I recently returned from Los Angeles, where I found a great restaurant for those needing gluten free options: Broken Mouth! Rated by Yelp as the #1 restaurant in the entire nation, Chef Tim Lee cooks up authentic Korean-Hawaiian cuisine in a chill, urban food court in the city’s Fashion District. Other than sandwiches, everything else is gluten free and, of course, delicious!
I ordered the Beef Plate Lunch, which is a generous portion of Hawaii’s Meat Jun (egg-battered ribeye beef slices with a special meat jun sauce) on top of purple rice and Korean greens. The beef was tender, and the egg batter and sauce added a nice texture and taste to it. Once it is mixed with the purple rice and greens, the flavors come together beautifully.
My husband ordered the Shrimp Plate Lunch, featuring five Kahuku-style garlic butter shrimp placed on top of purple rice and Korean greens. He loved it! Chef Lee told us that the shrimp are cooked with the shell on and can be eaten that way if someone wants, and my husband enjoyed the crunch with the Kahuku-style coating when balanced with the rice and greens. A lemon came with it, and he added it to the dish, but that probably wasn’t even necessary because it tasted so good!
To finish off, we shared two orders of the Spam Musubi, a Hawaiian snack made from grilled Spam on top of purple rice and wrapped in nori (seaweed wrap sometimes used in sushi). Both of us fell in love with this amazing gluten free treat! The flavorful purple rice and the nori created a sweet taste that complimented the Spam excellently. We ate one when we picked up the food and saved the other to eat a few hours later – and it tasted even better later!
I cannot write more glowingly of Chef Lee’s Broken Mouth. For those gluten free eaters in the Carolinas, this is a must try if you find yourself in Los Angeles!
Oh my gosh all of this looks incredible! I love spam musubi and haven’t had it in years! I’d definitely love to go here.
It was my first time having it, and I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it!
Looks amazing!
Everything was delicious! Can’t wait to go back!
The food looks good. I didn’t realize that anything can be made out of spam. LOL. That’s what I miss about being in Calif. I had some great food there.
I had no idea either!! And I agree – California has such a variety of wonderful food to try!
This restaurant looks amazing! My family will definitely try it next time we are in LA.
Good idea – you’ll enjoy it, Michelle!
Korean and Hawaiian sounds like a great fusion of tastes! I should check to see if they have anything like that in Chicago.
It was new for me, too! We really enjoyed the flavors!
My husband will be in LA soon, I’ll let him know as this looks great! Thanks for sharing as gluten free places to eat aren’t always easy to find
Sounds great! Thanks for stopping by, Belle!
This sounds like an amazing restaurant. Next time I’m out west I’ll have to try it!
I have no doubt you’ll have a great experience, Debbie. Thanks for dropping by!
It looks so yummy! That Spam Musubi looks like something I definitely need to try!
Everything was delicious, but the Spam Musubi was probably my favorite!
Korean and Hawaiian sounds like a great fusion of tastes and flavors. haven’t thought of combining those too but would be amazing
I hadn’t either – it was all new to me as well. Thanks for stopping by, Tianna!