Tanobar - Los Angeles

Every bride-to-be looks forward to their dress fitting. For some, it is the relief of having actually found a dress they want to wear. For others, it is the glamour of seeing those lacy layers fall around them, swirling fabrics, row of delicate beading shining like fireflies, airy tiers of tulle that wave with the wind. I think for everyone, this is when the wedding becomes a little more real. 

For me, there is a little bit of all of that, but the best part is that my dress shop lies in the middle of K-town, and every time I have a fitting, I get to try out a new Korean restaurant after. The key word is after. That dress is tight. 

There are two fittings, and Tanobar follows the first. We need quick and we need casual, and Tanobar is both. A hasty Yelp search shows a bunch of rave reviews, and we pull back our plastic chairs, peruse a great-looking menu, and admire a really suave-looking rope chandelier.

I went to the dress fitting prepared, which basically translates to "I didn't eat anything all day", and hungry doesn't begin to describe my state of mind. We rip into strips of Steak. Medium rare and still sizzling on the skillet, this is a decent cut and a simple but effective salt-pepper-rosemary preparation. It's just meat and potatoes, but it is a delicious and incredibly satisfying preparation. The potatoes are soft, the carrots are sweet, and the asparagus is grilled just enough to stay crisp and green.

You can't leave K-town without some Pork Belly in your belly, and we opt for a crowd-favorite classic. Thin-cut slices striped with alternating strips of flesh and fat start sweet in a traditional sauce and finish with a sharper spice from the crunchy kimchee. The side salad is a cold refresher, and it has a dressing that tastes like ginger and ends with sesame. I'd eat more salad if I could make a dressing like this.

Two dishes would have been plenty for the three of us, but winding down with a bowl of Cold Noodles is a must. Ice cubes melt in a sweet, chilly broth. The thin noodles are a chewy buckwheat starch, and they drip with a daikon-kimchee broth. It's a sweet soup, and it's dessert as much as it's dinner. 

The food isn't fancy, but it sure tastes like it is. Every dish is meticulously-made, though every dish seems simply prepared. The ingredients have undeniable quality, and the proportions of meat and veg, components and sauce strike an amicable balance, and there is merit in the stasis. 

Tanobar is hard to find, mostly because you can't tell which clear glass panel is the door. Just walk along the wall like an ineffective mime until you find your way - the search outside is always worth the hidden gem within.