Restaurant Review #129: Ramenya, Sawtelle, West LA

Pork shu mai

Everyone has their own favorite ramen shop, and judging from how often the subject comes up on sites like Chowhound LA and LA Foodblogging, it seems to be a hotly contested topic.

Back in November 2005, restaurant ramen (as opposed to grocery store ramen) was totally new to me. My visit to Ramenya marked my fourth restaurant ramen experience. I was pretty sure that nothing could top Asahi, but in the name of research and leaving no Sawtelle stone unturned, I had to try Ramenya.

My first two visits failed because I kept wanting to go on Wednesdays, when they're closed. The good news is that they don't close between lunchtime and dinnertime, so a late Sunday lunch was a piece of cake. Even at 2:00 pm, the restaurant was full, leaving us to sit at the counter--not the nicest seats in the house, but it was just lunch.


Spicy eggdrop ramen with ground pork

Ramenya has around twenty ramen options. While there are a lot of choices, most of them didn't sound that appetizing, maybe because many were described as having soy sauce broth (how is that different from watery soy sauce, I wondered?). Only a few choices are spicy, and I wanted spicy, so I picked the spicy eggdrop ramen. I'd never had egg drop soup before, so that was a bit of a gamble. The broth was good, as long as I avoided the egg part, which tended to form a gooey skin across the top of the soup. The noodles were firmer than Chabuya's, but not as firm as Asahi's. I didn't eat much of the pork, and I wasn't that satisfied with my selection overall.


Ajo (garlic, in Spanish) ramen.

Based on my friend's bowl of ajo ramen, I'm not sure another choice would have been any better. He thought that the noodles were good, but that the broth was only passable, though adding chili oil greatly enhanced it. The garlic was okay--but who wants to eat hunks of garlic? If you don't like onions, and a lot of people don't, the large onions that disguise themselves amongst the noodles can be problematic. The soup was light on the meat, but that was okay as it was pretty bland meat. The best part about both soups was that the spoons have notches in them so you can rest them on the edge of the soup bowl without them falling in. Smart.

There are also several side dishes on the menu. I ordered the pork shu mai in case I didn't like my ramen. I liked the nose-burning hot mustard they came with--I mixed it with some soy sauce and rice vinegar (on the table, along with chili oil--the staple condiments of any ramen shop) and made a nice dipping sauce. The meat wasn't as tender as I expected, though, so I wasn't impressed or excited. The pork shu mai at Chabuya, by contrast, are quite tasty.


View from behind the counter

Ramenya is a very stark restaurant--the walls are white and there isn't really any decor to speak of. The ceilings are high and the restaurant gets lots of sunlight through its glass storefront during the day, but that isn't enough to give it atmosphere. Like most Sawtelle restaurants, it's very small--just one room and 10-15 tables for two or four guests. One nice touch is that Ramenya serves iced tea for free. The flavor reminded me of unsweetened Thai iced tea without the milk--if you've ever made it at home and brewed the tea yourself, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, the flavor isn't dramatically different from regular iced tea--it's a bit stronger, with a hint of smokiness. Some of us can't handle caffeine though, so I only had a few sips. I wasn't missing much, but I still appreciated the gesture.

I don't plan to go back to Ramenya--I guess I'll have to wait in line at Asahi from now on.

If you've been to Ramenya, how was your experience? Leave a comment!

Ramenya
11555 West Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-575-9337
Closed Wednesdays

Restaurant Review #123: Famima!!, Santa Monica

According to Famima's napkins and bags, "Easy is good. Easy with all the amenities is rare. At Famima, every day becomes a better, richer experience. Simplicity in design, superior products and personalized customer care is what life should be all about."

Should I get into all of the things I take issue with in their mission statement? Why not?

Simplicity in design: First of all, while the store looks lovely, simplicity should include functionality. The store's design is inefficient when it comes to moving about the store and paying for your food.

Superior products: I liked my curry chicken bun quite a bit (more on the food to follow), but the chicken in the steamed chicken and mushroom bun bordered on gross. I also considered getting the sushi, but declined for three reasons: rolls with lettuce in them, carrots cut into unnatural round matchsticks, and an unidentifiable brown ingredient in one of the veggie rolls (some kind of pickle, perhaps?).

Personalized customer care: What? Where? Do I need personalized care for grab-and-go food? And while there was nothing wrong with my cashier, there was nothing special about him, either.

Finally, I hope my life is about more than superior products and simplicity in design. But hey, this is America.

Okay. So here's the deal. Walk into Famima. Be confused because you thought it was a lunch to-go restaurant of some sort, but all you see are school supplies, gum, and refrigerated stuff. Walk by the counter. Ponder the absence of menus behind the counter. Wonder if they have any real food to order. Note the plethora of cigarette boxes. Are they advocating the consumption of nicotine sticks in lieu of lunch?

There are actually just a couple of hot food items, and they come from display cases by the registers. The chicken curry buns are only $1.75 and they are yummy. Where else can I get hot food so cheaply on the Promenade? (Wetzel's, okay, maybe, but that's just bread.) Since the buns are small (about the size of your hand, fingers and all), you can either eat one as a somewhat nutritious snack, or eat 3-5 for a meal. I guess at the 3-5 mark you aren't really saving money anymore, but it's a nice break from the corporate coffee shop's refrigerated sandwiches. The buns have flaky breadcrumbs on the outside, like curry chicken.

Other hot selections include soup (one soup each day, depending on the day of the week, listed on a chart behind the registers), more breadcrumb-coated things, and assorted steamed buns ($1.50), including char-shu (barbecued pork) and the chicken and mushroom bun that I ordered. I wasn't very happy with it, since the filling kind of like school cafeteria food and the chicken was watery and fatty (the curry bun didn't suffer from the same problem). For those of you not familiar with steamed buns, they are completely white since they haven't been baked, making them look raw, especially when they're still in the display case. Rest assured that they are cooked, and the bun part has a consistency similar to Wonder Bread (or pan Bimbo), except that it sticks to your teeth more.

Famima also sells a variety of sushi rolls and their kin, an assortment of French-influenced Japanese desserts, and treats like Pocky and bottled drinks usually only seen at Japanese grocery stores or 99 Ranch. For bringing all of these items closer to the mainstream, I'll allow Famima!! to keep their exclamation points.

And they're right about the easy part--I picked out my food and paid in 5-10 minutes. I went on a rainy day, so it's hard to tell what real lunchtime traffic will look like, but there was barely any line, though the place seemed popular.

Since I was in a hurry, I wasn't able to really examine or absorb everything that the store sells. After visiting the website, I discovered that my idea of what Famima!! was supposed to be was off. Rather than a lunch-to-go spot, it's really more of an upscale convenience store. Though not necessarily all it hypes itself up to be, Famima is not a bad stop for a cheap to-go lunch.

