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.
