Filipino Eatery, Rice Bar, Opens in Downtown Los Angeles
Rice Bar just opened up its doors in Downtown Los Angeles 3 days ago and the word is getting out! The Filipino eatery is made possible by Santos Uy (owner at Papilles and Mignon) and Charles Olalia, who served previously as executive chef at Patina and chef de cuisine at mar’sel at the Terranea Resort. So what happens when a chef that is used to cooking at Michelin star restaurants opens a restaurant that is less than 300 square feet? That's smaller than some people's bathrooms! 
Rice Bar is all about fast food with high-end ingredients such as heirloom rice that comes straight from fair trade farms in the Philippines. They are starting with 8 different kinds of rice. Each bowl is around $10. 
Dilis aka sun dried anchovies (a specialty in Cebu) deep-fried and topped off with avocado, tomato, radish, and scallion salad over rice.
Pancit Luglog with thick rice noodles with baby shrimp, shellfish sauce, green onions, annatto, boiled egg, and pork chicharonnes.
Rice Bar's mushroom tamales aka sticky rice flavored with soy and coconut vinegar, stuffed with mushrooms, black bean sauce & salted duck egg, wrapped in lotus leaf. 
Chef Olalia's Longanisa with garlic fried rice and a fried egg. 
Bistek Tagalog aka soy marinated black angus beef sirloin, pan seared, with red onions & calamansi. This was my favorite bowl of the night! You could taste so much flavor all marinated into the onions. The beef very buttery. At the beginning of the meal, the meat was looking like this:
What a beautiful sight! 
By now I was stuffed. I thought the meal was over, but then Chef Olalia brought out the pandan leaves. Oh my God. I knew I was in for something special. My regular readers and followers will remember how obsessed I am with pandan. 
So what sort of delicious pandan confection would our chef be making?
Fucking Bukko Pandan Marshmallow Rice Krispies! I lost my shit. Excuse the French. It was so delicious. This needs to be my breakfast every morning with a cup of jo. The rice krispie melted in my mouth. The pandan flavor was creamy. It made the most delicious frosting. Screw Nutella. Pandan has nothing on that. Chef Olalia and the guests next to me then watched with a half horrified and half impressed look as I downed the entire thing and the quarter left over by my tablemate.
Rice Bar is currently open Monday-Thursday 11 am-5 pm. They want to start serving breakfast in the near future so check back for updates. It's great to see more Filipino food in Los Angeles! Seating is tight. It fits about 7 people so getting take out is your best bet. Let me know what you guys think of the new Downtown L.A. addition!
419 W 7th St Los Angeles, CA 90014 Website: ricebarla.com
