Plugs — Randy Moon

L.A. food, drink, and leisure recs from one of the four horsemen + LINKS

Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!)

#56 is Randy Moon, the co-owner of the pioneering Brooklyn wine bar The Four Horsemen, next-door bar Nightmoves, and a third restaurant coming soon. But here’s the thing: even though Randy runs a trio of New York’s most sought-after spots, a few years ago, he moved to Los Angeles (and now works off Zoom). After Bryan Carter plugged Randy as his person, calling him “a pure encyclopedia of exceptional eating and drinking establishments,” I knew I had to meet him. I’m thrilled that he was up for sharing his Plugs. Randy and his colleagues just released a cookbook with recipes by the incredibly talented chef

Nick Curtola

and assists from food writer Gabe Ulla and fellow horsemen James Murhpy and Justin Chearno. It’s called The Four Horsemen: Food and Wine for Good Times. Here are his L.A. Plugs!

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Restaurant — Book Sae Tong & Olympic Cheonggukjang

I wanted to do an all-Korean list (I am not) because it sure seems like the old stalwarts of the neighborhood are closing and that makes me sad. Rumor is the matriarch of the Korean asado, Book Sae Tong, is retiring, and taking with her one of the greatest bites in all of Los Angeles: the whole short rib that is preordered and grilled low and slow so when you arrive, it’s ready to eat and served with textbook pico de gallo and rotating banchan. It will be missed.

Olympic Cheonggukjang at lunch is full of elderly Koreans mostly eating cheonggukjang (a type of fermented soybean stew) and a broiled fish. The galbi-jjim can feed 4, or two hungry people, and the owner is quick to tell you that all their meat is fresh, never frozen, and that they don’t use any white sugar: all sweetness comes from fruit juice and fruit syrups that they make. It’s fantastic.

Olympic Cheonggukjang. Photo by Randy Moon.

Bonus: if you know what this place is, I’ll take your other Korean recommendations.

Name this pink house. Photo by Randy Moon.