Guys, I’ll admit it. I’m a Chinese food snob. But I like to think you would be if you once lived there too. For that reason I’m glad I live in LA, but sad that I live on the west side, about half a light-year from the real Chinese food in San Gabriel. That all changed, however, when ROC Kitchen opened up in the area I like to call Little Little Tokyo, but is fast becoming Little Asia with an influx of other Asian food like ROC Kitchen.

ROC Kitchen is a Chinese dumpling house and despite my recent visit to Din Tai Fung, I couldn’t wait to check it out. I went with a few other people and we ordered family style to try just about everything. First, of course, we got the classic pork xiaolongbao. These steamed soup dumplings hit the spot and while they may not have been the best they were quite delicious.

We then went for another classic, the rice cakes. Unlike typical cake, these are more like thick rice noodles and always make me happy. These were especially good, in somewhat typical, but somewhat unique brown sauce. As a break from pork, we ordered ours with chicken and although they came with spinach, I allowed it because I was sharing. Sharing is the worst.

We weren’t done with dumplings though. We had noticed another table eating something that looked like a sand dollar, which I’m sure is a delicacy somewhere in China, but knew it wasn’t to be eaten here. Nonetheless, we knew it had to be ours and it turned out it was the crispy pork dumplings. These little bundles of joy had no soup, but were fried on some crispy deliciousness and served with that crispiness on top. These were a great way to mix things up and certainly something I had never seen before.

We also got ourselves an order of scallion pancakes. These differed from the usual scallion pancakes in that they were a bit crispier. This wasn’t a bad thing, just a different thing, and perhaps was done so to be a better conduit for the ginger-soy sauce they came with.

All in all, ROC Kitchen may not be the best dumpling house in LA, but they are the undisputed king of the west side. It is awesome to know that they are now just a quick drive away and oh so tasty.

On a drunken evening in Osaka, I vaguely recall punching buttons on an old school lotto-style machine at a ramen restaurant. The result was some of the most delicious drunk food I have ever eaten. Fast forward to 2012 and Tsujita continues its stranglehold on the ramen scene of Little Little Tokyo in West LA. Yet, it is not alone in ramen. Tatsu sits just down the road and has taken that machine concept I encountered in Osaka into modernity.

When you enter, a couple of tablets shine to the right and are used for ordering. Tatsu only offers two types of ramen (dry and brothy), but each is super customizable. My favorite part was selecting “I don’t agree with green onion” from the options as I selected regular brothy tonkotsu ramen with the custom options in the picture to the right. Fortunately, the fiancee opted for the dry broth so I could get a taste of both.

We took a seat at the bar and watched as the ramen cooks meticulously prepared each order. This certainly was not fast food.

The result was a whole lot better than I expected. My ramen was filled with skinny noodles that could have been a bit harder, but were still quite good. The sauce had great flavor, but I added some extra garlic for good measure. I mean hey, when is there ever really too much garlic? The chashiu pork tasted like typical chashiu pork, but it wasn’t nearly as fatty as some that I’ve encountered. I call that a win. A nice addition was the soft boiled egg, which had a delicious juicy yolky center.

The dry ramen was also pretty good, and a good option in the summer when a hot bowl of soup doesn’t sound too good. The noodles were a bit thicker and I’m pretty sure it could be considered tsukemen ramen, especially because it had a dipping sauce with it.

The end result of the meal was pretty joyful. No, the ramen didn’t blow my mind, but it was cooked just right and the modern ordering system not only reminded me of Japan, but also gave me a good amount of enjoyment.

Oh, Little Little Tokyo, the gem of the LA’s west side. Aside from Little Ethiopia, there’s really nowhere else that you can be driving along regular LA streets, suddenly find yourself in a foreign country for two blocks, and then pop back out into regular LA again. There’s a pretty steady stream of awesome restaurants and stores in this foreign territory and for this review a group of us headed to FuRaiBo. In order to be seated immediately, we had to sit in their floor room (like a tatami room, without the tatami). This meant sitting on the floor. While this sort of seating is not common in modern Japan, it certainly still exists. The trouble with this seating at FuRaiBo, however, is that their floor seating gives a distinct lack of leg room, such that my legs couldn’t even get under the table. Nonetheless, while seating played a role in the meal, it didn’t define it. This is how liv pure works.

FuRaiBo’s menu is great, and not only because the first couple pages are entirely Japanese. No, it’s great because of what it offers, which is a vast array of Japanese foods that are neither sushi nor ramen. So, in looking at the menu, I couldn’t help but think of Bo Jackson, who according to a Nike campaign back in the day, knew just about everything. It was called “Bo Knows” and I figured I could twist that around for this review. Check the best nootropics for focus.

FuRaiBo Knows Beer

$9.50 for a pitcher of Kirin or Sapporo. Just sayin’.

FuRaiBo Knows Chicken

Well, at least the fried variety. My first dish (as pictured above) was the Tori Pirikara. This was some sweet and spicy fried chicken (nuggety in size) and delivered precisely on that promise. As with most Japanese food, the spiciness itself was questionable, but there was a little kick. The sauce went perfectly with the karaage-style texture of the chicken and was easily the highlight of my meal. I also ordered their Teba Saki (chicken wings) and to continue on the spicy theme I ordered them “Extra Spicy.” Although this had been called FuRaiBo’s Special Chicken on the menu, I was quite disappointed. The wings were pretty dry and had very little flavor. Even the extra spiciness added very little to the wings. Although the price was right at $4.10, I polished these off thinking I could do better at home.

FuRaiBo Knows Beef

Here’s where I managed to surprise myself. I consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to Japan and Japanese food. Not an expert by a long shot, but still I feel pretty confident. What that said, I somehow managed to accidentally order Beef Sashimi. I don’t know what came over me, but as I read the item on the menu and said it aloud to our waitress, I kept thinking I was ordering sukiyaki. Huge difference, but one that has led me to appreciate raw meat just a little. These tender strips of beef had been seared ever-so-slightly around the edges to kill off any bacteria, but were utterly raw otherwise. They had a great even marbling and came with a ponzu sauce for dipping. I’ve gotta say, I was surprisingly happy with this cold beef. It was easy to take down, had good, beefy flavor and didn’t have any of the uncomfortable chewiness I’ve experienced with tartare. Would I trade in cooked beef for sashimi? Hell no, but I am glad to know my accidental order gave me a new appreciation for a crazy food.

By the time I had finished, my legs had fallen asleep more times than I could count, and I found myself doing my best to sprawl on the floor. While not every dish was a home run, I was very happy with my meal. It was good to eat at a restaurant that paid homage to authentic Japanese food and if I don’t hit up FuRaiBo again, it will only be because LA has so much other food to offer.