Famima!!
1348 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-393-2486
Open daily 6am-2am
Website

Restaurant Review #122: Sawtelle Kitchen, Sawtelle, West LA

Update: Sawtelle Kitchen has permanently closed.

According to Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, people remember an experience as negative or positive depending on two things: how good or bad the experience was at its peak, and how they felt at the end. This theory does a good job of explaining why I do not have fond memories of my experience at Sawtelle Kitchen, even though it's pretty good at what it does.

The restaurant has one of the nicest atmospheres of any restaurant on Sawtelle. The faux finished peachy beige walls look a bit quaint, but not antique store cheesy. Wooden tables with copper accents contribute further to the warm atmosphere, and the low lighting makes the place conducive to a casual but romantic date. On a serious date, you'd probably want to go to a place where the tables are further apart and the service and food are more consistent.

We arrived around 8:00 on a Saturday, and were surprised to get a table inside right away. Unfortunately, that table was right by the small entrance to the kitchen, second only to the bathroom as far as undesirable locations go. The hungry can't be choosy, though. The restaurant is so small that you can't help but think you're eating in what was once someone's living room, and the layout is a bit puzzling at first. If you want to sit on the patio, you have to go inside and then through another door--you can't just walk up and sit down. It's a bit awkward, but at least you know you'll get served. Patio seating is pretty tight, and if all that body heat isn't enough to keep you warm, there are heaters. Translucent plastic tent flaps lend a bit of privacy to patio diners. Indoors, there is also a nook in the back with what I imagine are better tables.

I love Japanese curry--the recipe seems to have taken my southern favorite, chicken fried steak, and improved it with better gravy and better batter. (I don't know the true origins of the Japanese dish.) The top sirloin curry was hit and miss--within the same dish. Some pieces of meat were tender, while others were tough and quite impossible to chew. I absolutely hate the inconsistency of bad meat. The curry sauce was rich and spicy, and the deep fried breading was flaky and cooked to a perfect brownness, so it was too bad they couldn't get the meat right. I don't know about you, but when I read the term "top sirloin," I expect a really good cut of meat. What I learned at Epicurious, though, is that top sirloin is not the most tender cut. A cut of short loin comes from the most tender part of the muscle. Round is the toughest cut. Sirloin falls in the middle. Within sirloin, there are more divisions, with tenderloin being the most tender, and sirloin falling somewhere in the middle.

Does that mean I shouldn't be complaining about the quality of the meat? Of course not. Who wants to eat chewy meat?


Chilean sea bass

I wasn't in the mood for fish, but for some reason I ordered the Chilean seabass anyway, even though I read that it is going extinct. The bad karma I generated by ordering an endangered species surfaced in the fish's topping, which may have been daikon and tasted like the way a Japanese supermarket smells. I didn't enjoy it at all, even though the fish underneath was flaky, smooth, buttery, and perfectly cooked. The other problem was that the menu description had me anticipating a cream sauce, which was not the case. I was so blinded by hunger while I was ordering that I couldn't tell you if this blunder was the menu's fault or my own.

The spicy potatoes that came on the side were indeed spicy--I would have liked more than three of them, and letting fried potatoes rest in the same very liquidy sauce as the fish was a bad idea. Fortunately, you can order the potatoes as a side dish. I can't really speak for the carrots, since I hate carrots, but my friend thought they were great. The green beans were perfectly cooked--they were bright green and still crunchy (the photo is somewhat deceiving).

So at the peak, the experience was just okay, but at the end, it was bad. We waited forever for our check to come. This seems to be a common practice in LA restaurants, and one that I don't really understand. Shouldn't the place want to get us out so they can turn more tables? I guess that wasn't the case here, since by 9:00 the dinner crowd was dwindling down. My friend and I got so antsy that we were tempted to walk into the kitchen or leave a cash approximation on the table and go. The thing is, Japanese waitresses are almost always so friendly and smiley that you can't be mad at them. That kind of self-presentation really takes talent (or lots of hard work and practice).

I also ordered a side salad and miso soup for an extra $2.50. The salad was excellent--I love miso-based dressings. The miso soup tasted like all other miso soup. My meal also came with a really underwhelming airy roll that was too brown on the outside and got stale rather quickly as it cooled off, leading me to think that it might have been stale to start with. I could have chosen rice, and next time, I will.

Wait, will there be a next time? It's hard to say. The atmosphere is really nice, and if I ordered different dishes and paid more attention to what I was in the mood for, I might end up with something better than what I had on this visit. And we were able to snag a seat inside at 8:00 on a Saturday night, no reservation needed, though the place seemed pretty busy and the patio was half full. Somewhat bad weather may have contributed to our luck.

There are so many other restaurants out there, though.

Entrees: $10-15
Short wine list

Sawtelle Kitchen
2024 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-445-9288

Restaurant Review #114: Kinchan's, Sawtelle, West LA

Shiitake ramen

Update: Kinchan's has permanently closed.

Everyone has their favorite ramen house on Sawtelle. Non-grocery store ramen is new to me, so I've been on a mission to try them all--a mission that coincides nicely with my mission to eat at just about every restaurant on Sawtelle.

Ramenya is closed on Wednesdays, so I ended up at Kinchan's. It made no difference to me, really, since I hadn't tried either before.

I got the shiitake ramen to go. My order was ready very quickly, and the service was friendly. The restaurant looked a bit cramped and didn't have a whole lot of atmosphere. The ramen was good at first, and they sure didn't skimp on the mushrooms, but the flavor quickly became one-dimensional, with the dominant flavor being salt. The noodles were better than Chabuya, but not nearly as good as Asahi, but it depends on the texture you like. I'm an al dente kind of gal, but Kinchan's noodles were fully cooked (though not overcooked). I was pleased by the abundance of shiitakes, but the snow peas were soggy.

The soup also contained tofu and beef in small quantities. There wasn't a lot of broth in this ramen, and I'm not sure if that had something to do with getting my order to go or if Kinchan's just isn't big on broth. Eating the ramen out of the styrofoam it came in proved to be a surefire way to repeatedly burn my tongue (styrofoam really does keep the heat in) so I had to transfer my food to a bowl (dishes, boo!). As far as portion sizes go, I could have made two meals out of this (of course, wet noodles don't keep well at all), but I could probably feed three or four of me with a bowl from Asahi.

The soup came with a side of what may have been daikon pickles. They were an almost mustardy yellow and had a flavor that can only be described as "why white people eat at P.F. Chang's." I've liked daikon pickles at other places, like Yakitoria, but these had a sweet, musty flavor that made me wince.

Verdict: I'd rather wait in line at Asahi. Only one more ramen house to go! I have a feeling Asahi will win, though.

