A-Frame: Global Fusion Food, Social Eating

First thing you notice is that A-Frame is an old International House of Pancakes building, thus the name A-Frame.  Founded by the same guy who helped kick-start the gourmet food truck phenomenon with the Kogi Korean BBQ truck, Roy Choi has brought his own unique take on hands-on, communal eating. The inviting wood-grain interior is matched with a small outdoor seating section complete with heat lamps and a fire pit.  On a nice summer evening—and if you don’t mind the occasional traffic sounds—I’d highly suggest enjoying what A-Frame has to offer outside.

Since A-Frame does not take reservations, they find a spot to fit your party where first available. This might mean you are sharing a large table with two, four or even six other people.  This dinner with strangers concept is designed to get you chatting and hopefully sharing dishes with each other.  

Personally, I love this. Most people, as judged by the laughter and sharing that regularly goes on, seem to be pretty amiable to the concept.  All of this, is of course, made possible by good food.

First stop on the menu, after you order your drinks, is to order the sweet and spicy Furikake Kettle Corn. This Hawaiian take on traditional Kettle Corn is a huge hit and like the Five Dollar Shake in Pulp Fiction, you won’t mind paying six bucks for a bowl of this stuff. Take the popcorn add the venerable Corn Pops cereal, butter, furikake (a Japanese condiment), chili flakes and a few more ingredients, and my only disappointment is that they don’t sell bags of this stuff.

The Scallop Crudo ($11) with incredibly fresh scallops, citrus, yogurt tahini, baby zucchini and chopped bacon is also a winner. It's my favorite A-Frame dish. I find it to be a perfect blend, every ingredient highlighting each other, merging into one phenomenal bite.  The clam chowder ($11) is also a unique take on the traditional soup—although, as a friend commented, the curry-lemongrass-coconut milk based chowder can come across tasting a bit soapy.  For me, let those toasted sourdough slices sit in that broth and soak it up.

Next came the Baby Back Ribs. I started out as a big fan of these, but in subsequent visits my love for the dish fell off precipitously. I love Sriracha, but I get a strong coating of that type of flavor mixed with sweet hoisin sauce all over my mouth.  It is however worth trying.  I can unequivocally recommend the whole Cracklin Beer Can Chicken for $19.  A whole chicken is perfectly sized to share and the well-spiced, wonderfully crispy skin balanced by the juicy meat makes this dish a winner. A-Frame serves their chicken with sides of kimchi, two types of salsa and a Century egg. Unlike some of the Century eggs that are so well-preserved that they are dark all the way through, the A-Frame Century egg is nicely coated with soy (I think) and the center of the hard-boiled egg still pure yellow.

Other items on the recommendation list are the Barbecue Lamb Chops, the 5-Grain Pan de Sal bread, the thick cut Kitchen Fries with three types of starches (including purple Okinawan sweet potato), a twice baked potato dish called the Dyn-O-Mite and any of the desserts. And those are just the dishes I’ve tried.

A-Frame includes a full bar that regularly changes the mixed drink menu.  Recently I tried a drink called the Anchorman with scotch, ginger agave nectar and lemon which I increasingly enjoyed the deeper I got into the glass. Was it $11 good? Sure.  Living in this city, I have paid more for much lesser drinks.

Finally, if you want coffee to end your meal, A-Frame serves it Vietnamese-style using a drip canister to slowly fill your cup from the bottom up. A beautiful presentation that brews a good cup of coffee.

Just when you think the little touches are done the great waitstaff delivers your bill with a reclaimed card.  In the times I have visited A-Frame, my friends and I have discussed a postcard from post WWII Pearl Harbor and wondered what situation would cause someone to write such a passive-aggressive holiday card.  Again, this leads to conversations with people around you, bringing a cool and fun closure to an unexpectedly social and incredibly tasty meal.  I wholeheartedly suggest visiting A-Frame, which will leave you eating some good food and maybe walking away with a new friend.

A-Frame at 12565 Washington Blvd. is open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m.-3:30 p.m. and dinner every night from 5 p.m.-12 a.m., with the bartender mixing drinks until last call, half an hour before closing down at 2 a.m.