Yakitoriya: secret (shhhh) special cartilage skewers in the Westside

Yakitoriya on Sawtelle in West LA is one of my oldie but goodies. I don't go often (it gets pricey for Asian food) but I always leave extremely happy. Yakitoriya specializes in yakitori (Japanese skewers) but they also offer other more filling dishes on their menu. It's pretty authentic here, the staff speak little English.

They also have daily specials that are posted on the wall.

The restaurant is small, with an open kitchen where the grand master grills up the skewers.

The skewers aren't cheap ($2.50-$3.50 per stick) and are not that filling. There is also a minimum order of 5 sticks per person. They also offer non skewer items such as duck & mushroom ravioli (really good), deep fried gizzards and soboro rice. When we go, we always order from the special menu, which includes a limited supply of unique sticks such as chest bone and chicken knee. All cartilage. Unfortunately they only make a few special sticks a day so we always call in advance to order. They'll take your credit card number down and will charge you if you don't show.

Gyoza ~ A nice start to the meal. The chicken gyozas were perfectly crispy on the outside.

The fried chicken was perfectly fried. The chicken was piping hot and tender, with a well seasoned breading. I just cannot get enough of Japanese fried chicken. So much less greasy than the western versions.

Gizzard skewer ~ From the regular menu. This had a bit of crunch and chew, and lightly seasoned with salt. A small sprinkle of spicy salt gives the skewers a needed kick.

Special heart ~ I really enjoyed the hearts (don't think about how many chickens this came from..) The hearts were very tender and not rubbery. They were drizzled with a sweet soy sauce.

Eggplant with chicken was a good way to get some greens in. The chicken was a thin slice that looked almost like bacon.

Neck ~ This was from the special menu, something that we had not ordered before. For some reason, we thought it would be neck bone, but instead it was the neck meat. It was tender and tasted like chicken thigh. Unfortunately no bone here..

Chest bone ~ This is from the special menu. I love the chest bone of any bird. I love trying to get every piece of meat off the bone. Thankfully, this was easy. It was all meat and crunchy cartilage.

Knee Bone ~ Another one of my favorites from the special menu. Who knew chicken had knees?? I really love the crunch of the cartilage. So much fun to eat. There's a bit of meat attached to the bone.

Skin ~ Totally indulgent skewer that's all skin. The skin was crispy, and reminded me of the skin of a roast sucking pig. There's a bit of crispiness, a bit of fattiness. Amazing combination.

Chicken Wing ~ Always a fun skewer to eat. Lots of skin, meat and bone. The skin was crispy with a slight char.

Their homemade ice cream is one of my favorites. The flavors change daily but I was so excited when I saw my favorite flavor black sesame was one of the choices. The chestnut was another good choice, which I ordered a scoop to go. I love the texture of the sesame in the ice cream. Similar to their special sticks, their ice cream runs out quickly.

Always a great meal at Yakitoriya. The special sticks are my favorite, specifically the tender special hearts and the crunchy chest bones. The only downside is that the bill does add up quickly. We spent about $100 for 2 (with only one glass of wine). You can keep the bill lower by ordering more substantial dishes such as the soboro rice. But Yakitoriya is worth the splurge when you're feeling the need for some original and unique skewers.

Hits: chicken knee, special hearts, ice cream
Misses: can get pricey
Rating: ****

Yakitoriya
11301 W Olympic Blvd # 101
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 479-5400

Street Hawker Truck: a taste of Singapore Food

I only know of two places near the Westside that serve Singaporean food - Banana Leaf and Singapore Express. I know a lot of Singaporeans/Malaysians/Indonesians may claim that the food isn't completely authentic but in all honesty, short of making the 16 hour flight east, I'm grateful that there are places to go to if I'm have a craving. Just recently, a Singaporean food truck opened up. I typically don't like chasing trucks (I hate lines or waiting around for a tweet of the next location) but I decided to make an exception for Street Hawker Truck because I'm Singaporean and I gotta support my peeps. And also because my mom is busy traveling with my dad, I haven't gotten my Singaporean fix in a while.

