Last time I visited this restaurant, I didn’t have much sushi because this a “Fusion” place, as the name implies.  But since this is a sushi review blog, I decided that this time, I’ll order more sushi.

Sushi Combo - $14.95

For my main course, I decided to get the Sushi Combo, which is basically Zip’s Nigiri sushi combo plate.  The price is very reasonable, and you get plenty for your money.  The fish was fresh but there was something strange about the way the nigiri was prepared.

Close-up of Tuna Nigiri. Notice the size of the rice

As you can see from the close-up above, the Nigiri is prepared with a microscopic sized rice. I’ve never seen anything like this before.  It really doesn’t make the taste very different, but it makes it very hard to pick up with chopsticks.  I found that you need to squeeze the fish and wrap it around the rice, as shown in the picture above.  This strange Nigiri was not to my taste but if you’re on some type of low carb diet, this might be the ticket for you.

Cold Soba - $7.95

Looking to see if anything else here was real Japanese style, I tried their Cold Soba as shown above.  First off, the it comes with what would normally be 2 portions.  It was too much Soba for me.  Also, their Soba is not the traditional Japanese style Soba.  However, it was acceptable and the dipping sauce was good.

All in all, don’t come here for any traditional Japanese food.  What you’ll find here is really “fusion” as the name says.  It’s good food if that’s what you want.

Zip Fusion (Downtown)
744 East 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 680-3770
zipfusion.com
Lunch: M-F 11:30am-2:30pm, Dinner: M-Th 5pm-11pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-midnight

Komasa Sushi is located in the Japanese Village in Little Tokyo on 2nd Street.  You can park in the large parking structure on Central.  This is one of the smallest Sushi restaurants in this area, but that doesn’t stop them from trying hard.

Nigiri Combination C - $16

As usual, I ordered the largest nigiri combination, called “C” shown above.  You get a good mix of different nigiri sushi but the portions are a little small.  However, you get a lot for only $16.  Personally, I’d prefer larger portions for a higher price but I think most people like the lower price structure here.

When I got here right at opening, there were already people waiting to go inside.  Once inside, people started rolling in quickly.  Since this place is so small, on weekends, it’s a good idea to get here early.

Albacore - $3.80 and Spanish Mackeral - $3.60

On top of the combination, I also ordered some nigiri Albacore and Spanish Mackeral, shown above.  Again, the price is very low but the portions are slightly small again.  In any case, all the sushi was prepared properly and fresh.  One thing to note is that because the sushi bar is so small, there’s only one sushi chef so he’s pretty busy back there, and you may have to wait a little longer for your sushi.

The service was good and very friendly, like a family owned restaurant.  As with all good sushi restaurants, the hot green tea was free.  You know how I like free tea.

All in all, a nice place for low priced, but good traditional sushi.  So, if you’re on a budget, but don’t want crappy sushi, this is a great place to try.

Komasa – Sushi and Japanese Cuisine
351 E. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 680-1792

Closed Mondays – Opens at 5:30pm for dinner

Nigiri Sushi A - $16

Oomasa is located in the Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo, so park in the big structure off Central.  This place has been around a while and used to be open until 3am on weekends, but no longer.  After clubbing in downtown, this used to be a great place to get some good sushi.

But I digress.

As you can see from the Nigiri combination A above, you get a fair mix of nigiri sushi, but it’s on a very plain plate and the portions are a little small.  But for $16, it’s a good deal, and it’s fresh and delicious.

I’m not sure if it’s because of their location at the corner of Central and 1st street, but this place gets a lot of traffic and sometimes there’s a line outside to get in.  You take a number and wait to be called like at the grocery store meat counter.

Along with my sushi, I also ordered some miso soup with nameko for $3.  Nameko is some type of Japanese mushrooms that are kind of slimy but very tasty in soup.  As per usual, I ordered hot green tea, which is free here.  As you know by now, this is an indicator that this is a traditional sushi place because of the free tea.

I’ve been coming here for over 10 years and one thing that’s consistent is the bad service.  It’s not only slow, but sometimes the waitress seems to be off her medication and/or just doesn’t want to be there.  It’s not horrible service, but not the level of service I expect from a good restaurant.  I get the feeling that they are either family members or maybe in-laws being forced to work there.  Or maybe not.

Come here for the food, not the service and you’ll be happy.  They also serve non-sushi Japanese food, including Ochazuke (rice in broth) and other cool traditional Japanese food.  The price is reasonable, and the sushi is fresh.

Oomasa
100 Japanese Village Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 623-9048

11:30am-12:30am (Wed-Mon)
11:30am-11:30pm (Sun)

Closed : Tuesday

What used to be a bank, then a clothing store, then Euro Chow, is now a chain Japanese restaurant in Westwood Village called Yamato Westwood.  The building is located in a triangular corner and with steps leading up to it, looks almost like a small museum or State run office.

Since the restaurant is a chain, I wasn’t looking for much, and as we approached the entrance and saw the cheap “Open” sign, I expected even less.  However, maybe because Euro Chow used to be here, the interior is spectacular, starting with the pair of gorgeous hostesses at the front podium.  There’s an alcohol bar on the left, the sushi bar on the right, and seating downstairs and also upstairs.

