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By Joshua Lurie | August 1, 2012

Johneric Concordia (The Park’s Finest)

Making people feel good. When it comes down to it, that not only includes our customers, but it includes the people that work there. It includes our suppliers. There’s a long chain of restaurants that are built with a restaurant or anyone who produces food. It’s funny. I’ve been analyzing what we do, and on its most basic level, we’re giving people sustenance, calories, energy. It can be really satisfying, or it can’t, but the fact that it is, that you really take the time and effort to try and do that, and it works, and they get it, that’s the draw.

Full article here

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Article Provided by Pig Parts & Beer

Posted by pigpartsandbeer on August 23, 2012 in Featured, Food People, Pacific Island/Asian Cuisine, Pig, Pork, Ham, Bacon, Oink Oink, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants and Food Trucks | 0 comments

by Allan Roman Reyes

Located off  Temple street, at the edge of Historic Filipino Town, sits The Park’s Finest BBQ. The place feels like your best friend’s mamas house, and the proprietor, Johneric Concordia, yourhomie. The space is warm, unpretentious and familiar. It has roots.

Johneric’s cousin greets and seats us. We excitedly read our options.  The menu featured items such as barbequed tri-tip, hot links, pork ribs and riblets, pulled pork, grilled veggies, and something called coconut beef. There were also appetizers and desserts, two of which caught my eye: off-the-cob elote and a magical fusion called cornbread bibingka(more on this later).  Elote is Mexican street food; a corn-on-the-cob slathered in mayo, sprinkled with chile powder, and rolled in parmesan cheese. The PF deconstructed version came sans cob and  in a wooden bowl with the same ingredients. We also ordered the mixed hot links. They were served sliced, atop a banana leaf. Longanisa, a hearty, Filipino sweet sausage usually served for breakfast, was one of the delicious and surprising choices.

Grilled Veggies, Pork Ribs, Coconut Beef, Pulled Pork, and Cornbread Bibingka

Condiments! Filipino food has to have condiments! Most notable of our squeeze bottle flavors was the Park’s  incredible fusion of nata de coco and garlic chili sauce; a deep, sweet, nutty heat. Other bottles included a simple mixture of vinegar with light soy sauce, ketchup and coconut vinegar.

The pork ribs and pulled pork came shortly after. The ribs  glistened under the lights, their garlic-pepper skins toasty and red, the pork meat tender and smoky. The pulled pork was shredded along  with rousong, a smoky flavored dried-pork topping used in many Chinese and Thai dishes.  The grilled vegetables were comprised of red bell pepper, yellow squash, and  earthy Creminimushrooms.  The star of the show is Mama Leah’s coconut beef. Swimming in spiced coconut milk, the beef is slow simmered to perfection. The chunks of meat  literally *melt* in your mouth and the stew gives  you a little kick.

Ah finally…dessert. The Parks Finest offers up their version of bibingka, traditionally a Filipino desert consisting of rice flour, coconut milk, and eggs. The Park’s twist incorporates cornmeal and bakes the treat in banana leaves. The smell is fragrant, sweet smelling and aromatic.

Johneric would check on his customers personally, sit and chat, spreading the family cheer; the meal and atmosphere was without a doubt, good family time.

The Park’s Finest BBQ
1267 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles 90026 

Hours:
Wednesdays and Sundays, 12pm to 8pm
Thursdays and Fridays, 11am to 10pm
Saturdays, 12pm to 10pm

*Street Parking after 6pm

Article from Sessions LA

The Sessions LA Crew. Photo by Cheryl Zarate.

Here are photos from our latest Beats & Eats Fundraiser at The Park’s Finest BBQ. The event was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came through and thank you to The Park’s Finest for providing the perfect space (and the prefect TASTE) for community collaboration and support!

More photos after the jump.

Tripz starting things off right on the turntables.

The Park’s Finest Combo Plate – only $10!

Besides the food, we also had a Music Menu where folks could donate to get a performance out of Sessions LA. Here’s Sessions instructors Phatrick & Wreckloose battling! Result? Wreckloose ethered Phatrick’s MC career.
Photo by Cheryl Zarate.

The Sessions LA students & staff participated in all aspects of the fundraiser, including doing the dishes!

By Bryan on July 20th, 2012

Article provided by South Bay Foodies

Photo: Javier Cabral

Family, friends, neighborhood, city, and smoked meats. These affections circulate at the heart of Johneric Concordia and The Park’s Finest BBQ, an around-the-way band of friends and blood-relatives born and raised in southeast Echo Park’s Historic Filipinotown. A Belmont High grad, Concordia’s youth revolved around Temple Street, and he’s quick to explain how barbecue saved his life from L.A.’s grimy nineties, staying off the avenues by playing a crucial role as grill-master for his community’s backyard boogies. Pairing Filipino flavors with traditional U.S. barbecue, Concordia eventually extended his passion into a full-on catering crew, turning Weber-man-for-hire to bring Mt. Malindang pork ribs, tri-tip with horseradish crema, San Pablo pulled pork with Sawsawan and pineapple-tinged barbecue sauce, and flour-based cornbread bibingka to citywide parties, gaining major word-of-mouth rep and dominating the number one spot on Yelp.

Late last year, Concordia achieved his dreams of establishing a place where he and his crew could “feed people, feed dates, feed friends, and feed people coming off of the job who just want a place to kick back and eat,” when he cobbled together Kickstarter funds to launch The Park’s Finest BBQ on Temple. A functional room with bright walls, the doors are open to L.A. to share his savior. “We’re from the neighborhood, what else are we going to do?” the owner asks. Kick back, drink some beer, get loud, and gorge on smoked meats.

