- Hello?
Hello?
- Hello!
- Wait, hold up.
I'm trying to figure out Canology right now.
Oh, here we go, we're good now.
What's up?
- Hey Adam.
- Yup.
- How's it goin', buddy?
- Good.
- We're doin' a special episode on take out food.
This is not gonna be like a regular episode of Worth It,
because as you can see,
Steven and Adam are not here in the car with me.
We are observing all current requirements
for social distancing.
- And, we encourage all of you to do the same.
Stay home, stay safe.
- So, I'm gonna be picking up the food today,
and dropping it off to Steven and Adam.
- Today on Worth It, we're gonna be trying
three different take out menus at three price points,
to find out how they are all worth it
at their given price point.
- These are all restaurants and chefs
that we've worked with before,
they're doing some amazing take out food.
- I love it, I've missed Worth It.
I've been waiting for this moment.
You know, we haven't been able to eat at restaurants,
but at the very least, we can take the restaurants to us.
- So, for our first stop today,
we're gonna be visiting the Kogi truck.
An LA institution.
The Kogi truck is not a business
that we've filmed with before,
but we did film with Roy Choi, the chef owner,
who was in our brunch episode a few seasons back,
at the place A-Frame.
We're going to the Kogi truck
to have their world famous short rib taco.
So, the Kogi short rib taco is Roy Choi's iconic taco.
He's taken Korean flavors, and put them into the taco,
so it's got short rib, I believe a pickled onion relish.
This red salsa that they make themselves,
and this cabbage slaw.
So, imagine kind of like the taste of Korean barbecue,
but in the format of a street taco.
- I mean, I've had it a million times.
It's amazing.
- It's an all time great one.
- Hey, Worth It family.
I just wanna say thank you for supporting us,
and highlighting Kogi during these tough times.
Man, it's hard out here servin' this food,
and tryin' to stay alive.
But, doin' it with you guys makes it Worth It.
That was stupid, sorry, thank you all, bye.
(upbeat music)
(cash register ringing)
- By the way, I'm on auto focus here, Adam.
And, it's always been good to me.
I think the weirdest thing about the way
that we're filming this,
is that we framed the cameras in a way where,
your empty body is next to me.
- Yeah, I even, this is not where
my dining table usually is,
and I decided to include the empty seat next to me
as a symbolic act. - Oh, I didn't even do that.
- [Steven] Sorry, I didn't even do the courtesy.
Here, you can have that chair.
- We got Adam on the line, directing us as always,
but now he's right there on screen,
which is a comforting sight.
- Do we, do we just dig in?
Let's dig in!
- Adam's got the kimchi quesadilla.
Wanna show that off?
- Ooh, Adam, very nice saucing job.
Also, where'd you get that plate?
How should we cheers?
- Do I just cheers the?
I'm gonna cheers, no, cheers your half of the screen.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Ready, three, two, one, boom.
(laughing)
- Mm.
(sighs deeply)
- Oh, man.
- Oh, Adam can eat at the same time as us now.
- Wow.
- Yeah, I don't have to hold the camera.
I like this version of the show better.
- This is--
- That was, like a perfect bite.
I feel like I haven't eaten before.
It's been four weeks of quarantine.
- My whole head is tingling.
I have like, chills after taking that bite.
- Mm, oh my God.
Is that the vinaigrette,
that really just rises to the top there?
I like that.
- Mm hmm.
You know, it just occurred to me
that I don't know if I'm in focus at all.
(laughing)
- Auto focus, baby.
- Remember two minutes ago, when I was like,
Adam, your job is easy.
(laughing)
- Despite the technical failures,
I'm actually getting more emotional than I anticipated.
Like, the feeling of eating a restaurant food
with your pals, even if it's over video chat, you know,
we've done what, like six plus seasons of Worth It together?
It's definitely hitting me now that like we--
- For sure.
- Took for granted, all the times that we got to eat all
these delicious foods and meet these amazing people.
I'm very grateful.
- Yeah.
You know what's great about this?
You could instantly go take a nap.
There's like, no travel time.
You just get up, go over to the couch, lights out.
- Hello.
- Hello, Steven.
- All right, day two.
What are we doin' today?
- Our next two locations,
we're gonna have both of their foods,
one after another.
It's gonna be kinda like virtual dinner party.
So, we're gonna have a little pre-dinner drinks and cheese,
and then we're gonna get this family set from Spoon By H,
who you'll remember from our Korean soup episode.
(ice tinkling)
- Steven, are you drinking an iced latte?
- You heard the ice?
- Yeah, I heard the ice.
Wow, some things will never change about making this show.
Is it matcha latte?
- Of course it is, yeah.
- Okay, so the next place we're picking up food from
is Ototo, which is offering a sake tasting set right now.
So, you'll remember Courtney and Charles,
from our sushi and burger episode.
Ototo is this sake bar that also makes
a lot of delicious savory food.
