nozomi knows sushi

if you want a dead fish dangled in front of your face like a flaccid penis, i suggest you come to nozomi in torrance where the fish is fresh and the sushi chef is feisty.

do make reservations at the sushi bar, ask for yasu san, and be prepared for a nice raw omakase journey where soy sauce is totally unnecessary. say whut??

jelly fish

seared mackerel

one of the best bites of the night, the koshodai, also known as sweetlips. crispy in texture and dusted lightly with sea salt. i could have eaten this FOREVER. 

koshodai aka sweetlips

the phallic looking geoduck, once thinly sliced is quite sweet and crispy.

geoduck

bonito

ika with uni aka sea urchin riding piggy back on squid. look at how the uni is hanging on for dear life. delicious.

ika and uni

then you jump right into a bowl of silky steamed egg with bits of shrimp and shiitake mushrooms buried in it. kind of like a treasure hunt except it's in a bowl and you don't have to dig too deep.

chawanmushi

yellowback seabream with sesame sauce

pike mackerel

spanish mackerel

baby amberjack

blue fin tuna

my hubs is not a fan of uni (i know right?? weirdo. kidding. just means more for me). i dropped both in my mouf like a boss.

uni

toro

scottish salmon with sea kelp

not normally a fan of ikura because i ate some rank ones in the past, but these were entirely yummy. little sea pearls indeed.

ikura aka salmon eggs

the last bite was anago and a sweetened tamago. i learned a sweeten tamago signified the end of the meal. what a yummy way to say "pay the check and get out!"   

anago and tamago aka salt-water eel and japanese omelette

yasu san told us to come back once a month since the seasonal fish are always changing. i totally would except for this catch...my wallet has been empty as of late. 

Nozomi
1757 W Carson St.
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 320-5511
http://www.sushinozomi.com

price: $$$
verdict  omg, i love it! 

no tacos for pops, just silverlake ramen

my dad has some busted old teeth but the funny thing is he likes his occasional hard shell taco and would walk down the block to a little family owned mexican restaurant in the same strip mall as silversun liquor store to buy his occasional taco crunch. my dad did it for years and the restaurant was there for years. ahhh, memories.

about a year or so ago, i had to break it to him that his go-to hard taco place was no more. it is now replaced with silverlake ramen. they serve eatables like THESE which do not resemble a hard taco AT ALL. sorry pops.

crispy rice with spicy tuna ($4.50). it was a good way to start the meal says the spicy tuna whoreasaurus.

spicy tuna bowl (which came with the combo meal but otherwise would be $4.50/$7.50 depending on the size). filling it was, though the bowl was rice heavy. i skipped much of the rice when i witnessed my flappy underarms jiggle as i reached for my glass of water.

a blossoming side salad offering you the only greens of the night, that is, if ruffiage is important to you and all. it's not? what?! are you like a constipated cave man?

tonkotsu ramen ($8.50) with the most custardy broth in the world. if i was to use a straw to suck up the broth (which i won't but if you do i won't judge) i don't think it would even go through. the sucker is thick and per their personal description of the broth, "our ramen broth soup is boiled for 16 hours for richness and taste." i wouldn't say i was a fan of the broth, but it was definitely full of flavor.

so those are a few things you can eat at silverlake ramen. sorry no more hard taco shell tacos for pops, though his younger daughter did offer him a taco bell run. i hope he says no.

Silverlake Ramen
2927 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
http://silverlakeramen.com/

price: $
verdict: it's aight

eating at fat spoon with a fork

if you walk down 1st street in little tokyo in search of eats, it is obvious that the bell of the ball is daikokuya. just check out the throng of people huddled around the perimeter waiting for their name to be called just so they can slurp down a bowl of hot ramen. although daikokuya is absolutely worthy of waiting till the end of time, sometimes hunger dictates you to eat sooner rather than later so enter rebound option #1, FAT SPOON which is located RIGHT NEXT DOOR.

fat spoon is a curious little establishment headed by michael cardenas (lazy ox canteen), chef hiro fujita, and company. before entering their quaint little shop, i definitely had high expectations and really wanted this rebound to work out. we enthusiastically ordered four dishes for our noshing pleasure to be shared amongst a company of three.

since i am such a sucka for risotto, the seafood tomato risotto ($12) was a must order for me. unfortunately, i was greeted with mushy textures and bland flavors. if there was ever an urge to offend the kitchen by asking for salt, this would be the time to do so. skip.

the uni with mushroom pasta ($14) was underwhelming as well. again, the pasta was bland and would benefit from seasoning whereas the uni was too delicate in this particular dish to exert its presence which makes me question their inclusion. i definitely need to search for a more impressive uni pasta dish in l.a.!

