Kogi BBQ

Tonight my friends and I went to Burbank to sample the Twitter hype that is Kogi BBQ. That's right. The taco truck of Kogi BBQ catered tonight's philanthropic event for Gina Alexander, to raise money to help better the living standards and emotional welfare of abused children in the Philippines.

Judging by the photos on their website, I planned to sample a trio of tacos: spicy pork, spicy BBQ chicken and Korean short ribs (pictured above).  

Palace was the first to arrive, and she not only held spots for the rest of us, she also made a new Kogi BBQ buddy, Mike. We got the skinny from Mike on what to order, and we mapped out our strategy. Apparently, you could only order three tacos at a time, and so we each went for the trio in Round 1.

#1 Kogi beef short ribs

#2 Kogi spicy pork

#3 Kogi spicy chicken

At this point I was feeling pretty good, but I started to cut back on the fillers (if you will), avoiding consumption of the double corn soft tortilla shells. Mike disagreed favoring the "complete experience." Some followed his strategy; some followed mine.

#4 Kogi beef short ribs

#5 Kogi beef short ribs

#6 Kogi beef short ribs

I was starting to feel like I had reached my capacity, but I was damned if I wasn't gonna get my money's worth ($20.75 for all-you-can-eat) and so I forged ahead, ignoring the signals my stomach was transmitting to my brain. Stop you idiot! 

#7 Kogi beef short ribs

#8 Kogi beef short ribs

#9 Kogi beef short ribs

By this time, I was breaking out in meat sweats. My eyes could barely focus two feet ahead of me. I hunkered down and cut out all extraneous fillers: double layer of corn tortilla and the dressed cabbage slaw. Shannon, Kyle and Mike dropped out by this point. Admittedly, however, Mike made a valiant effort since he wanted to have the full taco experience and ate not just the beef filling but also the cabbage slaw and the shell. On the other hand,  he did wuss out and had 2 tofu tacos - not the same Mike, not the same.

Palace and I were the only ones left standing. We looked at each other and headed for the taco truck to place our orders.

#10 Kogi beef short ribs

Palace bowed out on the brink of a food coma.

#11 Kogi beef short ribs

I finally reached my goal of eating $22 worth of Kogi BBQ tacos, although at one point I think I snorted some of it because I was laughing so hard at how ridiculous we all were, me especially.

Good times.

The Kogi BBQ and Gina Alexander philanthropic event takes place every month on the last Thursday of the month. Join us although next time I promised Gina I would eat less to leave more profit for the cause.

Punchlines

At this moment, what would you say is the happiest part of your body?

Well, let's see now. Certainly not that big old zit from this morning - that's history. Okay - I would have to say toenails (final answer Regis).