‘Japanese’
Not too long ago (at least in my head), Ajisen Ramen opened its doors at the Century City food court. I’m not sure where else this Japanese ramen chain exists in the US, but I do know it is a pretty popular and slightly upscale chain in the land of Asia. I decided to check it out to see how it held up against its Asian brethren and found that the menu was pretty similar to what I remembered from Asia. It had a variety of ramen options and some tasty-looking Japanese appetizers.
For a little post-tennis victory Japanese treat, I headed to Asahi Ramen in West LA with my vanquished tennis foe to get some…ummm ramen. Now don’t be fooled by the name of the restaurant, as it apparently has nothing to do with delicious Asahi beer. Confused myself, I took the liberty of looking up Asahi on the old interwebs and found that Asahi is the name of about ten different towns and cities in Japan, so for the name to carry over into both beer and ramen isn’t that surprising. Anyway, enough with geography and economics, let’s get to the food.
They say mo’ money, mo’ problems. And by they I mean Puff Daddy and the Family. But for me, MoMo Sushi is less less problems. To start off, MoMo Sushi is anything but trendy. It sits in a tiny little corner strip at La Cienega and Olympic with 3 or 4 other shops and a 7-11. Although the inside is certainly Japanese, it doesn’t have any of that overdone Japanese decorum that makes trendy places look more Japanese than Japan itself. So for a sushi place, MoMo already had me happy before I looked at the menu.
So one night I was told we were going to a cheap sushi place for dinner. Fine. You all know I am not a sushi fan, but if I’m going to eat it, it should at least be cheap. Somehow we wound up at Asakuma Restaurant in Brentwood, which was not cheap at all. This wasn’t the fault of the restaurant, but still I can’t understand why sushi is expensive. I fail to notice a difference between expensive and cheap sushi. In fact, some of the best I’ve ever had was also some of the cheapest I’ve ever had. Wow, do you readers ever get tired of me griping about sushi? No? Good, then read on about some Asakuma.
In yet another night that I was made to eat sushi, I was brought to Yamato Restaurant in Westwood. Catering to the college crowd, their sushi is always half off, which is great, except that it makes you wonder why they wouldn’t simply print prices that are low. Is it some way to confuse people into ordering more or to make them think they are there at a special half off time? Either way, it is weird, but good for the wallet. When I arrived, some food had already been ordered, which was slightly bothersome, but I decided to roll with it (pun!).
For too long have I been subjected to people who believe the beginning and end of Japanese food is sushi. While living in Japan for half of a year, I believe I ate sushi once. This was not because I was avoiding sushi, but because sushi just wasn’t as prevalent as we are led to believe. Sure, you can find sushi if you are looking, but it is not as though every corner has a sushi place. Rather, it is much more common to find ramen. This isn’t your Cup O Noodle college hangover ramen, but a real, hearty bowl of broth with noodles, meat and more. Recently, some coworkers of mine were heading out to “that ramen place” in Gardena for lunch and I joined them, fingers crossed that this place would be the true Japanese food I’ve been waiting for.
EDIT: This location is closed, and I mean really all the other ones outside of Asia should be too.
For a quick little dinner I made the executive decision that my girlfriend and I should go to Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food place. There is one painfully close to where she lives and I thought it was pretty sad that she had never been before. Plus, I had only been to one in China and that was years ago.
We walked into the Yoshinoya and it was pretty empty. This wasn’t a good sign, but we proceeded to the counter to figure out our order. I decided to keep it simple and order a beef bowl. This came with onions, but I asked for it without. Thinking this wouldn’t be enough food, I also ordered the chicken wings. My girlfriend ordered her own bowl of unspeakable vegetables and our bill came out to under $10.
From the outside, Royal/T looks more like a Japanese art gallery than a restaurant. The inside isn’t much different until you realize the women in the anime-style outfits are actually waitresses and the tables set up aren’t simply for a small cafe attached to a gallery. Since I knew ahead of time that Royal/T was a restaurant, I was actually surprised to find how much of the space was dedicated to the art. It gave the restaurant quite a unique atmosphere, which is great, but I was there for the food.
Since it’s restaurant week, I avoided the regular menu and only looked at their set menu. Check it out here. I started with the Crispy Spicy Tuna, got the Hanger Steak Frites for the main course and was planning to finish with the fresh fruits and vanilla custard. Unfortunately they were out of this dessert and I later learned that they ran out of the Kobe Beef sliders. To make up for the lack of dessert, though, they allowed us to order any dessert from their menu, so I chose the cheesecake.
While in Boston for a long weekend, I took the opportunity to check out how people eat on the other coast. My first chance to sample the “local fare” came at Wagamama, an international Japanese food chain originally from England. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly local, but Boston is New England, so I made due with what I had.
Our waiter was a low talker, making it difficult to ascertain what he was trying to say at any given moment, but eventually we all figured out when it was time to order. After a long look at the menu, I settled upon the Chicken Katsu Curry, which is some fried chicken cutlet, rice and curry. It also came with “mixed leaves and red pickles,” which I tried to convince the low talker that I didn’t want.
When you walk into Kaya Sushi, there is a massive glass waterfall blocking your way. Do not be deterred, though, because you can easily circumvent this waterfall by walking to the left or right. If you make it past, you’ll find yourself in the posh new sushi restaurant in El Segundo.
The place had an apparent brush with Korean as well as Japanese, since the lettering in their logo was distinctly Korean and there were even a few Korean items on the menu. Their sushi roll list was quite extensive, but I managed to find the least sushi-ish dish on the menu for myself.