i was also underwhelmed by the pork cutlet curry ($10) which had a curiously strange texture that bordered on being slightly rubbery. the curry was also mild and one noted which is a complete departure from the usual complex flavors of japanese curry. absolutely disappointing.

alas, we did hit upon ONE dish that night that was surprisingly tasty, the tarako pasta ($10). the salted cod roe added bursts of briny flavors to the pasta which melded quite nicely with the creamy sauce. the creamy sauce was so addictively tasty that my sister spooned the sauce onto her portion of the drab uni pasta. this dish was the first one at our table to be polished off and i would definitely order again.

overall, fat spoon did not shine. in my opinion, their lackluster flavors do not present any threat to daikokuya, the hottest chick on 1st street. although i've been told that their mini corn dogs and uni croquettes are to die for, i do not know if those fried items and the tarako pasta can seduce me back to its doors given the vast eating options we have available to us in our city.

Fat Spoon
329 E. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 621-7890
http://fatspoonfood.com

price: $$
verdict: it's aight

rocking our tastebuds at raku (las vegas)

you start your life in preschool learning that "sharing is caring," but the real test of unselfish sharing comes when you are forced to part with possessions that you truly, dearly love. for some, it might be material, for others, it might be physical or emotional, but for my fat belly, it is usually of an edible nature. what a great first test for our marriage when we ate at raku in las vegas and i was forced to share each and every bite with my hubs...some harder to part than others.

let the sharing commence!

blue fin sashimi ($25) with soy sauce soaked nori which eliminated the need for a small saucer full of soy sauce. the blue fin was clean, fresh, incredibly silky yet firm at the same time. definitely a challenge to share when all i wanted to do was gobble them up, one piece of raw fish flesh at a time.

sashimi salad ($12) with pieces of blue fin tuna, salmon, and yellow tail on a bed of spinach leaves and crispy onions on top. a tart orange tinted dressing elevated this bowl of crunchy raw decadence to a craveable level. definitely hard to share...but i did. darn.

poached egg with sea urchin and salmon roe ($9) was a textural mess. slimey, cold, and gooey all at once. this one was never meant to be ordered or shared. *shudders*

the agedashi tofu ($10) had a slightly crispy, fried exterior which meant a muddled broth spotted with oil. a silken interior with distinct punches of flavor teases your tongue with every bite.

hanpen fishcake ($1.75) with mochi chakin ($2.50) was a warming bowl of sustenance though the texture of the mochi chakin left me yearning for something more toothesome. i had nooooooo problems sharing this one. unfortunately, my hubs was not too keen about it either so my efforts to share this dish garnered me zero points.

then came the grilled items. first up, grilled pig ears ($3). oh em gee. 'twas a fine day when humans decided to gnaw on little piggly wiggly ears. the crunch was fantastic. do share.

apple marinated lamb chop ($6) was another favorite bite of the night. slightly sweet and oh so tender. my husband had difficulties parting with this one...what a bad man.

tomato with bacon ($2.80) was ordered to pay tribute to my shin sen gumi beer slinging days. i loved the dangerous pop of piping hot tomato innards in your mouth as you quickly chase the warmth on your tongue with a swig of cold beer.

kobe beef outside skirt with garlic ($7.50) totally didn't taste like a ruffled, polka dotted skirt. it clearly had a bold, beefy presence in flavor with a slightly bitter trace from the garlic. share it.

last but not least, one of my favorite offals to finish off a night of sharing, kobe beef liver ($4.50). a perfectly grilled piece of liver will be silky and somewhat creamy in texture. this skewer was perfectly grilled and left my full belly yearning for more. tis a sign of love when i share my liver...and i did.

though there were a few misses with the meal, overall raku taught me a valuable lesson that night. every single morsel tastes 100x better when shared with a loved one so i suppose, "sharing is caring" and sharing what you eat also decreases the calorie count. win both ways.

Raku
5030 Spring Mountain Rd.
Ste 2
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 367-3511
http://www.raku-grill.com

price: $$$
verdict: tasty, try it!

liquid pork at ramen yamadaya

this is how you make LIQUID PORK. you take ms. piggy, pull off her dress and pearls, then boil her in a vat of water for days. the water will then be infuse with her porky juices, thus making a heavenly pork broth for your consumption. OR, you can drop by ramen yamadaya in torrance to treat yourself to some of their heavenly tonkotsu ramen broth. holy oinkster batman, i want to drink a vat of that liquid pork!

to start the meal off in this intimate ramen shop, i chose NOT to go light. i ordered the combination special which came with ramen and two sides. the first side was a crispy set of gyoza quadruplets. oh how i adore these crispy pan fried gyozas with their silky, meaty innards.

the second side, the kimchi fried rice, was stellar as well. each crimson bite revealed a bit of kimchi and chasu. if it wasn't for the fact that i had a big bowl of ramen to look forward to, i would have consumed every single grain of rice in that bowl.

my eating partner chose the kimchi fried rice and the kara-age chicken for his combination special. each piece of kara-age was a plump nugget of breaded chicken bliss. the cabbage slaw was tangy which minimized the greasy bites.

