Los Angeles’ first ever BOLO culinary concept is cooking up the best savory chicken and ice cream confections this city has to offer. And I say this as someone who loves chicken more than most – it’s like half of what I eat.
You can try them each Sunday exclusively at Smorgasburg LA, a downtown food bazaar that attracts massive crowds with its diverse food and sophisticated shopping offerings. Think vintage stores, high-end soaps and adventurous and satisfying food pop-ups.
I strolled to BOLO’s booth ready to dig in. I always save a healthy appetite for food events, and this day was no exception.
Business was popping off bigly. Though the event had barely started, BOLO was blessed with a 15-person deep line licking their chops to try these hot new eats.
BOLO takes the traditional Hong Kong pineapple bun and stuffs it with Jidori Fried Chicken or different ice cream flavors. The concept is simple yet bursting with creativity. Each menu item is eye-popping, the luminous buttered toasted buns perfectly contrasting the deep brown chicken or kaleidoscopic ice cream offerings.
I had Fried Chick’n Sando, described on the menu as “a portable feast”. It’s made with juicy fried Jidori chicken breast covered with spicy garlicky aioli, topped with Cantonese slaw and stuffed between a hot and tasty bolo.
This was the best chicken I’ve had in many many years. I said as much in the opening paragraph, but it bears repeating.
The meat is perfectly tender, peeling off in your molars as flavors rush at you in balanced-yet-powerful waves. You taste the butter, the pineapple, the aioli, and damn does it all feel right.
You can always tell I love a meal when I swear a lot, and this sh*t was great. I had to have desert after that filling fare, and damn if I wasn’t floored again.
I had the Ube Bae Ice Cream Sando first because it looks like magical unicorn food, and second because I’m obsessed with the 2007 hit song ‘Ay Bay Bay’ by Hurricane Chris. I was rapping Ube Bae to myself well before I ordered this decadent dessert.
It’s made with creamy ube ice cream with milk drizzle, topped with colorful sprinkles sandwiched between – you guessed it – hot butter toasted bolo.
This was a triumph. I anticipated the ice cream being a little too sweet, what with the brilliant color palette in front of me, but it was more rich and even than I imagined. I’ve actually never had ice cream like it.
It tasted expensive, like something you’d sample on a yacht, yet was presented in a dazzling, easy-to-love package
I didn’t want to leave, but I knew Id eat everything in sight if I didn’t. BOLO is slated to open at Potluck Food Hall in the beginning of next year, but don’t wait: this is the kind of food you want to experience now, before the rest of the city catches on and you have to wait in hour long lines to try it.
Getchu some now from 10am until they sellout, every Sunday at Smorgasburg LA.
