k'ya Street Fare as Strong (and Strange) as Ever

The non-po' boy po' boy

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A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a guest speaker at Cal State Fullerton who stayed at the Hotel Menage in Anaheim. After his lecture, we invited students for a post-lecture eat at k'ya Street Fare, which we reviewed way back in 2009. I had never been, but remembered Edwin liked it and heard others had good experiences. Plus, almost none of the platters were below $10, so perfect student food.

The menu, of course, is voluminous, broken up into cities under which a couple of items from a particular cuisine are offered (Bangkok has Thai, Venice is Italian, and so forth). Earlier in the day, I had had their fried chicken sliders--crunchy, with a tart slaw and a firm bread--so I stuck with sandwiches and ordered a po' boy.

While delicious--the breading around the shrimp was as toothsome as cotton candy--this was not a po' boy. Tomatoes were too big, dressing nonexistent, bread fine but not a proper baguette. It was a filling "po' boy" but better they call it a New Orleans sandwich than a po' boy. Much better, though, was the spam Musubi (deleted the picture--sorry!)--a brick of rice wrapped by toasted nori and a drizzle of soy sauce--probably the best spam Musubi around--and definitely the best bargain at an incredible three bucks.

k'ya's design is fine, but the restaurant was empty when we went. I know the Menage is trying to be hip--and it is a great spot--but the only problem is all those damn tourists from Disneyland who found a great bargain on hotels.com and decided to muck up the place. Plus, the restaurant's location in the Anaheim resort area means many shady characters lurked near the entrance of the hotel (though stayed far away from the restaurant). Let's hope k'ya thrives here instead of turning into another Tampico Motel...