...and the ramen. oh dear lord, the ramen. i chose the yamadaya ramen with the "thin" noodles which had two types of chasu pork, menma (fermented bamboo shoots), nori, and a seasoned egg. oooohhhh emmmmm geeeee DELICIOUS. the broth was full bodied, creamy, savory, and wonderfully hearty. and if this was even possible, each slurp of the noodles tasted even better than the last (i may have just drooled on myself as i type this) and slurp away i did until my whole bowl was dry as a bone.

on the other hand, my friend decided to get their kakuni ramen with the "thick" noodles. an alarming slab of fatty pork belly adorned the bowl and although i am a fan of both pork and their fat bellies, the unctuous nature of this particular piece was just too much. due to the thickness of this fat, it was not "melt in your mouth." it was more like "i bit the thigh of a fat man and now it's in my mouth." *shudders*

but whichever ramen style you decide to order, don't forget to ask for their garlic press and squeeze a few cloves of garlic through. the aromatic raw garlic was a great balance to this slightly greasy broth and truly makes a difference in this gustatory experience.

this soup was the quintessential LIQUID PORK and will pop your tongue with the most satisfying savory flavors. if it wasn't for the fact that ramen yamadaya is located in torrance, i guarantee to you that i would have become a regular pretty quickly. lucky for you westsiders, a second ramen yamadaya storefront will soon open its doors in culver city. so dang delicious and DO check it out when you get the chance.

thank you panda for introducing us to ANOTHER delicious meal!! and as always, we enjoy noshing with you and the other dude :) good times!

Ramen Yamadaya
3118 W. 182nd St.
Torrance, CA 90504
(310) 380-5555

www.ramen-yamadaya.com

price: $$
verdict: omg, i love it!

tongue spasms at patisserie chantilly

if you have needs that must be fulfilled (not speaking of your carnal ones), PATISSERIE CHANTILLY in lomita is THE place to be to have your needs FULFILLED.

got thirst? quench it with some of their crema coffee ($3). the coffee won't be as mind blowing as some of the ones you might sip at bona fide coffee houses, but it does the trick and will perk you up real good.

got high cholesterol? a piping hot cup of their green tea ($2.50) chocked-full of antioxidant properties should help revitalize your fatty body. unfortunately for me, their cup was quite potent and bitter and for a recreational green tea drinker like me, the robust matcha flavors were slightly overpowering.

got scurvy? their cafe orange ($4.50) with coffee mousse and orange ganache will leave a slight citrus kiss on your tongue and help combat your vitamin c deficiency.....even though it's packaged in a million delicious calories.

got saggy facial wrinkles? partake in their le matcha cake ($4.50) to stall the effects of aging. the consumption of this delectable, slightly sweet, antioxidant laden cake will give you a natural face lift. though the matcha flavors were present in the matcha mousse, the earthy flavors were not at all overpowering like their cup of green tea. delightful.

got misplaced jealousy? patisserie chantilly's black and white cake, the othello, is filled with chocolate and sesame flavors, a murderous MUST order when you're here.

got some pounds to lose? this grapefruit gelee will happily replace your ho-hum grapefruit diet with some refreshing grapefruit juice, rum, and petite morsels of grapefruit flesh. this seasonal item is a MUST TRY as well and i'm pretty sure you will pucker your face in happiness while you consume it.

got a hole in your heart? holy shit eat this!! the choux aux sesames ($2.95) might possibly be the most delicious sweet thang i've noshed in a long time. the sesame flavors and smell reminded me of my grandmother and my mother toasting sesame seeds when they cooked, but the black sesame cream with the hint of honey in their toasted shells elevated these precious seeds to a rather sophisticated level. personally, i found the best bite to be the cap of this pate a choux with a dollop of the black sesame cream. dear lord, thank you.

not wanting to leave patisserie chantilly empty handed after that "holy shit" moment, d and i assembled a box of goodies, kept fresh with their 25 cent ice packs. each bite at home burned a desire in my soul to go back for more. and more. and more.

thank you danny for introducing us to this delicious gem in the south bay and to the talents of pastry chef keiko nojima! my treks to lomita will be frequent because of this patisserie AND sadly because i now have a sesame need that must be fulfilled. someone, please drive me :'(

Patisserie Chantilly
2383 Lomita Blvd #104
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 257-9454

www.patisseriechantilly.com

price: $
verdict: holy shit!