Hawker centers are widely present in Singapore. They are open air venues that house food stands, where each stand typically specializes in 1-2 dishes. The dishes are cooked pretty quickly and are usually priced cheaply. The Street Hawker Truck offers up a nice variety of dishes. I couldn't just pick one so I ordered three dishes. In my defense, I actually ended up sampling them all and have more than half leftover.

The side of the truck lists the menu (with photos, which is a plus for people that aren't familiar with the cuisine) however prices are not listed. There were two people in the truck last night, parked on Sawtelle in West LA. I do have to comment that they were not the friendliest bunch. I stood at the front of the line and they saw me but continued cooking and didn't even acknowledge me or look over to say "sorry, it'd be a while". It's plexiglass all around the truck so I know you can see me! Finally after 5 minutes, the owner came over and took my order. I also noticed other people after me waiting at the front counter, confused as to why no one was addressing them. Definitely missing the hospitality of the Kogi's and Nom Nom's of the world.

The food is cooked to order so takes a while. In fact, it took 30 minutes for my food from the time I ordered (and there was only one order in front of me...). I did like that the lady cook tasted the food before serving. Don't worry, there was no double dipping.

Roti Prata with Chicken Curry (vegetarian dhall curry was another option)

Roti is a thin fried dough pancake. It had a nice thin crisp exterior but probably could have been a bit crisper (but that's just a minor critique). It was also a bit greasy. The chicken curry was delicious and IMO, pretty authentic. The flavors were really good and it wasn't neither too runny nor too thick. I'm also glad they didn't skimp on the spice. There was a large piece of chicken drumstick in the curry that fell off the bone. This was definitely my favorite dish.

Char Kway Teow
Char kway teow is a fried noodle dish. Traditionally, it's fried with lard but I'm glad the truck uses broth and vegetable oil instead. There was a nice amount of chinese sausage, perfectly cooked shrimp and fish cake in the dish. The only thing missing were cockles which BTW really makes the dish. But I understand that it's missing - cockles aren't that common around here. Unfortunately, the noodles were horrible. They were clumpy and wet (either from the broth or oil that wasn't cooked out). It reminded me of a mushy radish cake. I thought it also lacked the distinct flavors of an authentic char kway teow. It seemed they did not use enough dark sweet soy sauce. As such, I thought the flavors weren't bold enough.

Hainanese Chicken rice
This is a signature Singapore dish and I thought Street Hawker Truck did a good job at it. The most important part of the dish is the rice. It has to be fragrant and cooked with chicken stock. The truck's version was flavorful enough to be eaten alone, even sans sauce, but it was lacking a bit of oiliness that usually comes with the dish. The chicken was cooked the proper way, with a slight pinkness in the center. It's not the best chicken rice I've had but it definitely hit the spot. I really enjoyed the sambal chili which was spicy. The dish was missing dark soy sauce but thankfully, I had some at home. It really is the perfect combination of condiments - chili sauce, dark soy sauce and a side of cucumbers.

I liked that the Street Hawker Truck is introducing Singaporean cuisine all over town. However I think it's more in line with the food stands at the Original Farmers Market on Fairfax as opposed to a food truck. For example, the prices are much higher than that of food trucks but the portions are large as well. Additionally, you'd really need a knife and fork for some of the dishes, so it's not easy to perch on the sidewalk to eat. Lastly, a 30 minute cook time is not the most convenient for foodtruck chasers. I liked the menu items and although the kway teow was a miss, I really enjoyed the roti prata and chicken rice. I would definitely head back to try the satay and nasi lemak. I hope they'll survive in this economic climate but I do have to say that they might have to improve on their service and marketing. Their website needs to be updated with a menu, schedule and a Twitter feed. They should also add another person in the truck to take orders/handle packaging while the other two cook. And please, smile a bit and don't ignore your customers. Customer service might not be important in Singapore where the service industry doesn't benefit from tips, but it's important here in LA (I saw a couple walk away after waiting 10 minutes and no one acknowledged them). Yes there are kinks with every new business but I think if these are addressed, Street Hawker could really be that standout truck.