We sat in the middle area downstairs and ordered from an English speaking non-Asian waiter.  The ambiance here is definitely “fusion” and not Asian.  We ordered the Crunchy Rice Spicy Tuna ($7.50) appetizer, Spanish Mackerel Nigiri ($6 per 2 pieces) and the Sushi Platter Combo ($20).  We also ordered miso soup ($2.50) but the hot green tea was FREE.

Crunchy rice spicy tuna

Sushi Platter Combo

Spanish Mackerel Nigiri

Click on the thumbnails above to see a larger version of the pictures.  There are also some other pictures available there.

Personally, I didn’t care for the crunchy rice appetizer because it was too fusion for me, but I’m sure there are people that would love it.  The quality of the Sushi Platter was good but for $20, it seemed like you should get a little more.  The Spanish Mackerel nigiri was excellent, and I suspect if you order nigiri at the sushi bar, you’ll get more of this type of goodness.

For desert, my friend got the cookies and I got the Fruit cocktail with Pocky sticks ($6).  I would say pass on the fruit cocktail and get something else.

All in all, considering the ambiance, and the location, this place is priced very reasonably.  If you’re into strictly authentic sushi, try someplace else.  But if you like a mixture of authentic with fusion with some Western touches, this might be your kind of place.  It’s a good place to come for lunch or dinner, and nice enough for a special date, without breaking the bank.

Yamato Westwood
1099 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 208-0100
yamatorestaurants.com
Map

My friend told me about mochi toppings at Pinkberry so I decided to try it out.  If you’re not familiar with mochi, it’s Japanese food often associated with New Years, made from glutinous rice, pounded and molded into round shaped pieces.  Since I love mochi, especially in my Udon noodle soup, I was looking forward to trying it out with my Pinkberry.

Well, the excitement was the end of the good news because the bad news is, mochi and Pinkberry do not mix. My friend just loves it but I hated it. It tastes like Gummy bears with no taste.  It just doesn’t match well with Pinkberry.  I think I’ll go back to having it plain with no toppings.

$18 Sushi Mori

Takushi is a new sushi restaurant that replaced what used to be another older sushi restaurant in Little Tokyo. The interior has been spruced up and looks a little nicer.  I tried their top-end nigiri sushi plate (shown above). Although, it’s only $18, you don’t really get much as you can see.  Freshness is okay but the portions are tiny.  Click on the picture above to see a close-up of the ikura and you’ll see what I mean.

The presentation is not great either. I’m not impressed by this simple white plate, nor the layout of the sushi.

It was so hot on this day that I had to order iced green tea, which was $2 so I don’t know if they give you free hot green tea or not because I forgot to ask.  It really doesn’t matter because although the service was good, the sushi was marginal.  I’d rather pay more and get better sushi than save a few bucks.  I might try this place one more time to give them another chance.

333 E. 2nd. St.
Los Angeles, CA  90012
(213) 626-1793
takumirestaurant.com
Map

Everywhere I go, people seem to be talking about Pinkberry. I’m not a big yogurt fan but since they seem to be multiplying like rabbits, I decided to try it out.

As yogurt goes, it’s very tasty and I can see how people get addicted to it. After my initial purchase, I decided to try the coffee and green tea flavors. To me, they all pretty much tasted the same, except for a faint coffee or green tea flavor added.

As for the basic taste of Pinkberry, It has a somewhat spoiled milk sour taste. But in a almost drug-like way, it makes you want more of it. I think it’s possible that there’s some type of chemical, natural or not, that’s inside every cup of this yogurt. Originally, Coca-cola used extracts from coca leaves (which create cocaine) in every bottle. No wonder it was a hit.

There could be something similar in Pinkberry. That doesn’t mean that it’s unhealthy or bad for you. Maybe whatever is in it that’s addictive is good for you. Or not.

By I digress. The reason for this post is that I noticed that sometimes they charge sales tax, and sometimes they don’t. I was so confused by this, I asked the manager at Pinkberry. She told me that the law requires a “dine-in” tax. Therefore, if you ask for the Pinkberry “to-go,” there’s no tax.

Huh? Really? But when I get my Jack-in-the-Box “to-go,” I still have to pay tax.  The only thing I could figure out is that yogurt is a diary product, and I know milk is sales tax free at the grocery store. So does yogurt fall under this catagory?

The Pinkberry manager went as far as to say that if I were to order my yogurt “to-go,” then just sat down at one of the tables, there’s nothing she could do about it. .

Hmmm. Very interesting. Am I the last person on earth to figure this out? For all I know, since I’m new to yogurt, people may have had this thing figured out for years.

All I know is, from now on, it’s “TO-GO” please!

Nigiri Sushi $21.50

Last time I went to Joy Mart, I tried their Ahi Sashimi, with ponzu sauce, which was pretty good.  This time, I decided to try their nigiri sushi plate since I didn’t have any nigiri sushi last time.