Kinchan's
2119 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-445-0031

Restaurant Review #109: Asahi Ramen, Sawtelle, West LA

Extra spicy ramen with chashu

I finally got to go to Asahi! There is almost always a line several people long to get a table, and I never want to wait, especially when it is cold outside. But I got lucky last Sunday and snagged a table with no wait at 8:30, just 30 minutes before closing time. Maybe that's the secret.

Once inside, I realized that the service is so fast that the wait for a table is probably not that long. Also, quite a few people came to pick up takeout orders. In the future, I think I'll do takeout, since the bowls of soup are enormous and one bowl could easily feed two people. The soups cost about $6-8 each. Talk about a cheap dinner!

I didn't have very high expectations for Asahi after my first ramen experience at Chabuya. There, the broth was salty and the noodles were just noodles, and sometimes soggy noodles.

Asahi is a whole different story. The broth is spicy (if you order it spicy for an extra 35 cents) and not overly dominated by one flavor. The portions are huge. The noodles are pleasantly chewy and somehow actually taste like something. Wow!

The chashu was a leaner cut of meat than what I'd eaten at Chabuya. I was pleased by the absence of fat slivers, but Asahi's pork was unpleasantly dry--quite a feat, since it had been soaking in broth. This was really the only downside of the meal, though. The fantastic wontons in our other bowl of soup more than made up for it. They had an incredibly rich flavor, and a small amount of meat that made them easy to eat in one bite.

Another pleasant surprise were the bamboo shoots. I've never seen brown bamboo shoots before, and they were a lot more flavorful than the pale yellow variety I've eaten all my life. (I'm pretty sure they were bamboo shoots--they have a texture all their own.)

The spicy cucumber slices that arrive at the table almost as soon as you sit down were also a big winner. Too bad they only give you four slices per person.

The atmosphere just floor and chairs and tables for 2-4 people. Grimy old no smoking stickers dot the walls, not quite above each table. Above those are rather nice watercolor paintings of flowers, for sale at low prices of around $50-100. The service was fast, and friendly in a fairly indifferent way.

I love Asahi, and I now understand why people wait for ramen. This ramen is not the same as that 12 cent bag from the grocery store! Now I can't wait to see what awaits me at Ramenya and Kinchans, and I can't wait for the next cold night when I can share a takeout bowl of soup with a friend.

By the way, in case it wasn't obvious from the nearly identical hours and locations, Asahi and Tofu-ya, next door, are under the same ownership.


Extra spicy ramen with wontons

Asahi Ramen
2027 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-479-2231
11:30-9:00 daily, closed Thursdays
Website

Restaurant Review #106: Mizu 212, Sawtelle, West LA

Light my fire, baby

Ok, I'll be honest. The only reason I went to Mizu 212 is because there was already a line at Asahi (at 5:00 on Saturday), there was already an even worse line at Hide Sushi (have I mentioned that I've tried to go to both of these places about 5 times each, and always I am thwarted by the line?), and Orris wasn't open yet. Also, one of my anonymous readers was curious about my opinion of the place, and I was in the mood to eat at a place I hadn't reviewed yet. So Mizu 212 it was.

We easily got a spot at the counter--the restaurant was only about 1/3 full when we arrived. Our psychic host seated me exactly where I wanted to sit--at the empty end of the counter. We hung our coats on the coat rack--all the seats are stools (the two tables I saw had post-its that said they were unavailable due to remodeling), and you can't hang your coat on a stool--you'd have to sit on it or throw it on the floor. Including a coat rack was good thinking.



Good thinking reigns at Mizu 212, it seems. The layout is aesthetically pleasing. There is a decent amount of space between stools (which are bolted to the floor--my friend didn't like this, but I didn't mind). A server gets your pot of water boiling as soon as you sit down, and refills it halfway through your meal to account for the water that has been lost to steam. The jazz music is neither too soft nor too loud, too cheesy nor too trendy. The only issue I had was that the pots of boiling water seemed a bit out of reach. I guess that's probably for safety purposes, but if long-limbed me is straining, they're too far away.


Veggies, tofu, and udon to go with my meat

Menu choices are limited--this is strictly a shabu shabu joint, and nothing more. You can get chicken, beef, veggies, or assorted seafood (shrimp, crab, salmon, and scallops). All of the meat/seafood plates come with a side of veggies (pictured above), while the veggie plate is essentially the sides. I would not be happy eating here if I were a vegetarian, since a large portion of that plate consists of bok choy and cabbage. Mmm, boiled cabbage. All meals also come with your choice of white or brown rice, at no extra charge. You can get a regular or an extra large plate, but if you want to share either, there is a $4 charge for your own portion of rice and dipping sauces (not sure if this charge is optional). I found one regular plate to be enough to fill me up (without consuming much rice).



You get two dipping sauces: ponzu and sesame. I really didn't like the sesane sauce, as it tasted like sawdust with a hint of peanut. The ponzu sauce was good though. I wished there had been more dipping sauces, but I'm not sure that would be consistent with traditional shabu shabu. I base this statement on my experience at the now defunct Shige, which also had two dipping sauces similar to the ones at Mizu 212. I guess if I were a real food critic, I'd research that. Ah, the joys of working for myself and not getting paid.

So how does this shabu shabu thing work? For those of you who don't know, you get a plate of thinly sliced raw meat, which you then boil very briefly in a pot of water at your table. You also get veggies. Any flavor your dish will have comes from two dipping sauces and a few condiments--chopped scallions, grated daikon, red pepper seasoning. The meat cooks incredibly quickly--within seconds. You have to watch it carefully to avoid overcooking it. Then you use a spoon or your chopsticks to pull the meat out of the water. Since wood can't be sterilized, I would recommend using one pair of chopsticks to toss the raw meat in the water, and another pair (or a spoon) to pull it out. Neither of the restaurants I've had shabu shabu at have seemed concerned about food poisoning from raw meat though, so maybe I'm wrong about something here. Feel free to enlighten me.


Much more appetizing than it looked in Lost in Translation

We ordered one plate of chicken and one of beef. The chicken wasn't too exciting, but then, is that really a surprise? Boiled chicken. Yum. The beef was quite good however, as the high fat content gave it a lot of flavor. The accompanying veggie plate was disappointing, as the only things on the plate that were capable of adding flavor to my meal were the 4 bites of shiitake mushroom. The veggies take longer to cook than the meat, so toss those in the water first if you want to eat the two together.

I also ordered a side of kim chee. I had a feeling my taste buds would need some perking up. I liked it, but I'm not Korean, and not well-versed in what makes kim chee authentic/good.

Overall, Mizu 212 is a good place to eat a healthy, creative meal. The service is good and the atmosphere is perfect. However, flavor-wise, shabu shabu seems pretty dull to me. (The lemonade didn't taste like much, either.)

Relevant trivia: shabu shabu means swish swish, which is a reference to the sound of cooking your food in boiling water. 212 is the temperature at which water boils.

