The best food is all about love.
From its origins, to the creative thought process, to the experimentation, to the finished product served to you hot and fresh. Love. Love. Love.
Andrea Uyeda loves to cook and cooks what she loves. She is passionate about food thanks to her upbringing where she was designated the preparer of the family’s meals. She later went on to be a partner at Border Grill for 18 years. Drawing on years of creating rice dishes served in bowls as well as her vast experience in the food industry managing catering and a restaurant, Uyeda invested her life savings into her passion project:? ediBOL.
“Bowls to me represent family, love, comfort,” she told The Rafu Shimpo. “I wanted to recreate that and share it with others. I cook with my heart, while adding something new and different that people may not have tried before.”
Trying to nail down the type of food that ediBOL represents is tough. But the basic premise is that all of the food served has its origins — its spirit — grounded in rice bowls. As for the flavors, there’s Japanese influence of course, but there’s subtle hints as well as full on explosions of other flavors — Mexican and Thai and Korean and Chinese and German and Vietnamese.
Uyeda goes off of her feelings, her own personal likes, and her nifty ideas when it comes to creating the menu. Perhaps the most popular bowl, the BOLicious, sums up her innovation. The BOLicious consists of umami fried heirloom rice topped with a crispy poached egg, seared greens, pickled tomatoes, kohlrabi wedges, cucumber scallion relish, and homemadetogarashi.
Other bols include a miso peanut ramen, a honey citrus, and the BOLina made of butternut rajas, homemade black beans, corn tortillas, fried egg, tomatillo pineapple salsa, and citrus slaw. Also on the menu is a pretzel grilled cheese BOl-wich, hand-crafted cocktails, and refreshaBOLs, which are specially made juices.
“These dishes are an expression of what I love doing,” Uyeda said. “But with bold flavors so that each bite is a surprise.”
EdiBOL is located at 300 S. Santa Fe Ave. in Los Angeles. It is open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Free parking is available at the parking lot on Third Street. The restaurant features a large patio space that Uyeda says is open for the use of the community.