In the tradition of new years, best of lists are run of the mill. If you follow us on Instagram, you know how much we love food. And if you follow us there, you’ll see in real time what we are chowing on. This small list below is our best of… meaning, not the best restaurants, but, what we love to eat from LA to SF to NYC. Are we making you hungry? I hope so.

In-N-Out, need we say more?

Fancy layered cake at Bottega Louie. At $25 a pop, it’s not an everyday dessert, but it’s worth a try.

There is nothing like a bowl of hot ramen. Luckily, a new branch of Shin Sen Gumi opened up in Little Tokyo of Los Angeles for those of us that don’t want to wait in line for a bowl of ramen at Daikokuya, famous for its thick pork broth.

We had the some of the best chicken wings on our visit to Portland last year at the famed Pokpok. Angie decided to recreate it at home after finding this recipe in Food & Wine and it was awesome!

Homemade mussels in butter and fennel. Oh ya.

Park’s BBQ. We think it’s the best Korean BBQ LA has to offer.

Ten Zaru Soba at Sobaya. We always eat there at least once whenever we’re in New York.

Simple, honest food at Outerlands in San Francisco. Believe the hype. It’s good. We’d recommend going there early on a weekday morning to avoid the 1hr + wait.

Famous import from Taiwan known for their xiaolongbao aka pork soup dumplings because of the soup that flows out when you bite into the dumplings. Enough said! Their only branch in the U.S. was the one in Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles but now there is a new branch in Seattle.

Turtle Tower, specializing in Northern Vietnamese Pho. Perfect for the cold foggy days in SF.

LA taco trucks forever!

We work hard here at the Poketo studio. But, what’s new? We always hustle to bring the best and brightest, having fun and experimenting simultaneously. Working from the ground up, that’s the way we do it and everyone (that’s you reading this) along for the ride is right there with us. When it’s crazy busy, our Downtown Los Angeles offers some respite which most of the time for us, involves food. Angie had a spontaneous craving for Starry Kitchen. The Poketo crew will not argue with that.

Starry Kitchen is the now the legit LA restaurant that once started out as an underground kitchen out of the apartment of owners Thi and Nguyen Tran. Hmmmmm, sounds very familiar. You’d have to be in the know to find out when Thi and Nguyen would do their underground dinners… but, now, countless hours of sweat equity, a love for food, and a voracious fan base that spread their dream word of mouth, Thi and Nguyen opened up their first restaurant back in 2009. Two years later, Starry Kitchen is now a well established restaurant, but, still full of surprises.

Nguyen and Thi rotate the menu weekly which is what keeps things interesting. You never really know what is on the menu until you arrive. They are always trying out new recipes and this keeps things interesting, experimental, and fun. One thing for sure is that it’s always delicious.

As a matter of fact, tomorrow, their special pho will be on the menu. This is something that is rarely on the menu. From talking to Nguyen, this is a broth that’s been brewing for hours and hours and hours… I forget, I think he mentioned a full day. I forget exactly, but, when you go, just look for the very energetic and awesome guy in the front… ask Nguyen anything, he is not shy and he’ll let you know exactly what’s up (he’s known to be so stoked on his customers and excited about the food that, well, he kicks holes in the wall). It’s true, Starry Kitchen is far from a hole in the wall, but, yes, there is a hole in the wall.

I know I’m a little late for all of the abundant Gung Hay Fat Choy wishes… but, I hope it’s never too late to share some Joe’s Shanghai soup dumpling and food action we had over Chinese New Year while in New York…. enjoy….

It was around this time last year that we took off to Asia for about a month. I love stepping out of the hometown and away from the normal routine every so often. Asia is always great for inspiration and great for being overly stimulated– lights, color, ideas, and foooooood! Here are some visual treats from Hong Kong.