Mizu 212
2000 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-478-8979

Restaurant Review #102: Yakitoria, West LA

Assorted Japanese Pickles-daikon, carrot, and eggplant

When you walk into Yakitoria, everyone will turn and stare at you for a good, long, fifteen seconds--or at least, that's what happened to me. My friend and I continued to stand awkwardly in the lack of space in front of the door while we waited for what felt like forever, but was probably about two minutes, for someone to seat us. There was no dedicate host, but he or she wouldn't have had any space to set up a stand, anyway. Did we have a reservation? No. I guess it didn't matter though. We got a table for two near the door, and no one who came in after us had a reservation either (we were within earshot), and they all got seated.

The restaurant is very small, even by Sawtelle standards. There are somewhere between five and eight tables (my memory is a bit fuzzy on this) and a small bar that seats maybe eight or ten people. The decor is nice--dark wood tables and yellow ochre walls--but the white tile and black caulk floor detracts from what would otherwise be a very elegant interior.


Chicken wrapped shishito pepper yakitori

Here's the kicker.

At Yakitoria, you can either order a minimum of 5 pieces of yakitori (featured above) at $2.50 each, or you can pay a $2.00 service charge. Period.

None of the yakitori are vegetarian (though they offer an assortment of chicken wrapped vegetables, so you could probably request just vegetables without chicken), and my friend is a vegetarian, so she didn't want any yakitori. I just wanted one skewer, since I've never had this stuff before and didn't know if Idl like it, and because I don't like meat enough to eat several skewers of it, regardless.

So she ordered a $7 bowl of soup, and I ordered a $9.50 plate of ravioli and one yakitori. We also ordered some pickles, which were $5.50.

I assumed that the 5 sticks of yakitori policy was to ensure a minimum order, and I figured that with our food averaging just over $12 a person, there would be no problem, right?

Wrong! $2 service charge unless you order five sticks of yakitori. Period. What??? I would have asked for an explanation for this seemingly ludicrous policy, but our server's English didn't seem great, so I decided not to ask. I must admit that this policy made me pretty mad, and between that and the lack of vegetarian options on the menu, I almost left. But I couldn't do it, because I was really looking forward to my ravioli, and I was really hungry.


Rice and seaweed soup with wasabi

My friend thought her soup was good, and tasted healthy, but wasn't anything exciting. I thought it was pretty bland, and really wished it hadn't been the lone vegetarian option. Most Japanese restaurants have plenty of vegetarian options, so I didn't even think about investigating before we went.

I wouldn't recommend this dish, especially because it's almost guaranteed to give you a seaweed-toothed smile due to the numerous tiny seaweed flakes floating in the broth. Since I have an unnatural fear of having food stuck between my teeth, tasting the soup was a challenge for me!

The pickles were good, though for $5.50 the portion seemed awfully small. The thinly sliced carrots had a slippery smooth texture that I didn't know a carrot could have--kind of like a cucumber, but smoother. The tangy pieces of eggplant were my favorite. The daikon was also good, though it didn't have a particularly pickley flavor (neither did the carrots).


Duck and shiitake ravioli with truffle oil and...celery leaves?

Oh, boy, this ravioli was good! The pasta seemed homemade and you can't go wrong with truffle oil. Interestingly, I couldn't detect the duck at all. The filling was minced, and nothing had a meaty texture to it at all. The leaves made a pretty garnish, but I'm not sure they were meant to be eaten, since they didn't add anything to the flavor of the dish. The ravioli was served only lukewarm though, which made it slightly less tasty. Also, when I got sick later, I wondered if it was because of the temperature of my food. I couldn't tell you if I got some sort of food poisoning, or if some kind of shellfish snuck into my meal somehow. I only mention it because if a bunch of my readers have had the same experience, that will tell us something about the restaurant. Otherwise, please consider it an isolated incident and don't let it deter you.

My one piece of yakitori did nothing to convince me that I should be required to order five of them. You don't get much food for the price, and though I saw the chef dip the skewers in something and sprinkle them with something before grilling them, they tasted like plain grilled chicken and peppers.

I don't get it. Maybe one of you will enlighten me.

Overall, I might have gone back for the yummy ravioli, but since I got sick, I won't. The five stick policy seems bizarre and unaccomodating, the service wasn't amazing, and the restaurant is pretty loud for its size.

And, guess what? I can't find anything about this place online, and I didn't pick up a card, so I can't give you the address or phone number. It's right next to Kiriko on Sawtelle (across the street from Nijaya Market). If someone has the address, please let me know!

Restaurant Review #96: Blue Marlin, Sawtelle, West LA

Chicken and organic vegetables in sweet and spicy miso sauce

Update: Blue Marlin has permanently closed.

Blue Marlin has received a lot of bad press on Yelp, and I'm not sure why. It's one of my favorite restaurants, especially for the croquette curry, the risottos, and the tranquil atmosphere.

I wasn't thrilled with the organic dish because of the quality of the chicken. On the front page of the menu, Blue Marlin devotes a couple of paragraphs to how they use Jidori chickens and their eggs, saying that they are free range and organic and of far superior quality. But the chicken didn't taste special, and the cuts of meat they chose contained large chunks of fat--a big turn-off. My favorite things about this dish were the roasted acorn squash, the presentation, and the committment to organic ingredients.


Side salad with sweet and tangy miso dressing

I don't think my meal was supposed to come with a side salad and miso soup, but I got it anyway. In this case, the shredded carrot, purple cabbage, and slivers of red onion really made the flavor of the salad perfect. The dressing, though it's yellowy-orange color was a bit off-putting, was fantastic. I finished my salad and ate half of my friend's. I saw other tables getting bread baskets, but we didn't. I didn't care about this oversight though, since the salad and soup arrived within a few minutes of ordering, and I had plenty of food on the way. I'd award this dish "best non-albacore salad at a Japanese restaurant." Incidentally, albacore salad is also on the menu (I resisted the urge though, in favor of trying something new).


Scallop, wild mushroom and curry risotto

I normally don't like risotto, and I was skeptical of Japanese curry after being underwhelmed by Hurry Curry of Tokyo. However, by process of elimination and because I had a hankering for scallops, I ended up ordering this dish. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this curry was richly spiced and a bit hot. The scallops were tender, but the mushrooms seemed more of an afterthought, rather than a main component.


Croquette curry

The menu consists of risotto dishes, chicken dishes, hamburg steak dishes, curries, and a page and a half of spagetti. Maybe one day I'll try Japanese spaghetti, but it doesn't appeal to me for any reason beyond its bizarreness. There are quite a few desserts, including fried ice cream and a chocolate souffle.


