La Underground Market

I kinda liked the first one I went to in San Pedro, but the last one I went to a few days ago was a huge let down. We had to pay $ 10 each to get in, there was no alcohol, and then I had to pay $ 3 – 5 per «tasting» which was a pretty large serving of food. I couldn’t really get more than 2 things cause I was full. And there’s a lot of sliders and mac and cheese, like another reviewer said. This last one was just in a parking lot in a shady part of town by some railroad tracks. What a waste of time and money. Booooo.

This is actually a really cool concept, but I thought the execution wasn’t that great. If you look at their website, it looks like you’re going to go to a secret location and then you get to try adventurous creations that chefs are testing out before they roll it out at their restaurants.
What it turned out to be was more like a food truck gathering, except with booths instead of the truck. The secret location thing is cool, but it really limits the place because these guys don’t really have kitchens per se… they are limited to propane burners (so basically they can only keep food warm). And to be honest most of the vendors foods weren’t really that adventurous. A lot of comfort type food truck foods like sliders and mac and cheese. Which don’t get me wrong I do enjoy this kind of food but I was really expecting more inventive dishes like the ones in the pictures on their website. Also for a dinner time event, there was a preponderance of dessert and sweets and baked goods out there and there seemed to be much less savory options.
I got there right at 6 and some of the cooks weren’t really quite setup yet. They needed a bit more time. I’d recommend showing up slightly later if you do go, so they would have time to get their operations going and workout some of the kinks in the food service. They did have a band for entertainment, and when the band came on it changed the vibe of the event and it felt more fun. It was a bit weird to be just standing around a parking lot with a bunch of people eating but like no entertainment or music going on earlier in the event.
If you make this a date night and you want to sample a variety of things for two people the bill will add up pretty quickly and before you know it you’ll have dropped like $ 40 each. Your best bet if you go to this event I feel is if you go with about 4 people and get a bunch of stuff and do little tasters of each.
Perhaps I went to an off night, I’m not sure. I’d give this event another try, but I’d hope they curate the food more evenly (as they said they would on their website!) One can only eat so many cakes and ice creams in a row! I might also be grumpy because their alcohol permit was denied.
P. S. the secret location this time was a parking lot in an industrial area of Boyle Heights.

Well, I see some great reviews.
It is definitely worth checking this event out: the stands are many and the vibe was great. Be mindful: it’s cash only!
I had tamales (they were ok, but I had better), Beef sliders (had better), some fried rice w/​chimchi made from a winner of chopped (this last one was really good) — and the coconut gelato was awesome too. Glad they had beers & wine.
The event got hosted in Downtown LA, it was a nice venue, very industrial, a warehouse. Rock band started to play live.
Was easy to park.

I went to the LA underground market when it was located at the Korova DTLA. To attend the market I had to sign a waiver on their website (so I guess I can’t sue if I get food poisoning), and they provided me with the location of the market and the password to get in via email. The market itself was basically inside a big warehouse with a stage to accommodate the live band. There were also an area with a few arcade games. The doors were open from 6 – 9 PM, but I highly suggest going early! I got there around 7:30 and many of the items were already sold out. The entrance fee was $ 10 and most food items prices vary from $ 2 – 10 dollar, CASH ONLY!
Many of the culinary creations they served were made up of unique combinations of flavors and ingredients. I tried things like gator tacos, duck wing sliders, buffalo meatballs, and chocolate stir fry noodles. Definitely come with an open mind, and be ready to try some interesting things!
My experience over all was great, I love trying new things, but the most of food only tasted OK.