Hits: roti prata, chicken rice
Misses: kway teow, slow service
Rating: ***

Street Hawker Truck
http://www.streethawkertruck.com/

The food's Orris good

There was a wait for a table on a Tuesday at 6.55pm at Orris Restaurant on Sawtelle. I've never had to wait for a table at Orris before. Everyone must be trying to cash in on their BBE 30% discount before it expires on the 6th. Even though I was hungry and typically dislike waiting for a table (they do not take reservations), I had to suck it up. After all, this was attempt #2 (we went to Orris two weeks ago only to realize they were closed on Mondays) and goshdarnit, I was going to get my ravioli, by hook or by crook.

Orris is one of my favorite restaurants on Sawtelle. Chef Hideo Yamashiro also owns popular Restaurant Shiro in Pasadena. The cuisine is Japanese fusion and served small-plates style. You won't find sashimi here. Instead, dishes are Asian influenced and prepared with French flair, using the best and freshest ingredients. Unlike many of the Japanese restaurants in the area, Orris offers a good and reasonably priced wine list.

After a short wait, we were seated inside (they also have an outdoor patio area by the sidewalk). The aroma from the open kitchen filled the tiny room.

Dishes are served in starter portions and priced around $10, specials run higher. It might sound cheap but trust me, your bill will add up quickly.

They also offer a list of specials, which I recommend you sample.

We started with a bottle of pinot grigio.

Curry infused shrimp tempura with okinawan sea salt
This is one of my usual favorites. I think the curry aioli really takes this dish to another level. Much better than regular soy based tempura dipping sauce.

Free range fried chicken with sweet and spicy yuzu sauce
The chicken was tender and juicy. I just love Japanese fried chicken because they typically aren't too greasy.

Stuffed squash blossoms filled with shrimp mousse and pistachio, topped with calamata olive salsa

As an anti-cheese eater, I was glad that the squash blossom wasn't stuffed with the normal cheese filling. I thought the shrimp mousse filling was unique and the pistachios added a nice crunch.

Soft shell crab
I've had a lot of soft shell crab this season and it never gets old. The crab was well seasoned and the plate was dotted with drops of crab roe. There's something so delicate about the crab shell, yet you can't help but feel barbaric for eating the shell.

Charbroiled Alaskan king crab, marinated in olive oil and grilled
The crab leg was fresh and of good quality. I did appreciate the simplicity of the preparation but I didn't think this dish was particularly unique.

Sauteed scallops with mushroom mustard sauce
The scallops were perfectly cooked. I liked the mushroom topping which added some earthiness to the scallops, but I didn't care for the mustard sauce on the plate. Personal preference though.

Shrimp mousse ravioli and shiitake mushroom sauce
Thick, generous filling of shrimp was wrapped in a tender wrapper that seemed to be as light as won ton skin. The mushroom sauce was rich and decadent. I'm not sure what kind of crack they use in that sauce but I want in on that. The dish was served with fresh baguette that was the perfect vehicle to sop up every last drop of the mushroom sauce. This is an extremely heavy dish but I always wish I have my own plate. It's that good.

Braised duck breast with yuzu chili paste
The perfect medium rare duck was tender and simply dressed. A little goes a long way with the yuzu paste. It left a sharp burning sensation on my tongue.

Pan seared French foie gras with Japanese eggplant in a sweet soy reduction
What a perfect end to the night, albeit a heavy conclusion. The foie gras was a rather generous piece and I believe it was further topped with a smaller piece of foie that had a nice caramelization.

Awesome dinner, as usual. The fried dishes really stood out- they all felt seemingly light despite being deep fried. The ravioli is always a winner. Chef Shiro does an amazing job of creating delicate and refined dishes that pack flavor. The bill before discount and tax/tip came up to $170. With the awesome BBE discount, we each ended up paying $55 including tax/tip. I think that's a steal, for two bottles of wine and an excellent dinner. I've never left Orris dissatisfied, the food is always good.