Chocolate souffle



The dining room is casual, yet ambient

The dining room's decor seems carefully considered--the entire ceiling is skillfully painted with an aquatic theme, reflecting the restaurant's name while somehow avoiding kitch. Maybe that's because the wooden tables and bamboo blinds are so down-to-earth. There are about ten tables, and the restaurant is quiet and moderately popular, a good alternative to immensely crowded places like Hide Sushi and Asahi Ramen if you're not in the mood to wait at 6:30 pm on a Sunday. The service was friendly, prompt, and very smiley.

Cost of this meal for two including tax, tip, and a lemonade: About $30

Blue Marlin
2121 Sawtelle
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-445-2522

Restaurant Review #92: Chabuya, Sawtelle, West LA

The Classic with chashu (barbequed pork)

On Sunday, there was nothing but brown paper and a sign in the window saying that Hanoi Cafe was moving down the street. On Tuesday, the paper was off, and serious work on a new restaurant interior was underway. On Saturday, I looked inside and saw shiny, dark wood tables and fifteen or so new staff people in crisp white uniforms having a meeting.

I was going to stalk this place nightly until the doors opened, no doubt about it. I didn’t know when that would be, but I knew I would be there. I’d never been to the opening night of a restaurant before! Other people count the days until opening day at Dodger Stadium or the opening day of the next Batman movie. But not me!


Open kitchen

Opening night was not Saturday, like I’d hoped and anticipated, and it wasn’t exactly Sunday, either. On Sunday, the restaurant opened with a preview menu consisting of three items, as I remember it: pork gyoza, “the classic,” which was a basic bowl of broth and ramen noodles, and the classic with chashu (barbecued pork). My friend and I snagged seats at the eight seater bar since the twelve or so tables were all full. The service was lethargic--it took a long time just to get our menus! There were a few groups of insider well-wishers, and bouquets of flowers with good luck cards attached. I was willing to forgive the slowness since it was their very first night and the kitchen staff didn’t seem to have gotten soup ladling down to a perfectly timed rhythm yet.

Opening on a Sunday and with a very abbreviated menu may have less impact, but it is smart--it gives the staff a chance to get used to each other and their roles with a smaller menu on a slower night (though Sunday nights on Sawtelle are generally quite busy). And calling it a preview tends to make critical patrons like myself more forgiving of any mistakes.

I ordered--and I surprised even myself with this--the classic with chashu. Why? I guess I thought it would be a richer experience (I usually won't eat pork). Now here’s my disclaimer--I’ve never had real ramen before. I have no idea what I’m comparing this food to--my only measuring stick is my inherent (and rather well-developed, I hope) sense of what is and is not good. Future visits to Ramenya and Asahi are in the works to round out my experience a bit.

As for my dish, the three slices of pork on top were not what I expected barbequed pork to be like--I was expecting something more along the lines of the charbroiled meat you get at Vietnamese restaurants. I was also expecting leaner meat--this meat was lined with slivers of fat that I found really unappetizing (that inconsistent consistency was the original reason I quit eating meat regularly). The noodles were just slightly overcooked, which made them kind of mushy by the time I was halfway though my soup.

The broth was very flavorful, but also very salty--too salty for me. On the plus side, the salty broth lent a nice flavor to the noodles, which you pull out and eat with chopsticks--maybe the broth isn't meant to be sipped alone, though they did give me a spoon. Overall, I thought the soup tasted like pretzels. My friend ordered the classic, and liked her food, though she is admittedly less picky than I. She also agreed with the pretzel description. I thought my soup would have been better washed down with a beer, which I didn’t order--I would save that experiment for a fresh bowl on my next visit. Though I didn’t love my food, Chabuya seemed to have potential. I really liked the atmosphere and the prices, and was curious about what the full menu would offer.

I learned that the real opening night was Friday night, so I decided to go to see how smoothly things were running, how much fanfare there would be, what would be on the full menu, and if I'd like the ramen any better this time.


The interior is sleek, but the dress code is casual

The atmosphere is impressive by Los Angeles standards, where most restaurants are ridiculously noisy (“hip”) or nothing more than floor, tables, and chairs. Chabuya has a sleekness that you generally only find at larger restaurants, and it has a definite din, but the sounds of the other patrons talking somehow retreat far enough into the background that you can still hear the people at your own table quite easily. It’s perfect, really--the background clanking and murmurring is conducive to private conversation, even at the bar.

On my second visit, I got what is probably the most private table in the house, off to the side. The tables in the middle of the room are pushed so close together as to leave you dining with two strangers at your table if you come in a party of two. The booth seating along one wall is probably okay, though I haven't sat there yet. There is no outdoor seating, but there are plenty of chairs to sit in while you wait for a table, and a stack of LA Weeklys to read.


Chicken rice bowl

On this visit, I decided not to order ramen and just eat some of my friend's, and to instead try several other dishes. I got a mini chicken rice bowl, which I really liked--the rice was perfectly cooked. The chicken had a nice flavor, but like the pork on my previous visit, wasn't lean enough for my liking. There's really nothing to this dish--just chicken and rice, and a few toasted sesame seeds that added a lot of flavor. You can dress it up with soy sauce, chili sesame oil, and rice vinegar, all in bottles on the table.


Pork Shumai

Again, I went against my usual tendency to avoid pork like I avoid dirty homeless men and ordered the pork shumai. After all, I had no choice--the other shumai option was shrimp. Not ordering some type of dumpling was not an option, you see--I just love dumplings. These were so good that they actually changed my mind about pork. The filling was juicy and flavorful--I could have eaten these all night. $3 for 3 dumplings is a lot more than the frozen ones I usually eat, but I think these were fresh. The lettuce leaves used for presentation looked pretty, though I might have chosen something else, since the heat of the dumplings caused it to wilt after a little while (by then, you should have polished off your shumai, though!).


House salad--doesn’t taste as pretty as it looks

The house dressing looked like it contained something besides oil, but all it tasted like was oil. Maybe I should have stirred it more before pouring it on my salad. It was too late for that solution though, so I decided to add the rice vinegar that was on the table and dress my salad like a Spaniard, but with a Japanese twist--sesame oil and rice vinegar instead of olive oil and balsamic. The mixed greens, the two cherry tomatoes, and the cucumber were all fresh and wonderful, but the oily, flavorless dressing really killed the mood. How about a soy sesame ginger vinagrette? Maybe that's what they were going for. . . .


Tori soba

My friend, also a newbie to ramen, ordered the tori soba, which was ramen with chicken, garnished with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. According to him, "the chicken in the chicken soup also looked unappetizing, with bits of gristly fat on it, but it didn’t taste bad. Unfortunately, it didn’t taste especially amazing, either. The noodles were cooked perfectly, but the soup did nothing to wow me. Perhaps ramen just isn’t all that impressive of a dish. Still, the price is right and the portions are generous."