As you can see from the picture above, you don’t get a lot for your money.  That’s okay.  But what’s not okay is the way this was made.  Instead of it being hand made, which is what you would expect from a sushi place, it’s made using those molds that they use for the grocery store sushi packs.  You don’t expect to see that at a sushi restaurant in Little Tokyo.   In all fairness, just remember that this place is mostly for drinking.

By the way, I took this picture with my LG Voyager cell phone instead of my Sony digital camera, so it looks a little blurry.

But I digress.

The sushi was fresh and the spicy tuna (closest in the picture) was really good.  It’s just that I don’t want to pay hand-made prices at a restaurant for what I could get at Ralphs for less money.

Well at least the hot green tea was free and the service was good.  There’s that.  So, come here for the rolls, not the nigiri sushi.  Or better still, come here for the drinks.

Joy Mart Restaurant
Sake bar and sushi
137 Japanese Village Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 680-9868
Map

A new vegan restaurant called Shojin has opened in the Little Tokyo Shopping Mall on Alameda in downtown.  They are located on the 3rd floor of the building so you’ll never accidentally find it by driving by.  The actual name of the restaurant includes “Organic & Natural,” and does not use the word vegan but that’s basically what it is.

Before we get into the dishes, I need to clearify that I’m not vegan, or even vegetarian.  In fact, if you read my review of Healthy Request Soup, you’ll know that I don’t even like low fat anything.

According to their website, they not only want to serve you healthy food, they also want you to give you super friendly service.  One thing I noticed right away was the people there going out of their way to make you feel at home here.  In fact, for me, it was a little too much.  Yes, I like friendly waiters, but I started feeling like I was in an interview after a while.  Let me just get my food and eat it please.  If I want to talk to the waiter, I’ll bring my own with me.

Cha-Soba Pasta $13.50

The main dish I chose was the Cha-soba pasta with tofu and vegies.  I love soba so I thought this would be a good thing to try.  It was spicy so at least there was some kick to it, but as most vegan dishes, it didn’t have that fatty taste that’s unhealthy but tasty.  But I understand I’m eating a vegan dish, and not fettuccine alfredo with extra sauce.  So although I didn’t really like it, I think any vegan would find this dish prepared perfectly.

Tofu Walnuts Chocolate cake $8

Not feeling full, I decided to order the vegan version of chocolate cake, knowing full well that it wasn’t going to be full of bad things.  In terms of the actual taste, it’s amazing how mild but flavorful this desert was.  It’s certainly light and I really didn’t even need the black coffee that I normally need to compensate for a chocolate cake.  In fact, it’s so mild, I felt like I needed to put sugar in my coffee.  However, the coffee comes with soy milk and honey.  No sugar here.  It’s all natural.

If you’re a real vegan, I’m pretty sure you’ll find this place to be wonderful with all the choices and interesting dishes they have here.  If you’re a meat slash fatty sugar lover like me, you might find the dishes to be a little mild and bland.  But if you were to be dragged here with your vegan friend, I think you’ll find something you can fill up on.

Shojin Organic and Natural
333 S. Alameda St. #310, Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 617-0305
theshojin.com
Map

Tengu in Westwood kind of reminds me of hip sushi places that they feature in a lot of movies.  It’s got the darker ambiance, good for a romantic dinner or drinks.  There’s no parking lot (hey, it’s Westwood) so just valet your car in front.

At the front desk, there are always hot female hostesses that look like they’re from “The Devil Wears Prada” talking on the phone.  They were probably laughing at my outfit after they seated me.  Or not.

There is a sushi bar with a couple of what appears to be real Japanese sushi chefs.  On this trip, my friend and I sat at a table and ordered rolls.  First up, some appitizer.

Yaki Hama $19.50 (Sliced seared Yellowtail with garlic-ginger ponzu sauce)

This seared Yellowtail was more fully cooked than seared but “Yaki” means cooked in Japanese, so I guess that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  It was good, especially with the ponzu sauce.  Nice start.  On to the rolls.

LEFT: Naminori $17 (Yellowtail, avocado, green bean tempura, asparagus, gobo, cucumber, yuzu ponzu) RIGHT: Tuna A La Tostada $12 (crispy rice topped with spicy tuna)

This place has some really unique rolls.  The Naminori seems like a great choice for vegans and again, the ponzu sauce really made this tasty.  The Tuna A La Tostada is made with crispy rice (like tempura?) and I didn’t care for it all that much.  It was too heavy for my taste.

Diablo $18 (albacore, gobo, cucumber, jalapeno, chili pepper, habanero ponzu)

My friend ordered the Diablo which sounded too spicy to me.  He tried one and he said it wasn’t crazy spicy so I tried a couple and it was a little spicy but not as spicy as you’d think with the name.  However, later, my friend did come upon a piece that was super spicy.  He said maybe it was a seed in the jalapeno.

For scientific comparison, I also ordered the Salmon nigiri ($6), and Unagi nigiri ($7).  A little pricy but very fresh and prepared perfectly.

All in all, this is a great place to try some strange rolled sushi but be prepared to pay a premium for being in Westwood.  Service was good, and the sushi was fresh.  If you’re a hip movie industry lawyer trying to impress your date, this is the perfect place.

Tengu Westwood
10853 Lindbrook Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 209-0071
tengu.com

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