Best Friend

Celebrity chefs come and go, but LA-based food truck pioneer Roy Choi is one of only several we’ve cared about for years, and Best Friend – a dinner-only venue inside the Park MGM hotel in Las Vegas – is currently the largest way to experience his food. Choi became famous for simultaneously launching Kogi BBQ, an innovative and fantastic Korean-Mexican taco truck, while inspiring a revolutionary (truck-based) approach to testing esoteric concepts that might or might not work in traditional restaurants. Though Kogi trucks still roam LA’s streets, other Choi restaurants have unfortunately disappeared, leaving Best Friend as his only remaining sit-down restaurant.

Visiting Best Friend is a deliberately throwback experience: Hidden behind a bodega and merch store (that now has its own limited seating area) filled with low-fi, ’80’s-style signage and art, the main dining room has a sort of “secret garden party” vibe, with speakers blasting all the best hip-hop tracks from the late 90’s and early 00’s. Casually friendly servers in track suits offer menu tips and quickly process orders, bringing icy slushies and hot dishes to your table faster than you might imagine. Everything feels effortlessly cool, except for the food, which frequently comes out very hot, and most of the time (wonderfully, authentically) spicy unless you order carefully.

Easy picks include the always-excellent Kogi bulgogi tacos and uni dynamite rice (shown above), which have Choi-inspired fusion elements, and are unlike many of the purely Korean options here. Other opportunities to explore the Latin-Asian fusion concepts Choi popularized years ago at LA’s A-Frame and Kogi include yuzu shrimp and chimichurri BBQ scallops, which are standouts here unless overcooked – which does happen, regrettably – as well as chili mayo-coated Slippery Shrimp, hoisin-mustard Sticky Icky Ribs, and bowls like Birria Ramen, the latter tasty, but not invented by Choi’s team.