The service was noticably better this time in terms of speed, but still indifferent. Our water was refilled regularly, and the dishes all arrived separately and in no logical order. We still had to flag someone down to get the bill. That's sort of odd when there's a crowd outside waiting for a table, but on the other hand, at least the staff wasn't racing to turn tables.

The menu also has a few noodle dishes (both cold and hot) and some sandwiches. I'd like to try both of these on my next visit. From looking at other tables, the sandwiches look like they come in a do-it-yourself format with a fun presentation.

As we left, we walked through a crowd of about 25 people waiting for a table. I was glad we had gotten there just a little after 6:00, when our wait was only a few minutes. It will be interesting to see if Chabuya continues with the success it saw on opening night.

Soups, $6.95-$8.95; sides, $1.00-3.00, other entrees, $3.00-8.95
Total cost of a meal for two and a shared beer, including tax and tip: $17.54



Chabuya
Tokyo Noodle Bar
2002 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90025
Hours: 11:00am-2:30pm, 4:30pm-midnight, daily! I love these hours!

The History of Sawtelle

Restaurant’s own description:

“Straight from Tokyo, Chabuya is the urban ramen bar that revolutionized a favorite Japanese pastime. Its menu was conceived under the meticulous eye of Master Chef Yasujik Morizumi, renowned for his peak season ingredients and uncanny talent for arousing the senses.

Taste Chabuya ramen and two things strike you immediately. The first is an instant appreciation for the fresh, organic ingredients cooked to mouth-watering perfection. The second is an overwhelming urge to take another bite.

Already wildly successful in Japan, Chabuya has arrived to Los Angeles, ready to introduce Americans to a totally fresh ramen experience."

Restaurant Review #83: FuRaiBo, Sawtelle, West LA

The Dining Room

I wanted to go to FuRaiBo because I wanted to try a place on Sawtelle that I hadn't been to before, but I wanted to go somewhere that might have atmosphere (Hide Sushi and Asahi Ramen are just tables and floor and not much else, from the looks of them). Also, there is usually a line out the door at FuRaiBo, so early Wednesday evening, a slow time at most restaurants, seemed like the ideal time to go. The restaurant opens for dinner at 5:30, and at 6:00, we were the first or second party to arrive, but within 20 minutes the restaurant was packed.

The service started out fast, with a server coming several times to ask what we wanted to order before I was ready--the menu was extensive and I tend to order by process of elimination, so it took me a while. Also, the first two pages were entirely in Japanese, which, unfortunately, I don't read (or speak). I don't know if the English pages that followed were a translation or a separate menu. Overall, the service seemed busy and somewhat indifferent.


Japanese Cucumber Salad

Eventually, I decided on a Japanese cucumber salad with barley miso, black cod with miso, sweet and spicy fried chicken, and pan sauteed scallops. The service for the rest of the night was a bit slow and erratic--my scallops came first, then the chicken a few minutes later, then the cod, and when I was almost finished with my food, the cucumber salad. I wish the salad would have come first--cucumbers taste more interesting at the beginning of a meal, I think. The cool presentation of the salad somewhat made up for its lateness, however, and the barley miso was interesting in that I've only had store bought barley miso which does not actually have barley pieces in it. This did--I'm not sure if it was barley miso paste mixed with barley, or an earlier, less fermented and not-yet- ground-up version of barley miso. Hmm. As far as flavor, if I had made this salad, I would have used a bowl rather than a plate, sliced the cucumbers, and put the miso on top, to be tossed by the customer. Putting a dab of miso on each cucumber chunk was somewhat unweildy, and the long strips of cucumber were difficult to eat with the miso, or with chopsticks, for that matter (at least for me-- since I didn't grow up with them, lifting large or heavy things like tempura with chopsticks is a challenge). I also think cucumbers taste better sliced because the skin is less noticeable.


Scallops

I liked the scallops, but they were chewier than any other scallops I have had. I wasn't sure if it was because they weren't very high quality or because they were a different kind of scallop. I'm kind of leaning towards the latter. I wasn't sure I had been brought the correct scallop dish--there were two, one which was sauteed in butter (which I ordered) and another that was pan-fried. These had some breading on them, but also came in a sauce, that tasted more like miso than butter. Hmm. I'm confused, but the dish was pretty good.


Sweet and spicy fried chicken pieces

This chicken was quite good. It kind of reminded me of orange chicken, but it had a different spicy kick, and wasn't as saucy. I highly recommend this dish and wish we'd ordered two plates.


Black cod with miso

Tied with the chicken for my favorite dish was the cod, which was simply excellent, and exactly what I needed to satisfy my several days' worth of cravings for cooked fish. It was sweet, served very hot, and very flakey. Bad or poorly cooked cod can easily be rubbery, but this wasn't at all.

Most of the dishes are small and inexpensive--probably the most expensive things were $9, but many were $5 or under. The dishes we ordered, including tax and tip, came to about $28. They fed two people with small appetites--the average person could easily spend $28 on themselves, I imagine (with water to drink). Though most of the menu consists of meat and fish dishes, there are quite a few tofu dishes and salads.

The restaurant had a couple of major shortcomings, in my opinion. The tables are crammed together and the chairs were hard and uncomfortable, plus the table has this wierd little shelf under it that kept hitting me in the knees. It's also very crowded and somewhat noisy, and the music is slightly dated and a tad too loud. The food arrived haphazardly and out of order, and it took forever for us to pay our bill. The food was good and cheap though, so I'd be willing to give the restaurant another chance, or better yet, get takeout.

FuRaiBo
2068 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 444-1432
Cross Street: Mississippi

Restaurant Review #52: Hurry Curry of Tokyo, Sawtelle, West LA

I thought this place was supposed to be really good. And it smelled good. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed.

I went on a Saturday evening around 6:00 and only about a fourth of the tables were occupied. It's a casual place, with a nice black tile floor and light wood tables and chairs, but not nice enough to take a date.

Loungey deep house grooves emanated from the stereo, which turned what would have been a mediocre to poor eating experience into an acceptable to average one, and gave the place significantly more atmosphere. I went alone, and didn't feel awkward about it--not that I ever really do, but I imagine at some trendy spots I might. The waitress/hostess was friendly and asked about the book I was reading.

The service definitely lives up to the restaurant's name: it was extremely fast, probably in part because I ordered what was touted on the menu as the most popular dish--a breaded chicken cutlet with curry sauce. I ordered my dish medium spicy, and got the white girl special as usual--not spicy at all. I'm from Texas, yo, home of three alarm chili cookoffs. I can handle the heat!!! (I quit eating chili around age 10, but that's not the point.)

