which l.a. restaurants serve really odd foods?

[Swankalicious]

weird, scary, deliciously daring things? of any ethnic persuasion?

[ipsedixit]

Define "odd" and "weird, scary, deliciously daring things".

What's odd or weird to me, might be completely normal to you or someone else.

I think of pig ears as a staple. You? Maybe not so much.

My friend finds cow brain tacos the norm. Me? A novel delicacy.

So, what say you?

[mucho gordo]

Pig ears?? Really?? I didn't know it was for human consumption. I thought they were a treat for my dog.

[wienermobile]

pig tails, “buffalo style” at Animal.

[ipsedixit]

Point made.

:-)

[Servorg]

Only the pig feels disgruntled about this food idea.... ;-D>

[mucho gordo]

cute!

[aching]

Lazy Ox Canteen has some unusual types of meat (at least to me), like pig's trotters (again, not very fun for the pig!).

To Ipsedixit's point - I think sea cucumber is weird, scary, daring, and a lot of other things - but they're served in many Korean restaurants and Koreans seem to think they're perfectly normal.

There was a very enjoyable episode of Top Chef Masters in which they had to cook with weird things. Geoducks stood out to me as very weird.

[huaqiao]

I've heard there are a couple places in Koreatown that serve sannakji.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannakji

[wienermobile]

Insects at Typhoon at Santa Monica Airport
TAIWANESE CRICKETS
taiwanese stir-fried, raw garlic, chile pepper, asian basil
SILKWORM LARVAE
sweet & spicy sauce
THAI-STYLE WHITE SEA WORMS
deep-fried thai style, baby lettuce leaves, ginger, chile pepper, peanuts, lime, tamarind dipping sauce

-----
Typhoon Restaurant
3221 Donald Douglas Loop S, Santa Monica, CA 90405

[Servorg]

And the chapulines (crickets) when available at Guelaguetza.

-----
Guelaguetza
3014 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006

[Mr Taster]

My Lovely Tasting Assistant™ (LTA) is Taiwanese and her family has roots dating back about 200 years there. Her grandparents were poor farmers before Taiwan's economic boom, but became wealthy after selling their rice fields to developers.

Despite her family's longevity, history, and economic situation, neither she nor any of her friends and family eat crickets. Could it be that the restaurant is referring to Thai crickets? Or are they really seasoning the crickets with star anise, white pepper and a sweet sauce to make them distinctly "Taiwanese" in flavor?

Mr Taster

[Servorg]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetec...

[huaqiao]

Fried crickets is a popular dish at Indian(the famous beer hall) in Taipei. I think it's on the menus of other beer halls there as well.

[ipsedixit]

Some of the stalls at the night markets have them as well.

God knows there's enough crickets in Taiwan to go around ...

[Mr Taster]

I've never seen any at the local night markets in the Taichung area... the most exotic animal-based foods I've seen are at the touristy "snake alley" in Taipei, but that's not representative of the typical Taiwanese diet. Or at least not my LTA family's diet in west-central Taiwan.

Mr Taster

[Servorg]

Here is blog http://eileent.com/eat/foodbuzz-24-24... with a really nice story, including all the photos of an insect eating night at Typhoon from last year. The funniest thing is, if you look at the linked web ad's that go along with this blog write up is the big ad for Terminix....lol