Japanese – Page 5 – The Unvegan

12/8/2011 Reviews Los Angeles

Artsy Noodles at Tsujita LA

Have you ever looked upon a meal and thought it was just too pretty to eat? It happens to the best of us, and to be perfectly frank, a pretty-looking meal is often disguising a lack of flavor or creativity. So when my buddy and I decided to head to Tsujita LA in West LA for lunch, I was a little concerned that their claim of “Artisan Noodles” would make for a pretty meal, but little else. But when we showed up and found an obscenely long line of people waiting to get a taste of the noodles, I thought again.

Japanese Los Angeles Ramen Restaurants Soup Tsujita LA West LA

11/11/2011 Reviews Los Angeles

The Thrill of Far Bar

A month or so ago, Thrillist Rewards made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. For $29, it included one half-pound burger, unlimited wasabi fries, unlimited wings and two flights of delicious beers at a place called Far Bar in Little Tokyo. A few of us capitalized on this deal and finally made our way there to indulge. But finding it wasn’t exactly easy, as it required a walk through a strange alley. In fact, I walked into the restaurant next door by accident, but a guy there walked me over to the actual bar. Upon arrival, my friends who had gotten there first thrust a basket of fries and wings in my face and I knew I was home.

Asian Bar Food Bars Burgers Chicken Wings Downtown LA Far Bar Hamburgers Japanese Little Tokyo Los Angeles Thrillist

9/8/2011 Reviews Los Angeles

Getting All Fresh in the Box

In the search for something light to eat after an afternoon of consuming delicious snacks at work, I found a Japanese place called Fresh in the Box in Culver City. Now let’s be realistic, who doesn’t want to get fresh…in a box? And if I told you I was going to some Asian place called Fresh in the Box, you’d probably think I was in for more than just a bite to eat. Yet, there I found myself at a pretty legit Japanese restaurant.

Chicken Culver City Curry Fresh in the Box Japanese Los Angeles Restaurants

9/6/2011 Reviews Los Angeles

Sinking into Hara Sushi

I’ve never understood the point of expensive sushi. When you get down to it, they’re all pretty much using the same ingredients with similar results. So when I ended up grabbing dinner at Hara Sushi in Santa Monica, I was a bit excited. Why? Because their sushi is always half-priced. And, they have a happy hour until 9:30 pm with some pretty cheap beers. So for once in my life, sushi sounded like a good time.

Fish Happy Hour Japanese Los Angeles Restaurants Santa Monica Seafood Sushi

5/10/2011 Reviews Los Angeles

Real Ramen at Ramen Jinya

Sometimes nothing beats a good bowl of ramen. No, I don’t mean the Cup O Noodle that powered me through late nights in college. I mean real ramen in a real bowl, with some thick broth and some real meat. For lunch, I headed to Ramen Jinya in Studio City with some coworkers to see if their ramen could bring back my memories of drunkenly wandering the streets of Osaka for some noodles in a bowl. There are four signature pork ramen flavors, and although they were strangely out of the Hakata premium rich broth, I was already going with their Original Yokohama ramen, so luckily this didn’t affect me.

Japanese Los Angeles Ramen Ramen Jinya Restaurants Studio City

2/16/2011 Reviews West Hollywood

Katana Means Sword in Japanese

Katana (warning: turn down your speakers because their retarded site automatically plays loud bass) in West Hollywood is about as trendy as you can get for Japanese food. Yet, to my surprise, when I was sent their DineLA Restaurant Week menu for a possible dinner, I saw only one sushi option. With this in mind, I thought that perhaps the $34 fixed price would actually be worth it, so off we went to Katana. Showing up last, I was greeted with a rousing “irasshai” (although I was a bit disappointed they didn’t go for the more formal “irasshaimase”) and found that some chicken gyoza (potstickers) had already been ordered. This struck me as strange since we were about to order a fixed price meal, but I decided to roll with it.

DineLA Japanese Katana Los Angeles Meat Restaurant Week Restaurants Robata Sushi West Hollywood

1/12/2011 Reviews Las Vegas

A Benihana CES

In Vegas for CES, I was lucky enough to be invited out for a little lunch at Benihana at the Hilton of Las Vegas. I had never heard of anyone going to Benihana for lunch (outside of The Office), but I wasn’t about to turn it down. If you don’t know Benihana, you’ve probably been living under a rock, but as a Japanese steakhouse, they cook in the teppanyaki style, which involves cooking on a huge griddle that also happens to be part of the table. For lunch they were cooking up steak, chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, onions and peppers, plus a salad for a set price of $24.99. This was actually a really good price for both Benihana and Vegas in general, so after ordering a Sapporo, I was ready to eat.

Benihana Chains Hilton Japanese Las Vegas Meat Nevada Restaurants Steak Steakhouse Teppanyaki Travel

12/27/2010 Reviews Los Angeles

Turning Japanese with Blosom Bento

A few more veggies than I bargained for.

In the heart of LA’s Fashion District is a relatively new, yet relatively hidden food court. It is here that you can find a nice variety of foods and kind of escape after eating at one too many taco trucks. The food court itself is outdoors and feels like a world away from the fashion peddlers below. You can find Korean, Mexican and sandwiches up here, but I was pretty much drawn to a Japanese place called Blosom Bento. Sure, they served sushi, but they also had my favorite Japanese dish of all time on their menu: Yaki Soba.

Blosom Bento Downtown LA Fashion District Food Courts Japanese Los Angeles Restaurants

12/6/2010 Reviews San Francisco

Getting Cooked at Sushi Raw

Now calling a restaurant Sushi Raw may seem redundant at first, because sushi is usually…well…raw. But the name does have a ring to it and almost sounds like it could be the Japanese word for “Law.” So even though I’m no sushi fan, I was still interested in seeing what this sushi could be like. Sushi Raw has locations throughout San Francisco and the one we went to was in the Lower Haight.

Beef California Japanese Restaurants San Francisco Sushi Waw Travel

11/2/2010 Reviews Narita

Laying Over with Sushi at Narita

On our way to my Chinese homeland, the girlfriend and I happened to have a layover at the Tokyo-Narita Airport in Japan. This was great for the girlfriend since she loves her sushi and also great for me because I was hoping to find myself some Melon Fanta. Sadly, the Melon Fanta was nowhere to be found, but at least we found some sushi. The little airport restaurant was appropriately named “Sushi” (I thought Japanese people were supposed to be creative) and we took a seat inside.

Airports Asia Japan Japanese Narita Restaurants Sushi Tokyo Travel

The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan

A Quick Bite at Burrito Express

Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus

Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Japanese’