They're doing a fried chicken dinner right now,
and they're also doing this virtual sake school,
where you go and pick up a set of sake,
and then on the weekend, they do a livestream,
where you can learn about what you're drinking.
Right now, they're doing a
sake and cheese pairing.
So, that's what we're gonna have as
our happy hour before our dinner today.
- Can't tell you how happy I am
to hear this information - I know.
- [Steven] from you, Andrew.
- I know that you love sake.
- And, cheese is a guilty pleasure for me.
Only because, can't really handle dairy very well.
But, I'm at home.
I can use the bathroom whenever I want.
And so, no problemo.
- Hey guys, welcome to the dinner party.
- Thank you, there's nobody here
to tell me my collar's messed up.
- I'm wearin' shorts right now with this jacket.
I dunno if that's
- [Steven] What?
- [Andrew] dinner appropriate, but yeah.
- Oh no!
- Does everybody have their worksheet?
- [Steven] Yes.
- We got two sakes and two cheeses.
- Wait, let me get, just in like in the zone,
in the mood real quick.
I'm just gonna like, imagine Ototo in my head.
- [Andrew] Okay.
- [Steven] I'm at the bar.
You had the cat coaster that's underneath here.
- [Andrew] Great chopsticks.
- Ooh, great chopsticks,
and there's the shelf of sake over there.
Okay, I'm good.
- In the zone.
- First sake today,
we're gonna taste the sake called Kuroushi.
Kuroushi translates to black bull or black cow,
with a cheese called Brillat-Savarin,
a triple cream French cow's milk cheese,
with a bloomy rind.
The goal of the successful pairing
is for both to taste better.
The sake hopefully tastes good on its own.
The cheese tastes good on its own.
Then you put them together, and they both taste better.
- So, I dunno if this is super common knowledge,
but sake comes in these little pop top glass jars,
which I think is just fantastic.
I actually have a fun show and tell to go with this.
So, when we went to Japan,
you remember we went to Nikko?
- [Steven] Yeah.
- So, we went to this grocery store,
where, what did we buy there?
- [Steven] We bought the bento.
- Yeah, the bento.
Historic trains were a big part of Nikko.
So, I actually bought a jar of sake at the time
that has this-- - Oh, wow.
- [Andrew] Old timey train on it.
- [Steven] Oh, that's cool.
- And, I've used this as like my
at home wine glass ever since.
Oh, Adam's got one too.
- It looks like, what?
Oh, interesting.
Ooh.
- Whoa.
They should change their name to Oototo.
(laughing)
I'll see myself out of my own apartment.
(laughing)
Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Oh yeah, very smooth.
- Ooh.
- All right, let's unpack this cheese.
Ooh, it's extremely moist.
- Whoa.
Oh!
- It looks like a half eaten ice cream sandwich.
Whoo!
- Oh.
- And now the sake.
- Oh!
- Okay.
- Whoo!
- The sake definitely helps, with the funk.
- The one thing about this cheese that is so unique,
is how creamy it is.
It's like, almost custardy.
That was good.
That opened my mind up.
Okay, so moving on to sake and cheese number two.
- The next sake we have is a brand called Amabuki.
This one, the Himawari, uses sunflower yeast.
For me, it's less floral, it's more sort of nutty,
like almost a sunflower seed.
And, it's a nama, so unpasteurized.
Keeps a little bit more brightness in the sake,
it also kinda turns the aromatics up
when you pasteurize sake.
It mellows things out, it rounds it,
but it can sort of soften it.
You're gonna pair that with a cheese called Verigoat,
which is a goat's milk cheese from New Jersey.
It is a natural rind, and it is cave aged.
- Whoa, it looks like a steak.
Straight up opposite of the other cheese.
- It almost looks like the crust of bread kind of rind.
So, we're going from a creamy cheese with a creamy sake,
to a nutty sake, with a funky cheese.
Okay, well.
- Okay, this one smells like still water.
- Think I have so much cheese in my mustache
that I can't smell anything other than that.
- You wanna do sake, cheese?
- Oh yeah.
- Oh, wow.
- Wow, I like it.
- Yeah, I love that one.
That's the cheese I like.
It's grainy, and it's funky, man.
It's grainy and funky.
- Once again, you put them together,
and it absolutely sings.
- I really like the rind.
Adds a nice, bitter taste, that rounds out the cheese.
It's like a good ending.
- Hey, Adam.
- Yeah.
- Your shirt matches the cross stitch behind you.
That's a second sake observation.
- So, next we'll be having Spoon By H,
and Spoon By H is a Korean dessert cafe
that also does amazing savory food.
It's an ever changing menu.
There's different stuff that you can get during the week,
like right now they have an amazing lunch box,
that's called a dosirak?
Not sure how to pronounce that.
Yoon has come up with this amazing family pack
of entrees, desserts, and appetizers
that we're gonna be enjoying next.
That's available currently on weekends.
And so, we're gonna do a sampling
of each of the things offered this week,
and probably pack away and save much of this
to eat over the course of the coming week,
'cause this is a lot of food.
