Dig Lounge

Kogi isn’t the only Korean food truck in town. The Flying Hotteok serves the classic South Korean sweet treat from a parking lot mall in Korea Town. But I’m not here because I have a sweet tooth. I’m here for their potato wrapped hot dog on a stick. I’m not sure of the origin of this yummy deep fried collaboration of hot dog and potato, maybe it’s the way hotteok is pronounced, hot duk.

But it sure hit the spot after a long day of hiking. There are two variations of the dog here. One, called hot dog with potato and the other, excuse the broken English, hot dog with inside sausage. At only $2 bucks each, we try both. The dogs are both battered, not with your typical corn dog batter, but something of a sweeter variety made with flour. The potato version is then rolled in little chunks of potato and submerged in the hot fryer. The plain dog is battered a little bit thicker and then rolled in what seemed to be some sort of panko type flakes.

The dogs are served topped with old fashioned ketchup and yellow mustard. A little bummed, I was expecting some spicy Korean version of ketchup. The potato is lovely and crisp on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. It’s unfortunate that the hot dog inside is bland and boring. I could imagine how this would be, with an authentic Nathan’s or even a Let’s Be Frank dog, on the inside. Maybe Pinks could add it to their menu as a homage to the large Korean population in LA.

The Flying Hotteok is located, for now, in the IB Plaza on Western just south of 8th Street.

Almost as bright as a big yellow bus.

Very few choices, a hotteok, bean cake, or fried hotdog on a stick.

Deep fried, covered with potato, mustard, and ketchup.

Too bad the hotdog itself was on the bland side.

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