Short Rib Tacos Inspired by Chef Roy Choi

Short Rib Tacos Inspired by Chef Roy Choi

Short Rib Tacos Inspired by Chef Roy Choi
🌮 🌮 🌮

The starting point for these tacos was at Best Friend, Roy Choi’s Las Vegas restaurant, where we enjoyed his Kogi Short Rib Tacos, among other terrific dishes. Bold, slightly sweet, and layered with Korean barbecue flavor, they put the spotlight on flanken-style short ribs—thinly sliced across the bone with plenty of marbling.

I took that same cut in a different direction. Instead of a BBQ marinade and the grill, I used a hot pan and a simple rub of salt, pepper, cumin, and chile powder. The short ribs seared in a thin layer of avocado oil until deeply browned, then were chopped and returned to the pan briefly to crisp the edges.

Short Rib Tacos Inspired by Chef Roy Choi

Flanken-style short rib works especially well for tacos because it’s cut across the grain and has enough marbling to stay juicy while developing great browning. The result is a deeper, more rounded beef flavor without long cooking.

I kept the toppings simple: diced onion, cilantro, shredded cabbage, a quick avocado mash with lime, salt, and pepper, and a drizzle of Mexican crema mixed with garlic and salt. Salsa roja and salsa verde were served on the side, letting the beef stay front and center while guests add salsa to their liking.

Best Friend, Las Vegas
Best Friend, Las Vegas
Kogi Short Rib Tacos at Best Friend
Kogi Short Rib Tacos at Best Friend
Best Friend, Las Vegas
Best Friend, Las Vegas

Roy Choi’s Best Friend is an indelible mash-up of bodega, bar and restaurant, serving Chef Roy’s greatest hits and more from his famous LA food truck, Kogi to his restaurants and other ventures. All of this is remixed and remastered in a new way for Las Vegas. (from Park MGM)

Short Rib Tacos Recipe

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Soy Sauce Ice Cream

Soy Sauce Ice Cream

Soy Sauce Ice Cream
🍦 🍨 🍦

Recently, my brother and sister-in-law returned from a trip to Vietnam and Thailand. While wandering through the bustle of Bangkok’s Chinatown, surrounded by street vendors, they came across something unexpected: Soy Sauce Ice Cream. They wrote then that it was surprisingly delicious.

Naturally, I had to try it myself—and it turned out to be a hit here in Las Vegas, too. The version in Bangkok’s Chinatown was soft-serve, served simply in paper cups without garnish. My take is a bit more dressed up—suited for a dinner party, finished with whipped cream, chopped peanuts, and black sesame seeds.

Each garnish plays a role: the whipped cream softens the salty edge and adds a light, creamy layer; the peanuts bring crunch and a warm, nutty note; and the striking black sesame seeds add a subtle earthiness that deepens the flavor. Together, these elements create a balanced mix of salty, creamy, crunchy, savory, and sweet that makes the dessert truly shine.

You can absolutely make the vanilla ice cream from scratch, but this version is quick and easy, using a good-quality store-bought base.

Soy Sauce Ice Cream

Soy Sauce Ice Cream Recipe

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Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed
🐟 🍚 🌿

Hijiki is a dried Japanese sea vegetable that looks like thin, wiry black strands and is typically rehydrated before cooking. Once it softens, it takes on a tender, slightly chewy texture and a deep, savory flavor with subtle mineral notes from the sea.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Here, it cooks right alongside short grain rice in a light dashi seasoned with sake, soy sauce, and a touch of sesame oil, infusing the grains with oceanic character. That makes it an especially natural partner for hot-smoked salmon. Set over the warm rice to gently heat through, the fish releases its seasoned oils—salt, a hint of brown sugar, and alderwood smoke—into the grains below.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Finished with sliced scallions, fresh cilantro, thin rounds of Fresno chile, and lemon wedges for brightness, it’s deeply savory and completely crave-worthy.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed Recipe

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Matzah and Haroset

Matzah and Haroset

Matzah and Haroset
🫓 🫓 🫓 🍎 🍎 🍎

Each year at Passover, we journey in our hearts from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy. Through foods steeped in meaning, we are compelled to experience that journey, just as our ancestors did over 3,000 years ago. Among the symbolic foods on our table are matzah and haroset.

This year, we served special handmade shmura matzos baked in Israel, certified to the highest kosher standards. (Thank you, Rich!) Shmura matzah—“watched” matzah—is carefully supervised from wheat harvest to baking to ensure it stays completely unleavened, making it the most authentic choice for Passover.

It is known as “the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt,” reminding us of a life shaped by hardship—plain, quickly made, and born of necessity. Yet that same flatbread takes on new meaning at the moment of liberation. As we prepared to leave Egypt, there was no time for dough to rise. What we baked in haste became the bread we carried into freedom, marking the urgency and immediacy of our departure. These two meanings—affliction and haste—are intertwined. Matzah is both the bread of our suffering and the bread of our redemption.

Matzah and Haroset

Haroset, another essential food on our Seder table, is a sweet, spiced fruit and nut mixture that carries its own story. Its coarse texture and reddish-brown color evoke the bricks and mortar we labored over as slaves, shaping and stacking them to build Pharaoh’s cities. Its sweetness reflects the joy we felt the moment Pharaoh finally freed us from slavery, following God’s sending of the tenth plague.

Here, I’m sharing my sister-in-law’s recipe, a cherished family favorite that brings both delicious flavor and tradition to the table. (Thank you, Kristy!)

Haroset Recipe
🍎 🍋 🍷 🍯

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Passover Recipes Collection

Passover Recipes Collection

Passover Recipes Collection

For nearly two decades, I’ve been sharing Passover recipes here on Taste With The Eyes—dishes that return to our table year after year, each one tied to memory, meaning, and tradition.

In this collection, you’ll find some of my most-loved recipes, from symbolic haroset and tender matzo ball soup to my much-requested brisket and more. These are the dishes that define our Seder—familiar, meaningful, and deeply rooted in the story we retell each spring.

The Passover Seder recounts our journey from slavery to freedom, a story that has been told for over 3,000 years. While the narrative remains unchanged, each year it resonates in new ways. Our menu, evolves gently—yet always honors tradition.

And yes… our tables are covered with frogs. A whimsical nod to the plagues, our Passover Frog Collection has become part of the celebration, adding a touch of personality and joy to the evening (you can read more about that here). 🐸

Passover Recipes Collection

Passover Recipes

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