurant itself has no frills with really basic decor for a total chill eating atmosphere. i love places like that! that means i can concentrate on the grub and not whether or not i'm using the right fork for my salad.

but when the food came out, here is where the infatuation with sapp was sapped out. the boat noodles are rice noodles served in a murky broth. that in and of itself is not a problem, but the hint of sourness in the soup was overwhelmed by the saltiness of it. with each successive slurp, the saltiness of the broth became more and more apparent. every slurp became flirtation with hypertension. the chicherones, tripe, and medium rare liver could not save the boat noodles.

the thai ice tea (now increased to $1.75 a cup) was way too sweet which again, reminded me how salty the boat noodles were because of the extreme contrast in saltiness and sweetness.

we also ordered the beef pad see ew. the beef strips were really dry and reminded me of beef jerky and the noodles were extremely oily. the ghetto fabulous dusting of the entire dish with white pepper powder did nothing for it.

either they had an off day, or the general population's palate has become saltier with time. regardless, the entire meal was way too salty and oily for me. the entire bill came out to be $26 with tip included. i really wanted to like sapp because i love hole in the wall places, but i don't think i will be saying whassapp to sapp anytime soon. i'm glad i tried it, but that's about it.