On Feb. 12, Burbank held its very first Dishcrawl Event. Dishcrawl’s concept is similar to the popular bar crawls, except attendees visit different restaurants in one city, and try the local cuisine. After signing up online, participants are notified of the first meeting location 48 hours before the event. Food is included in the ticket price, which was $45, and any drinks are additional.
Our first meeting spot was Octopus. When I arrived, I was introduced to Angela, the Dishcrawl LA ambassador. She was friendly and helpful the entire night. I was pleasantly surprised that around 20 people had shown up. It was an eclectic group and was mixed with people of all ages. Some came with big groups, and others came in pairs.
We sat down at Octopus, which has really been transformed into a trendy sushi restaurant. The colors and the décor are really striking and offer a different vibe than most restaurants in Burbank. We were immediately given three small dishes, albacore sashimi with crispy onion, fire cracker spicy tuna dip and lion king shrimp tempura roll.
I am normally wary of seafood, but I really found the food to be delicious. While I don’t eat sashimi and couldn’t get myself to try it, the other two choices were absolutely delectable.
The fire cracker was essentially like a spicy tuna salsa. It was made with jalapeno, green onion, spicy mayo and Sriracha with flavorful hints of cilantro. It was served with tortilla chips and cucumber slices. The flavor was so powerful and so delightful.
The third dish, the lion king shrimp tempura roll was also really tasty. It was also flavored with spicy mayo, and had a nice, sweet crunch to it.
I decided to order the Octopus special drink, Sake Mosa, which is raspberry sake mixed with champagne. It was the perfect compliment to a delicious meal. They had other fun drinks I would love to try in the future, like the Low Calorie Colada and Sake Sunrise.
As we left Octopus, all the attendees were trying to guess where we would be traveling next. We crossed the streets of Downtown Burbank in anticipation, waiting to see what flavorful adventure would await.
We arrived at our second stop, Golden Chicken Greek and Mediterranean Cuisine. Golden Chicken is located in the little alleyway next to the candy shop on San Fernando. Oddly enough, I have walked by this restaurant for years and never stopped in, so I was glad to see this was our second stop. We were served thinly sliced lamb with rice and salad. I don’t eat lamb, but the owner was kind enough to substitute chicken. The chicken was absolutely delicious and savory, and the rice and salad were the perfect compliments.
Walking by the restaurant, I always thought it was more of a quick grab n’ go type place, but the interior is quite quaint with Greek artistic design and a cute, comfortable feel. My only advice for future events would be to add hummus to the Dishcrawl menu. One of the attendees even ordered it separately, because when in Greece…
As we left Golden Chicken full and happy, we wondered how we would ever be able to eat another bite. It turns out, we could.
Our third stop was Burbank Bar & Grille, a Burbank favorite for nightlife and music. What I didn’t expect was really, really good old-fashioned barbecue. We were each given a big plate with a Dr. Pepper braised rib, tater tots and macaroni and cheese.
Of course, it’s obvious by now that I’m a picky eater and I don’t eat beef, but I really wanted to try the sauce, so I kept it anyway. The sauce was some of the best barbecue sauce I have ever tasted. It was the perfect combination of tangy and sweet, and I would have loved to bottle that up and take it home with me.
The macaroni and cheese is exactly what you would expect from a top-notch barbecue place-cheesy, creamy and oh, so decadent. And who doesn’t love tater tots? I even found myself taking the tots and dipping them in the barbecue sauce. My one problem with Burbank Bar & Grille was that the drinks came well after we had started eating.
After the meal, we were given tasty treats from Burbank Pastry. I chose the chocolate croissant, and even though I was absolutely stuffed, I ate the entire thing. The quality of the chocolate was good and the crust was flavorful and soft.
While the food was fabulous, the best part of the night was the conversation. I met some really wonderful people. Some had been on other Dishcrawl events, and some hadn’t.
It was a great way to meet people and share conversation over a good meal. Dishcrawl is something I will definitely do again in the future, but next time, I will bring a huge group and try a city we are completely unfamiliar with.
All in all, Beautiful Burbank Dishcrawl was an absolute blast, and I hope others try future events. For more information on Dishcrawl and future events, please visit their website at http://dishcrawl.com/la.