I wasn't very impressed with my food. I ordered a lychee saketini, which was too sweet and made with not very good sake. However, it was only $4, which made me happy. I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Where in LA can you get a drink for $4??? My chicken was okay. It kind of tasted like dead bird (maybe all chicken does and I'm just now starting to notice it, or maybe this is just a characteristic of lower quality meat, which is the theory I'm going with). It was pounded flat white meat, and the breading was a perfectly cooked crispy brown. The curry sauce, like I said, was not very spicy, and not terribly flavorful--I could really taste the turmeric. The dish ended up tasting a lot like a Japanese version of chicken fried steak. Which was actually kind of nice, since I've been craving chicken fried steak for a while now, but wasn't what I was expecting at all. The side portion of rice was generous, and included with the entree (miraculously) but it seemed gooey and overcooked to me. I realize that this was sticky rice, but it still seemed overcooked, which is just wrong since I'm sure they used a rice cooker. I don't like rice much though in general, so take my opinion on it with a grain of. . . salt. A very small side salad (the size of a miso soup cup) came with my meal. It consisted of iceberg lettuce and shredded carrot. The miso soy house dressing was excellent, and oddly enough the iceberg lettuce seemed to make sense in this salad.

Bonus: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 they have a (very early) happy hour with $2 saketinis, $2 beers and $2 appetizers. I would almost certainly go back for that, because that could easily be a cheap dinner for my small appetite. The appetizers (and there are only 5) are typical bar food: fried calamari, fried chicken, fried shrimp, croquettes, and edamame (which is not typical bar food, as least, not in the west). I have no great desire to return for another meal, but I might give them another shot with a different dish which I will order "hot." Maybe I'll be adventurous and try some Japanese spaghetti, which they have a whole list of, though it sounds incredibly unappetizing to me. Given that this is basically supposed to be fast food, it was quite good, but it's not priced like fast food: one drink and one entree were $16 including tax and tip. I could have had a fabulous Indian or Ethiopian feast for that kind of money. With lots of leftovers. You won't have leftovers here, unless you are a very light eater, like me.

The restaurant is owned by Enterprise Fish Company (which I have never eaten at), but fish does not feature heavily on Hurry Curry's menu. There are several vegetarian options. I am not sure if the curry sauce is vegetarian, and it seemed like it might (maybe) have animal stock or lard in it--ask if you're concerned.

Hurry Curry of Tokyo
2131 Sawtelle Blvd.
West Los Angeles 90025
Phone: 310-473-1640
Fax: 310-473-7933
Delivery: 310-441-2483
http://www.hurrycurryoftokyo.com/

Alternate (new) location:
37 S. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, Ca 91105
Phone: 626-792-8474
Fax: 626-792-8481
Delivery: 626.792.8474

Restaurant Review #24: Musha, Santa Monica

Chicken with yuzu

Why have I been to Musha more times than I've been to any other restaurant in LA? Most of the time, my obsessive drive to try new restaurants prevents me from revisiting even places I love, but Musha wins me over again and again. In a city where restaurants rarely bother to charm their patrons, Musha is a blazingly bright star, going above and beyond most places even before you walk in the door with friendly, always-changing chalkboard invitations like "Party all night long with Musha!"

Musha eschews one of the most ubiquitous traits of the Los Angeles restaurant scene -- indifference. Accidentally leave your leftovers on the table? They'll chase you out the door before you can drive off without them. Three-year-old about to run out the front door onto chaotic Wilshire Boulevard? Don't worry, the hostess will stop her. Forget your glasses? They'll hold on to them for you.


Pork, kimchee and assorted mushrooms

Musha isn't just another place to eat: it's a restaurant with a mission. The cover of Musha's menu says, in endearlingly imperfect English:

An izakaya is your place. And so the quality most prized in these traditional pub-restaurant
isn't artistry or creativity or even really good food. It's familiarity. Plain, predictable, even a
bit dowdy that's what "real" izakaya lovers love. No doubt Musha has disappointed some
of these purists. For the message here is that izakaya doesn't have to choose between
old-fashioned and new-fangled. It can be both.

Indeed, Musha isn't the kind of place you visit just to quench your thirst and inhale a burger. It's much more restaurant than bar, owing to its small size, lack of liquor license, and well-conceived dishes.

The owner's personality and love of food shine in the menu, which is sprinkled with humor and trivia. In the salad section, it says, "About 70 years ago, Japanese people didn't have a culture to eat raw vegetable. Did you know that?" As far as drinks go, while they don't serve hard liquor, they do serve sangria, sake, and various cocktails made with soju, a sweet rice wine with a high alcohol content. (The sangria was on the watery side though, which was disappointing.)

On every visit to Musha, something hasn't quite met my picky standards, yet I keep returning. Why? This is definitely the friendliest restaurant in LA, with an atmosphere that's jovial and down-to-earth. On my first visit, I ended up celebrating the birthdays of two strangers. The staff turned off all the lights and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday as the birthday person was presented with a candlelit dessert.



The interior is aesthetically pleasing, right down to the plates and glasses. The dark wood interior gives the restaurant a warm, cozy feel. Some of the tables are too close together, though, and it can be difficult to hear because of this and the overall acoustics. On weeknights, the service is fine, but it can be turtle-slow on Saturday nights. Waits can also be quite long on weekends nights, and there's really no waiting area.

Musha's bathroom shows the kind of attention to detail the restaurant has when it's at its best. They take care of the basics, of course--the bathrooms are clean and don't smell. But then there are small drawings on the wall with a sign that says, "Please do not steal! Ask me and I will make one for you." They also have mouthwash and a stack of small disaposable cups (brilliant, especially if you're on a date). Surprisingly,most places don't seem to consider their restroom to be part of the restaurant, even though probably at least half of their diners will pass through, some more than once. The usual bright bathroom lights and stark decor tend to be a jarring departure from the rest of the dining experience.


Seared Albacore Tuna Salad

You might mistake Musha for a sushi restaurant if you didn't know better. What else could a Japanese restaurant five blocks from the beach be, you assume? But while Musha does serve sashimi, it does not serve nigiri or maki sushi and is not a sushi restaurant. Their sashimi isn't top quality, but it passes in crowd-pleasing dishes like the seared albacore tuna salad.


Pure tofu

The menu's many tofu dishes showcase the chef's appreciation of the soybean. This section of the menu is called "Tofu World" and urges diners to "Try all!!" The dish called Pure Tofu is described as "Tofu lovers!! This for you. The geniune soy milk tofu made the perfect softness, that could melt on your tongue. Served with kelp salt give you the new impression of tofu." Musha's description is dead-on. My previous two experiences with fresh tofu left a bitter taste in my mouth -- literally -- but Musha's tofu was addictive. The serving size was huge, too, especially considering that the dish was under $5. I've also enjoyed the tofu french fries, which are essentially thin strips of deep fried tofu that come with ketchup and mustard. They're heavier than regular fries, but healthier.


