#NikuX at #IntercontinentalHotelDTLA exceeded my expectations! We tried almost everything on the menu and everything was delicious except for the Tom Yum Soup, but that was my fault for ordering a Thai dish at a Japanese restaurant. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Pro tip: Stick with the snow crabs but definitely order the grilled King Crab Legs. The cold King Crab Legs were very anorexic and not worth the trouble of cracking open (unless they're bigger when you go).

The Chef's Choice Sushi Plate was melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Too bad you can only order one. Favorite appetizers were the #PavePotatoes, Wagyu Fried Rice and Miso Sea Bass.

They also had probably the best #Frosé I've ever tasted! And the #meat... I have never been that big a fan of #Wagyu, a bit too fatty for my taste, but for small portions of #JapaneseBBQ it was DELICIOUS! 😋

Haha! I wish. 🤣

Wishing you a new year full of fresh starts, health, prosperity and abundant joy and happiness. The Year of the #WoodSnake in 2025 represents wisdom, transformation, and personal growth, with the Wood element adding flexibility and renewal. #YearoftheSnake #2025Tet

A dream has always been to be a #chef, not just for myself but to share with others my passion for food and cooking. Working in a restaurant was never the goal, but hats off to all of the amazing restaurant chefs, especially the folks at Din Tai Fung (international chain,

180 locations worldwide and still scaling!), Zinqué (microchain California and Arizona) and Desert Rose (family-owned location in Los Feliz 14 years and going strong) for sharing your kitchens with me and teaching me the #business of the business.

The end of 2024 was brutal as I was pulling doubles and rushing from one location to another for months. 🥴 But it was so worth it to see how successful restaurants conduct business back of house.

Before diving into this journey, I had visited ICE in Pasadena, The Institute of Culinary Education and audited a class and it was wonderful, but I just couldn't justify $40k for eight months so I chose to fast track my education and jumped into the fire with both feet.

Exhilarated to share that I now have the pleasure of #bringingtherestaurant to a family of five once a week. Baby steps!

My first #privatechef position is quite challenging as well being that the wife is Korean and the husband is Guatemalan/American and they have three children under 10 years old. Lots of preferences and differing taste buds to satisfy. Challenge accepted.

I am especially happy to be able to work with such small palates and am hoping to open their culinary minds to try everything and anything at least once (I'm having a little resistance with mushrooms and spinach, but we'll get there).

For my trial run with the family, the wife had requested a traditional #kimchistew with ban chan and Korean BBQ staples. Easy peasy! Sharing here my recipe for the stew.

I hope you try this at home yourself. #Cooking is accessible for all levels of cooks and the joy of having a #homecookedmeal is so satisfying. #Bonappétit or as they say in Korean, 음식을 즐기세요 (eumsig-eul jeulgiseyo)!