Xegyn's Cyberspace

Today’s dinner was a side of eggplant with ground beef and miso and hickory smoked pork with mole and Spanish rice. The eggplant was sautéed with ground beef, miso, sugar, sake, garlic, green onions, and chili oil. It’s not as sweet as our favorite nasu miso dish at Honda-ya (Yelp), but the ground beef does make the dish heartier. For the Pork Mole, I rubbed the pork with bacon salt, used Hickory chips in the grill, and made some instant mole by Dona Maria.

Today’s lunch was Teriyaki Salmon. It was basically a salmon steak marinated in sake and brushed with Yoshida Sauce.

If you are looking for a Japanese-style pizza with obscure toppings in Los Angeles, Strawberry Cones (Yelp) is the place to go. It is located in San Gabriel in a small shopping center at the intersection of Valley Blvd and Abbot Ave.

One of the interesting pizzas they offer is the Teriyaki Mochi Chicken. The mochi surprisingly goes well on pizza and also goes well with my favorite Japanese pizza topping the Teriyaki Mochi Chicken comes with: mayonnaise. Other unique pizzas offered are the Salmon White, the Seafood Genovese (with squid), Mochi Mentai (with mentaiko, or pollock roe), Pizza Edamame, and California Walnut & Raisin, to name a few. I did not have a chance to try the California Walnut & Raisin, but I would definitely like to try it next time I am there. Some of their pizzas also include bamboo charcoal in the dough, making it a black crust. If you can’t decide on just one pizza, they also offer a Four Seasons pizza which combines 4 of their signature flavors.

Strawberry Cones also carries Japanese style pastas, salads, and appetizers. They also offer free coffee and tea with your meal.

This is from back in August of 2007, but Tony, Mike, Luis, Mary, and I decided to try a Japanese okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) restaurant, and the closest one to Los Angeles was in Torrance, called Gaja. After a long drive, we spent about 2 hours eating here. Everyone but me got the okonomiyaki. I got the monjayaki, which is kind of like a watery version of the okonomiyaki. Their menu was enormous. I think there were around 20 pages. The food was was pretty good and it was fun to cook your own okonomiyaki at the table.

Last week my roommate Tony found on someone’s blog a hidden gem of a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles, so we went to check it out with Richie. The place was called Wakasanchi, or わかさん家, or Waka-san’s House. Their menu consisted of one thing… Chef’s Special or Omakase. Before ordering, our waiter made sure with us that we are okay with this style or ordering. If we were picky eaters, we would be out of luck because there are no substitutions. Luckily, none of us are. The waiter told us that the menu changes every day depending on what the chef, Waka-san, decides to prepare that day. The food every day is supposed to be traditional home-style, Japanese cooking. The 13 course meal we had that night included:

1. Boiled Spinach
2. A Jellyfish Salad
3. Lobster Salad
4. Fried Fish (forgot what kind)
5. An egg custard with white fish inside
6. Sashimi
7. Crab Legs
8. Soba
9. Niku-jaga or 肉じゃが (Meat and Potatoes in soy sauce and sugar)
10. Wonton Soup
11. Tempura
12. Chawamushi
13. Green Tea Ice Cream

The best item was the sashimi. The tuna was so soft it melted in my mouth. The fried fish was my second favorite because it was very flavorful and soft. The plates are small, so don’t worry if you think this sounds like too much food.

Word of warning: Several websites incorrectly list the address as 929 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles CA. The REAL address is 1929 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles CA between Olympic and Santa Monica. The owner also does not advertise the place.

I give this place a 5/5.