my tongue was assaulted at chego :(

it is rare for me to travel out to the westside when there's a plethora of still to be conquered eats east of the 10 freeway. but when i do find myself out there, you betcha i'm going to hit up some places that i've been itching to try....like chego. oh, chego. chego is roy choi's kogi meets korean rice bowl venture and is located in a strip mall in palms, a stone's throw away from culver city. if it wasn't for the sudden horrible parking in the middle of an apartment filled/strip mall street, you would have never known that the master behind the kogi truck has set up shop here.

restaurant front. imagine long lines out the door if you don't eat insanely early dinners like me.

the belly of this restaurant is rather small and cramped. a wall of mirrors tricks your mind into thinking there's a vast open space, but there really isn't. if you are not one of the lucky ones to nab a spot along the wall or the sides which allows you to sit and eat, then you stand up and chow along the long communal table located in the middle like a row of birds.

my friend and i started off with the charred asparagus ($5) which had extremely potent flavors cranked with a side of ADD. there was a super charge of acid and salt that i did not like and which made me pretty nervous about the food to follow.

because by then, i had already regretted my order of the buttered kimchi chow ($7) which was a heavy bowl of shlacked on kimchi piled on a mound of rice. i understand the salty nature of kimchi, but did not enjoy the sour, fattiness on top of that. seriously, if all i can taste from my main bowl of sustenance is salt, sour, and heat, then this belly is going to die a hungry death.

my friend ordered the one chubby pork belly bowl ($8) which tasted SLIGHTLY better, but still just as eww. i LOVE pork belly, but i don't love fucked up uncharred pork belly. it's like eating a blob of uncooked fat with a shlack of sauce on it. why do it? is your muffin top not billowy enough? bleh.

we also ordered a side of ooey gooey fries ($5) because i read good things about them but wish i didn't. there goes another five dollars. not only do these fries pale in comparison to the frysmith truck, they also belong in the category of overly salty and sour eats at chego. i ate a few bites and threw them away.

in general, i enjoy roy choi's intense culinary flavors in a taco because they are small, bite sized, but then you're done with it. however, once it's placed in a big ole rice bowl, the extremely salty, spicy, and oftentimes sour flavors attack your tongue in a most unpleasant way and you are eons and eons away from being "done with it" cuz the damn bowl is kinda big. even though i grew up respecting the rice bowl so i would always eat everything i was given even though i was full, i could not do it here at chego. i threw most of the food away and drove home thirsty and hungry. man, that sucked.

Chego
3300 Overland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 287-0337

www.eatchego.com

price: $
verdict: hells no!