NEW Shit Lister Added! June 2, 2007
Posted by foodies in Cheap, Japanese, Shit List, Stay Away, Sushi, Trendy / Hipster.add a comment
Break on through to the other side…
Goodbye, E & E April 18, 2007
Posted by foodies in Cheap, Curry, Japanese, Salads and etc. (non-main course food).add a comment
E & E Cafe and Japanese Market
Location: 18429 Nordhoff St
Northridge, CA 91325 (Between Reseda Blvd. and Darby Ave.)
Phone: (818) 775-0115
Type of food: Japanese Homestyle meets your Mom’s kitchen
I admit, I only discovered this place a little before this year from my bestfriend Renee, and I’ve been a frequent customer ever since. Even more so this month since it officially closes it’s door for the last time this Saturday. Who knows how many countless CSUN college students and Valley residents this restaurant has been serving for 14 years, but I had the pleasure to become a regular and even to say “The usual.” and them automatically know what I was talking about.
It’s located in a very busy strip mall that also has a Panda Express (blech, why would you even wanna go there?!) and a boba spot next door on the 2nd floor. The place is quiant & very peaceful. Countertops are located right in front of all of the action (aka the kitchen) for those who dine alone, a couple of 2-top tables along the perimeter of the restaurant, and a couple of 4-top table or two 8-top tables. They also sell their own salad dressing, baked goods, Japanese tea sets.
Essential Orders: The menu is anything but sushi or your typical Japanese dishes–boasting mostly curries. They also have different specials everyday. You can order the spiceness of your curry anyway you like-from a 1-10. It costs extra if you go beyond 7, which I haven’t done yet, but the waiter did try to persuade me to do since they are only going to be open a few more days. I like to order their tonkatu curry at a 7. It usually comes with a green salad that’s dressed in their famous sesame soy dressing which you can buy bottled from the restaurant, or from their small grocery store which you can find downstairs. The main dish which never sits on the window for more than 5 seconds, also comes with steamed rice.
Their gyoza is completely homemade and always tastes fresh. Always hot and juicy when you bite into it, my waiter is always impressed since I like to empty the bottle of hot chile oil whenever I order this.
I also order their deep fried tofu which is served in a small bowl decorated with green onions and TONS of shaved bonito flakes swimming in a hot bonito soy broth. I usually like to finish the tofu and then pour the sauce all over my rice.
Things to Know:
- Credit cards accepted
- Due to the overwhelming demand and love for the place, they had to stop deliveries and take out orders.
- No reservations
- Dine in only till Saturday
- They have tea time from 2-4 p.m.
- CSUN Students get 10% off.
Going Japanese–Late Night December 10, 2006
Posted by foodies in Cash Only, Cheap, Curry, Japanese, Late Night Eats, Places to go when you're drunk, Trendy / Hipster.add a comment
Koraku Restaurant
Location: 314 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012-4221View Map
Phone: (213)687-4972
Type of food: Comfort Japanese food, ahem–no sushi
There are times when you can’t have dinner at 5, 6, 7 or 8 p.m. for that matter. Maybe you were at the bar and didn’t want to weigh yourself down so you could get that good buzz or maybe you saw a late movie and forgot.
In my case is because I’m at my weekly Brazilian Capoeira classes and don’t get home until 10:45 p.m. and with all the cart wheelin’ and hand stands, I tend to eat light and early, so sometimes after practice, I’m starving for something satisfying, and not to mention good, so I was ecstatic when my friend Pat told me about a Japanese comfort food that was:
A) Open till 3 a.m. on Monday-Fridays
and
B) Not a damn Denny’s Restaurant
Located at Little Tokyo in Downtown LA, it’s a great place to hit when you’re not craving the usual burger and fries and want a hearty bowl of ramen, or maybe hot tonkatsu (breaded pork) over steaming rice.
Essential Orders:
It is totally visually evident that the gyoza is freshly made. The thiness of the wrap isn’t thick like the instant out-of-the-bag kind like at Vons or Ralph’s. They’re big, and they come hot and steaming from the pan right to your table. It’s served with hot chili oil and perfectly moist. If you’re a fan of heat like I am, this amount of chili oil does not do this justice.