Hits: ravioli, all the fried dishes, foie eggplant
Misses: no reservations
Rating: ***1/2

Orris
2006 Sawtelle Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 268-2212
www.orrisrestaurant.com

I'm a creature of habit: Sea Urchin Pasta @ Blue Marlin

We headed over to Orris to take advantage of BBE's 30% discount, only to find out that they are closed on Mondays! Darn, should have done a bit more research.. I was bummed because I love Orris and used to go very often. Unfortunately I always over ate when I was there i.e. my own order of their shrimp ravioli in creamy, rich mushroom sauce + loads of their crusty bread to sop up the sauce. Bad Bad. So instead, we darted across Sawtelle Blvd to the restaurant row that houses other Japanese dining options such as Hurry Curry, Blue Marlin and Restaurant 2117. Blue Marlin is another spot that I used to frequent often so it would be a good Plan B.

Blue Marlin serves Japanese dishes with an Italian influence. Even though the menu is quite expansive with specials, curries, omelets, hamburg steak and pastas, I can never order anything except the uni pasta. It must have been fate because I tweeted (yes, I kindda sorta tweet a bit now and then, still dunno how to do alot of things though, like add links or photos.. but all in due time...) to weezermonkey about the uni pasta when she was asking for suggestions.

Fresh warm bread and butter was served.

Our entrees came with a side salad which was really good. I typically don't care for side salads but I enjoyed the dressing which had some sesame, a hint of ginger and carrot slaw.

Their calamari was also really good. It was seasoned with salt and pepper, and sat on a bed of cabbage and carrot slaw with the same dressing as the salad. I liked that the calamari was breaded with panko instead of the heavier American breading. It was a pretty large serving for $6.50.

Sea Urchin Spaghetti
Simplicity at its best. There are no frills here. No other ingredients. Just uni, al dente pasta topped with nori. The sauce was creamy, rich and fishy but I somehow tasted a hint of mustard. I hope not.. cuz I don't like mustard. I've never tasted that tang before when I've had this dish so I hope it's not a new addition. Otherwise, this dish was perfect. Every strand of spaghetti was coated with the uni sauce and chunks of uni. The best part was underneath the noodles, where there were slightly larger lumps of uni. I scraped up every last gonad. Delicious. I can't wait to try this at home.. or rather, I can't wait for my friend LB to prepare this at her home...

Chicken curry
The portion was HUGE, it looked like there was a paella pan worth of curry and rice. You can choose how spicy you wanted your curry to be. The chicken, albeit white meat, was tender. My friend typically prefers Indian curry over Japanese curry but she always orders this at Blue Marlin. She's also a creature of habit.

One of Blue Marlin's specialty is the Om-rice which is an omelet made with Jidori chicken eggs. They offer different topping options including uni, beef, seafood and cutlets.

Chicken cutlet curry Om-rice
Another large portion. These people don't mess around. I mean seriously, how many eggs did they use?? This is like a hodgepodge of dishes. You have an omelet, rice, curry and cutlet, but they all worked well together. The rice inside of the omelet was actually fried rice with some veggies mixed into it.

Blue Marlin never fails. The dishes are always satisfying (even if I do only just order the same dish over and over again). The way I see is, you go with what you know and love. I don't know of any other place in the vicinity that serves Uni pasta so Blue Marlin is my go-to place if I need to get my fix. Not bad for Plan B.

Hits: uni pasta, calamari, portions, open on Mondays!
Misses: nothing
Rating: ***1/2 (for the uni pasta)

Blue Marlin
2121 Sawtelle Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 445-2522

Furaibo: Cheap, fried and delicious- that's all that matters

Sawtelle Blvd is a mecca for Japanese food. There are many restaurants, each serving their niche menu from ramen, to sushi, curry, shabu shabu and pub food. Furaibo, a Japanese izakaya, is one of my top restaurants on the row and is the type of place that when I have a craving for, no other place can satiate. I need to get my Furaibo fix. It's also the type of place that is best with a party of four because you'll get to try a variety of dishes but the wait won't be too insane for a four top. Unfortunately this time, it would only be the two of us. After dining here numerous times, I already knew what we were going to order. The menu is massive but I always stick to what I know and like. There are a few classics that are a must-order. Chicken wings and hanpen cheese (the latter, only if you like fried food and gooey cheese). I've liked almost everything that I've tried on their menu except for the korean bbq short ribs which I thought was too greasy, even for me!