Just as they advertise on their homepage, this event is for adventerous foodies. The event is held every month at a secret location. You pay for tickets online and then they email you the address the night before the event (along with a password that you have to tell the doorman when you get there). The secretive nature of it is for laughs and giggles (I think) since I never got to actually say the password. The person in front of me did – and she was quite serious about it. Just how serious? Think of Tom Cruise, in Eyes Wide Shut, wearing his mask and demurely saying «Fidelio.»
It’s nothing like that.
But it’s a great event for your gustatory senses, that’s for sure.
The event this past month was held in Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles, a warehouse for local artisans who sell and promote things like hand-​made jewlery, braids, etc. I would love to elaborate on the décor and things like ease of parking but since this is a rotating event (it will be somewhere else next month), it would be a bit futile (though I will write a separate review on Crafted later).
It’s basically a market of various home chefs who run their own private catering businesses or budding food truck industry with dozens of different tables selling unique kitchen concoctions such as Double Chocolate Spinach and Hemp Brownie Bites (obviously vegan and gluten-​free if you were wondering). Everything is cheap, costing between$ 2 to $ 5. Every table offers samples and you could get full just off of trying samples from every table, which is impossible because just about every table is delicious that you end up buying a little bit of something from just about everyone (at least my group did). Pretty soon, you’re juggling a salad, a couple sliders, a bowl of something-​whatever-​the-​hell-​it-​is-​but-​its-​delicious and a wad of cash.
When you arrive, you’re given a puzzle piece and instructed to give it to the table with the best food. The table with the most puzzle pieces at the end of the night gets the dubious honor of being badass magicians of the kitchen.
Here’s what I tried:
–Dark Chocolate Coconut Zucchini Muffins
–Roasted Pumpkin Spice Brownie Bites
–Coca Fire Noodles
–Crunchy Coca Kale Salad with almonds and chocolate sesame drizzle
–Cuban vegetarian Frita sliders made with walnut meat and tofu served with homemade ketchup and grilled onion.
–Chicken Mole Tacos made with San Angel Mole red, black and «Cascabel»
–Filipino Pork Adobo Tamales
–French Macaroons:
— Lavender
— Green Tea
— Red Velvet
— Passionfruit
— Salted Caramel
–Lemonade mixed with rosemary (soooooo good)
–Cake
— Carrot Cake with goat cheese frosting, topped with a candied apple slice
–Mexican and Irish (Awesome, I know) pulled pork street taco (so freaking spicy and so freaking good).
–Spicy Pear Bruschetta
–Chicken Biryani. Chicken is marinated in Yogurt and turmeric and then slow cooked with Basmati rice along with spices.
–Drunken cakepops (DRUNKEN cake pops!!!) which include (and I bought almost all of them):
— Midori «The Original»
— German Chocolate Whiskey
— Birthday Cake Shot
— Lemon Drop Martini
— Chocolate Chip Martini
— Red Wine Velvet
— Southern Gentleman
— Amaretto Almond
— Drunken Monkey
My favorite was the Cuban vegetarian Frita sliders made with walnut meat and tofu served with homemade ketchup and grilled onion. They very much deserved my puzzle piece and I must have purchased a dozen sliders from them by the end of the night. They were also extremely nice, down-​to-​earth folks who loved interacting with everyone at the market, sharing their kitchen tradecraft and why they love what they do. Before the market closed, we bought another pair of sliders and they gave us five additional sliders free (even saran wrapping the free ones for us to eat later).
Another highlight were the drunken cake pops. Drunken Freaking Cake Pops. I’m not even a cake pop person. I enjoy making fun of cake pop people (they clog the line at Starbucks). But I had one bite of the Southern Gentlemen (Bourbon, chocolate, jack daniels – um, awesome) and I ended up shouting «Oh My God!» 5 seconds later, I heard a girl say the same thing behind me and I thought she was making fun of me. I turned around and saw her mouth full of the same cake pop I got. They were sold by two very lovely ladies who started this businesses just 8 months ago and have already generated some serious buzz (they were even invited to the academy awards). I ended buying 8 of them to take home.
If you love food, if you love interacting with the ones who bring you good food, if you love having taste-​sensory overload, make your way to the next LA Underground Market.
Also, wear a pair of comfortable shoes. If you’re having a great time, which you will, you’ll be on your feet, walking from table to table and eating tasty morsels and swigging craft beer for the next three hours.

What an interesting food event. You have to become member and you then get an invite via email with secret place and password.
This time there were many food vendors and I had such a good time going all around, trying duck sliders, Indian food, Italian food, etc.
Prices are super cheap and you can get a lot of food with just $ 20!!!
I’ll definitely come back!

LA Underground Market had me at secret location and food.
Today (Feb 8) is the first run. In one location, many vendors gathered Some were home cooks, some were catering businesses, and some were chefs from cafes. Food ranging from salted caramel chocolate chip cookies to kimchi spam beignets to orange habanero frog legs on a polenta cake were served. There were a lot of items to choose from.
The most interesting/​yummy vendor here was WAKO. She had the most amazing spaghetti squash dumplings. They were elegant and tasty.
Sign up for the emails on the website and wait for the reveal that comes the day before the event. Admission is $ 10 + the secret password. Stay turned for next time.