All courses also come with a bowl of miso soup and their own cabbage salad, but since I don’t eat rice, I ordered the seaweed salad that was also very good! They kind of went to town on the green onion in my soup, but lately it’s been cold as all hell and I wasn’t on a date or anything so I totally didn’t mind that.
Usually when you go to Japanese restaurants, they give you only ONE whole pork cutlet, but this is the only place I’ve realized that gives you TWO! The tonkatsu was crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. Not only did it come with a bowl of rice, but another side of cabbage salad, and potato or macaroni salad which were also very very good.
My friend (and sister of other Eat This Blog Creator, Renee) Ivy, got the Hamburger Cutlet. One thing that we agreed on other than the fact that the food was so good is that they don’t pour the tonkatsu sauce on top of the meat, and instead give you a squeeze bottle (which we were tempted to gaffle)
Unfortunately our eyes were bigger than our stomach, because the portions were such a good size that we brought home a decent amount of leftovers.
Service: 8 out 10. The waitresses there are very nice and attentive, even when it’s really busy ours was always able to refill our glasses at just the right time and always seemed warm when greeting and serving us.
Things to Know:
-
I’m honestly not sure about parking in the daytime since all of the times (which have only been 2), have been after 11 p.m. Parking in the night doesn’t seem like such a problem. You can park anywhere really since the metermaids all stop monitoring around 6 p.m.
- If it’s only 2 of you, you may want to sit at their countertop area. From there you can watch the chefs make your food. You’re THAT close to them.
- On weekends, you may want to already expect some sort of a wait. The place is pretty small and narrow– Like a hallway even
- Most importantly, CASH ONLY is accepted.
Midori-Ventura Blvd.’s Best Bet-UPDATE December 10, 2006
Posted by foodies in All-You-Can-Eat, Expensive, Japanese, Sushi, Trendy / Hipster.2 comments
Yet another reason why Midori Sushi isn’t like the rest: It’s got a freakin’ mouthwash dispenser in the bathroom!
For those of you who aren’t from Cali or Los Angeles for that matter Ventura Blvd. from end to end (And that is a REALLY vast end to end) boasts countless restaurants, boutiques and Starbucks. If you miss a restaurant, there’s one within 2 ft. of another, but ever since last year when Renee’s sister Ivy told us about a really good sushi restaurant with a bomb ass all-you-can-eat sushi meal, we’ve been going there ever since at least one every other month.
Restaurant: Midori Sushi
Location: 11622 Ventura Blvd. Studio City, CA (818) 623-7888 In the daytime you can park on the street and pay a toll and at night there is Valet for $2. Ventura is always busy at night so it’s best to valet at dinnertime. However, a walk after you eat is also a good idea.
Type of food: Japanese, Sushi, All-You-Can-Eat
Essential Orders: Far too many to list. Pretty much everything that they make is great. You don’t have to get All-You-Can-Eat, but it’s best to since most to all of the time that’s what you spend anyway. My addiction is their Calamari Tempura. Tiny crisy, light ringlets of calamari on top of slawed cabbage with a soy vinagrette. You don’t have to eat the cabbage. I usually use that to hide the discarded pieces of sushi that I can’t eat.
Renee and others can witness and atest, it’s the first thing I order, hell–I order it 2 times at once and certainly it’s not the last thing. I also always get the baked mussels–Broiled mussels with a spicy mayonaise, and my favorite sushi there is their ono (Hawaiian mackerel).
Things to Know: When going to Midori, it’s more than just a meal–it’s a game. And with a game there are rules:
- You only have an hour.
- You can only order after you’ve finished everything on your plate.
- Anything you don’t finish, you will be charged full price for the cost of the roll.
Renee is out for the count
Usually when Renee are going there we’re already going in with a game plan of what we want and what we can eat and if we can’t eat it, it has to be something that the other person will eat so that he/she can pick up the slack for the other. Also, keep an eye out–you never know who’s dining there. Last time Renee and I saw the El Pollo Loco Guy.
