gr/eats

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I went to lunch at gr/eats after receiving the recommendation of yam fries from Tim. We had no idea that the GR stood for Giant Robot until we arrived and saw the sign (it is also a few feet away from the Giant Robot 2 store, GR2). Giant Robot started as a magazine that focuses on celebrities, musicians, skaters, technology, toys, books, and any other cool aspect of Asian and Asian-American pop culture. Their stores have fun toys, books, t-shirts, stationary and art. GR2 has a rotating art exhibit. They had an exhibit of Susie Ghahremani called “The Wild Life.” I like her designs a lot and keep meaning to buy the Owl To-Do List (Yes, I have a to-do list that says “buy cute owl To-Do list”) The day we were there, there was a cool exhibit for Masakatsu Sashi called “Under Fluorescent Light.” This day was also the first time I heard about Pachinko, a Japanese game that is a mix of a pinball and slot machine! I have completely gone off topic…

I ordered the Iced Green Tea and was pleasantly surprised by it’s bright, dark green color along with the thoughtful bottle of simple syrup (any experienced iced-anything drinker knows that cold drinks and table sugar don’t work well). I loved this green tea so much and was so excited by it that I accidentally dropped my glass, spilling it everywhere, but mostly on my shirt and my face. My boyfriend could not stop laughing. The staff were beyond kind, friendly, and nice about it. They moved us to a new table and cleaned up my embarrassing mess.

We ordered the gr/eats Mixed Fries which are lightly fried mix of shoestring potatoes, yams, and bananas. I love yams. I love bananas. I had to order this. Words can’t describe how disappointed to find only 2 slices of banana fries, but I got over it because the other fries were delicious. Since they were lightly fried, I was able to pick up on the vegetable more than usual fried foods (which deceptively encouraged me to believe that what I was eating was healthy). I enjoyed the yam fries the best, but all three kinds were tasty.

We also ordered the Okra Rolls. I believe okra is an undervalued vegetable and do not see it very often. Maybe I’m not going to the right places, but because I never see it I had to order it here. The okra rolls were composed of chicken, okra, and enoki mushroom wrapped in a lightly fried roll and topped with avocado and a special sauce. This was my favorite of all the things we ordered. Each bite had a crunch, but melted in your mouth. The combination of the chicken, okra, and mushroom brought out each ingredient’s strength and the avocado was like icing on a cake.

I ordered Seared Tuna Sandwich for my main lunch course. It was seared and seasoned sashimi-grade tuna with grilled onion and a light sauce on a roll. I chose a small salad to join this sandwich since we already had fries on the table. The tuna was good and went well with the onion. There was a little too much roll going on, but that might be because I am used to eating tuna solo without a heavy carb accompanying it.

It was a pretty light lunch and I feel like if we had not ordered the appetizers, I would have left hungry. Overall, the place was relaxed, warm, and delicious. I plan to go again someday and try some of their other dishes like the paella or the tofu meatball plate.

gr/eats
2050 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 478-3242