Bartender Brian Butler and Chef Roy Choi

This past weekend Chef Roy Choi kicked off his new All-You-Can-Eat-Fried-Chicken Picnic at A-Frame in Culver City with a grub crawl for friends, family and bloggers. It was an opportunity to celebrate Choi’s restaurants and unique cuisine, from where it started and where it’s heading.

Chego, where we began the tour, was Roy’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant after his famous Kogi BBQ Taco Truck set the L.A. food scene on fyah. It’s now open for lunch service! We dug into a variety of his rice bowls — Sour Cream Hen House and Chubby Pork Belly — as well as those highly addictive Ooey Gooey Fries.

At A-Frame, our second spot and Choi’s sophomore effort, we were treated to the fried chicken feast of legs, breasts and thighs that were dredged in rice flower, spices, herbs and chilies and fried up. Their well-seasoned, crispy exterior gave way to juicy meat. Nom! The drumsticks were snatched up first, which was just fine as I’m a white meat girl.

The place was packed and apparently, even though the restaurant opened at 12, a line had queued up out front a couple of hours ahead of schedule! Good thing they reserved the outdoor patio for our group of 30.

For dessert, it was off to Roy’s ode to the islands, Sunny Spot, where we gorged ourselves on hot fudge sundaes, salted caramels, chocolate chip cookies and festival bread. Bartender Brian Butler (A-Frame and Sunny Spot) created a special Roy Choi Grub Crawl punch to wash all that down. Made of two kinds of rum, prosecco, falernum, Angostura bitters and nutmeg it complemented the sweets and ended the food tour on the right (boozy) note.

It’s time like these that make me so downright giddy to be a blogger.

If you ever get a chance, get your foodist friends together and do up your own Roy Choi Grub Crawl one weekend afternoon. Happy eating!