Renee’s Take: My favorite sushi place on this planet is Midori. The mere mention of going to Midori lights up my eyes and puts any crappy feeling I have about the day go away. While Jamie starts the meal off with calamari tempura ringlets, my usual first round order has to be a negi-hama handroll: 
This handroll filled with yellowtail and scallions never fails me. I feel like you get more “meat” out of a handroll than ordering a roll or nigiri. They also have a really tasty salmon skin handroll here too. My roll of the moment has been any roll with deep-fried soft shell crab- so I usually order a Spider Roll anywhere I go. My second round consisted of a Spider Roll (right) and a roll with spicy and deep fried crawfish (left): 
The crawfish roll was a bit too heavy for me, and there was too much rice in there. But the spider roll was proper with big cuts of the crab in between each bite. This next round had some of my order and my brother’s: 
The roll on the left with avocado and eel on the top is the dragon roll- if you’re a fan of unagi that’s a great roll to get because the sauce that’s drizzeled over the whole roll is sweet and complements the eel. I believe the pieces of sushi that surround the plate are salmon, yellowtail, ono, and albacore. It’s not pictured here- but I highly, HIGHLY, suggest that you order the albacore belly and yellowtail belly as soon as you start your orders. You can only order them once each, and if you’re there at night they can run out fast. By the end of the night, as you can see my picture above, I was stuffed up to **here** (I’m gesturing my right hand directly above my head). As Jamie said above, if you don’t eat everything you order- you pay extra. I didn’t want to risk that even though I had the hardest time trying to scarf down these two last pieces: 
These two pieces from the crawfish roll were my Everest! With enough water and breathing, I was able to eventually eat them. The price of dinner is very reasonable, considering all the food you can order here. The all-you-can-eat lunch is $19.95, and dinner varies from $23.95 on weeknight and *I think* $26.95 on weekends.
Don’t judge a restaurant by its pretty menu September 11, 2006
Posted by starbright31 in Japanese, Sushi.2 comments
Maki Yaki (#102)
Location: 8205 Woodman Avenue #109, Panorama City, CA 91402
I used to be really picky about what type of Japanese restaurants I’d go to, but the older and wiser foodie in me has let go of all that and nowadays that I’m really willing to try anything. So I’m even willing to try this hole in the wall Japanese restaurant across from Kaiser and next to Good-Ha!!, Maki Yaki. I was definitely swayed by the excellent presentation of their menu that we received in the mail a few days ago:
My sister, brother, and I all didn’t feel like going to eat there, so we checked if they did pick-up orders. They had a phone number that said, “Save time! Call ahead!” so from there we started looking through the menu to decide what looked tasty. We chose:
Appetizer: Heart attack – jalapeno with cream cheese and spicy tuna
Rolls: Green Dragon Roll – inside: shrimp tempura, crab meat, cucumber, avocado. outside: avocado, eel
Fire Crakcer Roll – inside: spicy scallop, crab meat, avocado, cucumber. outisde: spicy tuna
Tiger Roll – inside: shrimp tempura, crab meat, cucmber, avocado. outside: shrimp
Salmon & Scallop Roll – inside: spicy scallop, cucumber. outside:fresh salmon, avocado
The staff member I spoke to told me they’d have it done by 10 minutes. We left after 15 minutes, just to be on the safeside. When we got there, everything was ready. I was happy how fast the service was. And the restaurant itself is generally clean. It seems like they’re trying to go for a very fast-food type of look inside.
The top picture is the Green Dragon Roll and Salmon and Scallop Roll, the second is a green salad w/miso dressing with Heart Attack pieces on top of it (which I removed while eating the salad). The last picture has the Firecracker Roll and Tiger Roll.
I was really hoping to love this place, but I was underwhelmed by it. It’s very average sushi. It was a step above your generic sushi you’d find in a supermarket, but there’s nothing special about it. I’m not impressed by rolls that are basically California rolls inside with a bunch of extras like unagi, tuna, avocado, etc. on top. And charging $7-$9 for these types of rolls just isn’t worth it.
What I’d order from this place, if I decided to go back there again, would be the Heart Attack. It was surprisingly a lot spicier than I thought it would be. It’s not the spicy tuna that’s hot- it’s the jalapeno. And the cheese is the perfect complement to it.
If I want to stay local for Japanese food, I’m better off sticking with good-old reliable Fuji.
Service: 8 out of 10. Since we ordered for pick-up, I can’t give the most accurate score here. But the bill process went by smoothly, as they take ATM, which is always a plus in my opinion.
Tips:
- If you spend at least $20 you can get free gyoza and free salad.
- Parking may be tight.