Yuba Shinjo: Shrimp dumplings wrapped with tofu skin, deep fried and served with tentsuyu dipping sauce

Though I have often felt not-quite-excited by what I consumed, I'm always excited by the variety of dishes. In addition to basic easy-to-please dishes like edamame, miso soup, and Musha's Fried Chicken, there are many unusual (for some diners), innovative, or intriguing dishes such as kabucha croquettes, dried stingray fin, and thin sliced beef tongue. They also have a plethora of vegetarian dishes--interesting, quality dishes that aren't made for the sole purpose of being vegetarian, but just happen to be.

The prices are definitely right, too. Dishes range from $4.80 for tofu to $15.80 for steak, but most plates are around $8-9. Depending on what you order, you might want 2 or more dishes to get full, though. Two usually does it for me, but I'm a light eater.


Shumai: scallop dumplings with vermicelli noodles and fish eggs

Musha's signature dish is a tall, thick omelette with chopped pieces of octopus and a sweet sauce (not pictured). It's Eat Drink and Be Merry's favorite dish, in fact, and one of the few dishes on Musha's menu that's big enough to fill me up.

Meals end with a complimentary diced orange or canteloupe and hot tea. On the way out, one of the male staff members gives a small goodie bag with Japanese hard candy in flavors like lychee and condensed milk to all female patrons. "Only for women!" he admonishes half-jokingly.

As much as I am obsessed with finding culinary perfection, it seems that the places I return to over and over again entice me withsuch great service and a cozy atmosphere that I can overlook slightly-short-of-perfect food. Having spent the rest of my life in considerably more down-to-earth cities than LA, this is a real draw for me. In spite of its occasional imperfections, Musha is one of my favorites, and I will keep going back.


Musha
424 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
310-576-6330
6pm to 11:30pm Daily
Musha's Website

Tip: Musha has a private room available that seats 10-12. There is no extra charge for the room but they ask that you spend at least $25 per person. That's about what I spend to eat here anyway, so I think this is a good deal for some privacy and peace and quiet.

Mushaboom, mushaboom. . .

Restaurant Review #23: Shige, Santa Monica (now closed)

I've given myself permission to not write about all of my dining experiences, since I want to keep both eating out and blogging as play, not work (at least until I become a famous restaurant critic). This was supposed to be one of those nights, hence, no photos. However, I feel particularly compelled to write about this place because I think it is mysteriously overlooked and underrated.

Located on the happening corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 4th street, I have walked by this place multiple times a week since back in the day when it was named Shabu 2. I am curious and slightly troubled by the restaurant's name change. How do you say Shige? This is not a word most Americans know how to pronounce. Does that make it trendy, or a pain in the ass? (Ever notice often those two things go together?) My guess is that the owner didn't want people to think the restaurant solely did shabu shabu and thus attract a wider clientele (it seems to have trouble with this).

I've always wanted to try it, given it's convenient location, sleek interior, and sushi menu, but since there never seem to be any patrons, I took that as a sign that someone knew something I didn't, namely, that the food was bad. Maybe the problem is simply that it's slightly off the Promenade, hence out of tourist range, and not as prestigous as other area Asian places. However, I read a little orange paper sign in the window one afternoon that said the place was run by sushi chef Shigenori Fujimoto, who worked at Matsuhisa for 11 years. How could this place be bad? So I ended up eating at Shige on a whim when I got to Rocca too late to be seated on a Friday night.

There were maybe 5 other tables occupied, which is pretty slow for a Friday, but maybe not so bad for 10pm. To be safe, and because I had gorged myself on Butterfingers that afternoon, I only ordered one roll, a yellowtail roll, of course. It was fresh and yummy, and had I not been so full, it would have convinced me to order more sushi. It wasn't exciting enough to convert my friend to raw fish, but alas, not everyone can appreciate the finer things in life (Sushi, California, Me). I also ordered some teriyaki beef kebabs (this was the beginning of my cow cravings). They were on the pink side, like most people eat their meat, but surprisingly this did not turn me off. They were pretty good, but a little on the chewy and too-big-for-my-mouth side, and my first bite had a glob of fat on it (this is why I originally stopped eating meat), though the rest of it was more carefully groomed. I also had a hot sake, which was good in a standardly good way. Any sake that doesn't burn going down or taste like rubbing alcohol gets the thumbs up from me. My definition of smooth is probably different from the wine connoiseur's, but who cares? I'm the one who was drinking it. Give me a couple years and I'll probably be an obnoxious wine connoiseur, too.

My friend ordered the shabu shabu chicken, or whatever the dish is actually called, which I was glad for since that was kind of the point of the restaurant, and uncanilly appropriate since we had watched Lost in Translation the week before. Shabu shabu, for those of you who don't know, is where the restaurant brings you a plate of raw meat and vegetables which you cook briefly in boiling water and then dip into sauces. It's kind of fun, but meat cooked this way tastes like nothing and thus relies completely on dipping sauce for flavor. I wonder, could they marinate the meat beforehand to make it more exciting? Or would the boiling destroy the marinade? My overall feeling about this dish coincides with Lost In Translation's sentiment: what kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food? I'm not into fondue for the same reason. I'm hungry, and I want my food, cooked, now! Unless it's sushi, of course. Shabu shabu is especially troublesome for me, the girl who does not cook meat. I'm afraid of poisoning myself by undercooking the meat, so I invariably cook it to death instead. Unless it's on my Foreman grill, which has timing instructions for different types, cuts, and weights of meat, thus allowing me to eat properly cooked meat with less fear of death.

The three (!) servers we had ranged from professional but indifferent to so friendly as to be a bit obtrusive. Though the kitchen closed while we were there (as almost always happens when I dine out, since I never got back on American time after living in Spain, and have no desire to), we didn't feel pressured or rushed to leave.

The restaurant has a choice of tables, booths, or bar seating. We chose a booth, and it was dark, roomy, and cozy. Though the booth was dark, the restaurant overall has fairly high lighting (not too high, just not what I'd call romantic). The restaurant is nice and quiet, though not overly so, since it's not too crowded. This makes it a nice weekend night spot, since most places in LA are bursting and reservations made well in advance often a necessity. I like Shige's sleek metallic decor (see link with photos at the end of this review).

Though I would not go out of my way to eat here again, that decision has more to do with my obsession with trying new restaurants than anything else. I enjoyed both the food and the atmosphere, and I could see myself coming back at some point. I did find myself recommending Shige to a friend the other day to steer him away from Todai. Overall, I'd say that for good sushi near the Promenade, or the next time you find yourself trying to make impossible last minute dinner plans on a Friday or Saturday night, give Shige a shot. This is also a good choice when you want sushi but your friends want cooked meat, since the menu offers plenty of both. Park in the Bank of America lot (4th between Arizona and Santa Monica) for $5 if you can't find street parking--the extra $2 is worth it to avoid parking garage chaos.


Shige
401 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA
310-576-7011
http://www.usmenuguide.com/shige.html (for restaurant photos)