Their menu is in English and Japanese and it's quite expansive. They also have a specials menu. There are a lot of fried items on the menu but that should not be surprising as we are in a Japanese pub, and we all know, beer goes well with fried food.

You can't beat wine for $4.50.

Teba Saki- Fried chicken wings, offered either sweet, mild, regular or extra spicy. Definitely extra spicy for us

Most people come to Furaibo specifically for these wings and it's evident by the wing-chewing at every table in the restaurant. The wings were seasoned with salt, pepper and their special ingredient. They were fresh, tiny and just simple little morsels that you could see yourself munching on all day. In fact, we couldn't get enough of it and had to order another plate.

Hanpen cheese
This is another Furaibo favorite. Hanpen reminds me of fish cake. It is made of ground fish (surimi) and yam. The hanpen was stuffed with cheddar cheese, coated with panko and deep fried. It went really well with the salty, sharp flavored soy sauce. My friends all know that I don't like sharing, especially when it comes to my hanpen cheese- I usually have order my own plate. So yes, we ordered two plates and I actually ended up eating every piece except for two. What's there not to like? Freshly deep fried, breaded fishcake, oozing with cheddar cheese. The panko breading was light and crispy. Don't ask me how I can't eat cheese but I can eat these puppies. But beware, it's like a heart attack waiting to happen. Especially if you eat almost two plates on your own...

Ohitashi - Steamed Spinach topped with bonito flakes
The healthiest dish we ordered but also the most unappealing. The spinach was bland and definitely needed some seasoning. Even some chili flakes that I sprinkled on top could not save this tasteless spinach. I guess if it were tastier, it wouldn't have been as healthy.

Nasu Soboro- eggplant with minced pork meat
I really enjoyed this dish. The eggplant was soft and absorbed all the flavors from the sweet soy sauce. This dish would have worked really well with a bowl of plain rice because of its intense sweet and saltiness.

Nannkotsu Karaage- Chicken cartilage, battered and fried
When we ordered this, the neighboring tables were scoping out our dish and went on to order this as well. The cartilage was cut up into bite-sized pieces and were crunchy. What did it taste like? Nothing, really. You don't order cartilage for its flavoring- there's really no taste to cartilage, it's really more of a textural thing.

Fried Soft shell crab with ponzu sauce
The crab was rather sizable and was fresh with egg sac intact. The roe really added a rich flavor to the dish. I really enjoyed this, especially after tasting medicore soft shell crab at District in Hollywood.

Kaki Fry- Fresh oysters, breaded and fried, served with cocktail sauce
There were three large pieces, each larger than the size of my palm, and for less than $5. Not only was this dish affordable but the oysters were really good. They were plump and fresh, and the breading was crispy and not heavy. Because of their size, you could really taste that distinct seafood flavor.

Furaibo gets rather crowded and they won't seat you until your whole party is present. Parking can be a bit of a hassle too. They do have a free lot but it's stack parking so if you are blocking someone, you'll need to move your car when that person is done, and vice versa. Usually service can be spotty if the place is crowded but it was rather attentive on a Monday night. Furiabo is truly one of my favorite joints serving Japanese comfort food at affordable prices. I was very impressed with the dishes. The chicken wings and hanpen cheese never fail. The fried oysters and soft shell crab were large in size and were fresh. And the best part.. the bill including tax and tip came up to $40 per person, including two glasses of wine each. I am not joking, we were stuffed as heck when we left. So uncomfortably stuffed that even pilates and a 6 mile run this morning could not alleviate.

Hits: eggplant, chicken wings, hanpen cheese, crab, oyster, prices
Misses: can get crowded, spinach
Rating: ***1/2

Furaibo

2068 Sawtelle Blvd.,

Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 444-1432