- Great.
- Hello, Worth It.
Thanks for stopping by.
You guys are trying our family pack,
which is a changing menu of some of our favorite dishes.
- This is what's on the menu this week.
Macaroni salad, kimchi cold pasta salad,
honey garlic toast, vegetarian curry,
braised chicken legs and radish,
peanut noodles, kimchi fried rice,
beef short rib rice cake soup,
vegetarian miso ramen soup,
maple honey walnut muffin, and iced tea.
You got your iced tea?
- [Steven] Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Let's go mac salad first.
- Macaroni salad.
- Oh, you're using your uh, Han Bat bowl?
- I am.
- [Steven] Han Bat bowl, nice.
- [Andrew] Han Bat bowl.
- I'm using a bowl that I use to feed cats.
- What?
- Ooh, ooh.
- It's crab in here?
- Yeah, this is, what the heck?
- So, it's actually crab macaroni salad.
- Oh, there's Spam in here too.
- I like how it's undersold as just macaroni salad,
but it's really like, 50% crab.
- Next dish, we got kimchi, cold pasta salad.
- I'm not gonna lie, I was not expecting this pasta shape.
What is this, penne?
Wow.
- Oh, ho ho.
- Man, kimchi loves to party with vehicles.
- Explain yourself, sir.
- Kimchi just wants a vehicle, like pasta?
Vehicle for the kimchi.
Kimchi quesadilla, Adam had at Kogi.
It wants carbs and fats to ride on,
'cause it's a powerful flavor.
Next up, we have the honey garlic toast.
- [Steven] Yeah.
- It's this thick, thick slice, of what seems to be brioche.
- Looks cartoony.
- It really does.
- A toast to the toast.
- Toast.
I'm gonna go this way on my camera.
- I dunno, who, I dunno who toast to, Adam.
- Toast.
- Yeah.
- What is this?
This is cake.
- This is like, if there was a garlic bread jelly bean.
- Yes.
- 'Cause it tastes slightly sweet,
but it is a garlic bread.
I would not expect honey to belong on a garlic bread.
- It's very delicious.
Now, to what I've been looking forward
to the most actually, vegetarian curry.
I love curry.
Okay, this egg is beautiful.
- It is a beautiful curry.
- I think Yoon is just trying to like,
out do all the episodes we've ever done before.
- Yeah, she's like toast?
Got it.
Garlic bread.
Salad? Boom, macaroni salad plus crab.
- Oh yeah.
- Next up, we got braised chicken leg.
- Gonna pick up a chicken leg.
- Mm.
- What?
You know, I can, I get it.
I get it, Yoon.
I feel like what she tries to do with these meals is like,
you think you know what you're gonna get.
- Yeah.
- You're like oh, chicken and radish.
But no, it's like, how can I make this dish
as different as what you expect it to be as possible?
Next up, peanut noodles.
Reminds me of a dan dan mian.
- [Andrew] Wow, such a meaty peanut noodle.
- That's good, man.
- It's that peanut plus meat flavor.
'Cause usually you think peanut butter, jelly.
Peanut plus sweet.
Here, they go peanut plus meat.
Okay, kimchi fried rice.
- Uh, can I change my pants?
- What happened, Steven?
- I'm just getting too full.
- You can change your pants,
but this is going in the episode if you do.
You got the kimchi fried rice.
It's really almost like risotto, more than fried rice.
- Okay, so to cap it off, we have the miso ramen,
and then we have the short rib soup.
I say we freeze and save that one for later,
and we eat the miso ramen for now.
- That's a good plan.
- It looks like there's instructions here,
to cook the noodles,
and then stick 'em in when we're ready.
- Great dish to round out the meal with.
How'd your ramen come out?
- Oh, came out really good.
Yeah, it looks great.
- Final dish.
- Mm, oh man, that's yeah.
- Ooh, spicy too.
- I'm gonna compliment myself on the al dente pasta.
Thank you, Steven.
- This is finishing the meal on a strong punch.
- The noodles are very good.
They're very chewy.
- This broth?
Probably the most flavorful thing we've eaten yet.
This is what I like to call dessert noodles.
- Oh, we have a muffin!
- [Andrew] Maple honey walnut muffin.
- Ding.
(relaxing music)
- That is a moist muffin.
- Oh, wow.
- Adam's face right now.
Well, that does it boys.
That's the end of our Worth It take out adventure.
We're not gonna be picking a Worth It winner today,
because we think all these restaurants are really worth it,
like we always do.
And, really we just wanna encourage people
to support their local businesses
that they really love,
like we really love these three places.
- Right now, especially you can order pick up or delivery.
All of them are still open.
- Have a virtual dinner party.
- [Steven] The shape of this noodle does a really good job
of grabbing all of the flavor, kind of like a cat's tongue.
I don't know if you're familiar
with the anatomy of a cat's tongue.
- [Andrew] I'm very familiar.
It's textured to brush fur of the cat.
Little ridges, much like this noodle, to pick up the stuff.