Which is what we did during a recent preview dinner hosted for media and local restaurateurs, where nearly fifteen plates of Flintstone’s-sized cuts of smoked meat hit the table. Concordia narrated the business’ step-by-step growth, revealing how Kogi co-founder Mark Manguera instituted “restaurant boot-camp” to turn the team leaner and meaner; how The Oinkster and Maximiliano’s owner Andre Guerrero gifted them with plates, glasses, and sage advice, and how Beer Belly’s Jimmy Han helped set up the craft beer taps. Concordia himself has gone from a grill-master to a true barbecuer, proudly embracing two hardworking smokers full of hulking cuts in his kitchen.

Most of the smoked meats kill it with their slow-cooked pliancy, smoldering notes, and weave of Filipino flavors. Smoked chuck roll, cut into cubes and stewed in coconut milk, sweats a luscious, tropical sweetness counterbalanced by a kick of chilies; a slow-smoked Jurassic short rib slams onto the table, scored with slits on its tender side to increase the surface area for digging into a secret rub of spices set off by a biting horseradish crema; sliced turkey bares a Swedish massage of cayenne and lemon pepper, juicy and lush after lying breast-down in 190 degree heat for ten hours; and slick slabs of candy-coated ham glazed every half-hour over twelve hours melts sweetly on the tongue. Cornbread, collards, and a Parm-blanketed take on elote stand up just as well as sides.

Of course, there’s a reason why we prefer Paul Westerberg’s whelps to Adam Levine’s moves and Dirty Beaches to One Direction. It’s that surfeit of heart and rough edges, proudly embraced and thrown back with bravado. Concordia goes for it full-throttle, while admitting some of his techniques are still a work-in-progress.

To that end, precise pulled pork comes shredded-to-near-gossamer, but is all but tasteless before a strong squeeze of Sawsawan reveals it as the ideal sponge for this marriage of sour vinegar, heat, and pronounced pepper found in a North Carolina barbecue sauce, with sharp spikes of soy and garlic from abroad. Pork ribs, unquestionably flavorful, can be a little chewy, perhaps a blessing in disguise yielding more sustained enjoyment. A banana leaf-wrapped, Himalayan-salted salmon is smoked several hours past any desirable structure or flavor.

Rough edges aside, Park’s Finest remains a must-try to experience what L.A. pride taste like when it hits the plate. A blending of cultures and flashing of community pride that’s unique in Los Angeles, with owners giving the city back twice the love it receives. Take a look at what’s cooking in our slideshow of Park’s Finest BBQ.

Good BBQ is like a great kiss: a multi-sensory experience that leaves the eater messy, tired and basking in the belly rubbing afterglow of slow smoked goodness. Like a generous lover, these Los Angeles BBQ joints will do you right with their meaty offerings.

Check out our picks for the best BBQ Los Angeles has to offer.

Baby Blues
444 Lincoln Boulevard
Venice, California 90291
310-369-7675

This Venice classic, (with a WeHo location too), offers ribs, juicy pulled pork and standard sides including collard greens and cornbread served by cutie waitresses. Their hot sauce will kick your butt and they’ve got PBR in a can. Look for their blue awning or just follow the smell of smoked meat wafting down Lincoln.

Phillips BBQ
4307 Leimert Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90008
323-292-7613

Unless you’re in an emergency room, standing room only is a sign that you’re onto something good. Phillips is a tiny, no frills, meat-filled hole in the wall serving ribs, sliced beef, chicken and other juicy bits in a variety of hearty combinations. Get it to go, ‘cause there ain’t no place to sit.

The Park’s Finest BBQ
213-247-4909

The Park’s Finest does BBQ with Filipino flair, and their cane sugar, pineapple and pepper infused sauce, a family recipe passed down through generations, might make you believe in higher powers. The joint exclusively caters, so organize a party and have them deliver their pork loin, grilled veggies and cornbread to your door.

Gui Rim Korean BBQ
3977 W 6th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90020
213-387-5459

In a city where Korean BBQ is a hallowed and competitive affair, Gui Rim does bulgogi, pork belly, spicy chicken, tongue, and intenstine in ways that keep people coming back for their very own K-town mini cook outs.

Porky’s
362 W 6th St.
San Pedro, Ca 90731
310-521-9999

Drive through BBQ. Enough said.

Article Provided by Tasting Table

We’d like to invite you to a backyard Filipino barbecue tonight.

Now, we’ve never been to such a party, and tonight’s feast will be in a restaurant, but hear us out. With backyard Filipino barbecue caterer extraordinaire The Park’s Finest in the kitchen, we’re confident this new Temple Street restaurant echoes that festive flavor.

But don’t expect lechón like you might find in Manila. The Park’s Finest offers a signature amalgam of Filipino and Southern barbecue, born of the diverse surrounding neighborhood. But here’s the catch: The new brick-and-mortar location is only open on Friday nights.

The menu of long-smoked meats changes weekly, with various cuts of pork augmented by lamb ribs, chicken wings and beef. We loved the peppery tri-tip (pictured; $10), each thick slice edged in a red-tinged smoke ring, and Mama Leah’s Coconut Beef ($10), its smoked nuggets lacquered with a thick layer of rich coconut sauce. We’d gladly eat it spooned over steamed rice and sluiced with the restaurant’s soy-and-cider-vinegar sauce.

For dessert, don’t miss the cornbread bibingka ($2), soft squares of slightly sweet bread that have a light, fluffy texture thanks to the rice flour that’s mixed into the cornmeal.

The Park’s Finest, 1267 W. Temple St., Westlake; 213-247-4909 or theparksfinest.com