Cars, Cars, Cars in February

Though a lot of cars come and go through the Kim household due to my work, I don’t usually blog about them. February so far has been an interesting car month though – interesting enough that I thought I might share a few here.

2010 marks the 25th year of AutoPacific being in business…and I have been at the company a total of 9 of those years! So, we put on a birthday party of sorts at the office, inviting clients, potential clients, and even some members of the media to showcase our unique office that doubles as a consumer research space. I even gave two out of the seven speeches, the first about the state of the auto industry today and over the next five years, and the second about what the car companies can learn from non-automotive consumer brands like Apple, Target, and H&M.

We asked several car companies for some cool cars to use as props throughout our office, and Ford, Hyundai, and Kia happily obliged with some of their latest and greatest. As they arrived a few days prior to the event, I even took a couple of them home.

Let’s start with the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500! Some of you probably remember the awe-inspiring Shelby Mustangs from the 60s. This new one hearkens back to those, but also packs a 5.4L supercharged V8 with…wait for it…540HP. Yes, 540HP!


Pretty mean looking car, isn’t it?


I couldn’t get enough of that color too, called Grabber Blue.


I love these vertically striped seats with the horizontal stitching.

The car was so powerful that I wasn’t even really able to experience the car’s full acceleration until I went out to a deserted road (not many of those in Southern California) out in the foothills of Irvine. The car is scary fast, able to lay rubber even shifting up to third gear. When starting off from a stop, you actually have to be gentle with the gas pedal or else the back wheels will start spinning and losing traction due to insane power. Yes, this is probably the most powerful car I have ever driven, and I’ve driven a lot!


I leave you with this shot of the gauges. Yes, red, white, and blue. It’s so campy given what the car is that you gotta love it.

And now for something completely and totally different, the Ford Fiesta. The car has been on sale in Europe since 2008, but now that Ford is integrating its global operations and because there is now a bigger focus on fuel efficiency in America, Americans will finally start having more access to the very cool smaller Fords available in Europe. The Fiesta goes on sale this summer, but Ford lent us a European-spec model (complete with metric calibrated gauges and German language in the readouts) for the event. That was truly exciting for yours truly as many of you know that fun little cars are my favorite (my own car is a Mini Cooper).


I just absolutely love the styling. It’s dynamic, exciting, and fun – certainly a lot more interesting to look at than most entry level cars.


The American version will have a slightly different front end than seen here, with a smaller grille and a slightly longer bumper for better protection in parking lot speed impacts.

I’ll leave you with a few shots of the setup of the event, which went great!


The Fiesta and Transit Connect (another European Ford that has made its way across the pond to America) in the research showroom space.


We even got the all-new 2011 Hyundai Sonata to display on our turntable! Yes, it’s a Hyundai. Great looking, isn’t it? You’ll be seeing a lot of these on the roads soon.


All the tables and chairs, along with the stage and screen where we gave our speeches. We had nearly 100 people come! As a bonus, lunch was catered by the In and Out burger truck. Yum!

Hi there

We’ve been busy Kims, and busy lately has resulted in less blogging! No restaurants lately, because we’ve been cooking up a storm here at home (and eating quite well, due to our developing culinary skills, I might add!). No traveling lately, simply because we’ve been a little broke. And, no camera lately, because it seems we’ve become even more dependent on our beloved iPhones! It’s all terribly boring, so we’ve been keeping pretty quiet these days.

But because we can’t let our blog get too dusty with inactivity, I gave it a little makeover. And, I’ll leave you with a few things that have been distracting us lately:

#1: Flight of the Conchords!
We can’t get enough of this show! Too bad the fun had to end after Season 2 …


#2: LOST
Not much to say here except that we are giddy its back! It is a little bittersweet however, because the further we get into the season only means we’re getting closer to the point that it’s over … for good!  (Did you forget what LOSTmaniacs we are? Check out our party at the Long Beach Hatch to refresh your memory …)

Okay, so I just realized our excuses are two TV shows, and that’s just sad. But we have some fun stuff planned that’s coming right up, so things should get a lot more interesting around here soon!

Stefan’s at L.A. Farm

Last night we enjoyed a great night dining out with our friends Britt & Wade at Stefan’s at L.A. Farm! Of course – it’s the same Stefan from Top Chef! Upon arrival, we got an awesome unexpected surprise – as we all got out of the car in the parking lot behind the restaurant, there was Stefan himself, enjoying a cigarette in the back! He was super cool – he called out to us and gave a us a warm welcoming, and even met up with us in the lobby and chatted us up for a bit before we were seated! He is a funny guy and it definitely made our night to see him so social and talkative with us. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask him directly what we should order – and his response was, “Do you like small plates?” We all gave an emphatic YES! He told us to get the tater tots with Hidden Valley ranch dressing and the “Big Mac”. I kind of laughed a bit, I really thought he was pulling my leg – but he wasn’t! He even assured us that yes, he really does use Hidden Valley Ranch. He also mentioned deviled eggs and foie gras! All we knew was we couldn’t wait to sit down and start eating …

Small plates - Deviled Eggs, Tater Tots w/Hidden Valley Ranch, Foie Gras on Toast and Oyster

Stefan’s is really casual and the menu is very fun. I wasn’t so sure what to expect – afterall, on the show, he always seemed to feature very serious sophisticated foods. But the small plates really set the stage for a good time. We took his advice and started with the deviled eggs, tater tots and the Sonoma Foie Gras with Cracked White Pepper, Smoked Salt and Griddled Brioche. Delicious! The boys ordered oysters and said they were impeccable. Its tough to see in the photo, but the presentation was awesome – the oyster sat on a simple and perfectly formed mound of salt. And the deviled eggs were topped with caviar! A very special egg, for sure.

Added bonus of the small plates? They’re only $3 each!

Stefan's "Like a Big Mac" - My burger for dessert!

Our entrees were great too … Ed ordered the Shepherd’s Pie (total Ed food!) and I ordered the veal chop with cauliflower puree and baby carrots.

The only bummer about mine was that I had no idea a veal chop would be so fatty and kind of weird. I was pretty bummed about it and didn’t want to end the meal on an anything-but-sublime note. So, when the dessert menus arrived, I decided to skip the sweets and order the “Like a Big Mac” instead! It was the best choice I’ve ever made – and no kidding, I think it’s the BEST burger bite I’ve ever tasted!

So, I am happy to sign off with this entry by saying, I had a burger for dessert!

*My iPhone pics were terrible, so these photos are from Yelp user Kwiri Y. and kevineats.com.