Wakasan: One of Westside's Best Deals

Wakasan is one of my favorite recent discoveries. Why? Well, 1) they're open late - 11:30PM M-Th, and 12:30AM F-Sat (they close at 10:30 on Sundays). I don't know if you remember my ordeal on finding late night places on Mondays, but, well, this about fixes it all! 2)It's a great deal. They prefer you to do their prix fixe menu that's $35 - when I did, I ended up getting 12 items and was stuffed - probably too much so for 11pm on a Monday ...

Thanks to Mattatouille for pointing this place out to me!

1. Cold bean sprouts

2. Bean curd - before it's formed into tofu with vegetables, and
3. Ankimo with ponzu sauce, cucumbers and salmon eggs
The tofu curd had a very interesting texture and the dish overall was great.
The ankimo was also good, and I really like the combination with the cucumbers!

4. Sashimi: Tuna, old yellowtail, red snapper

They're not the best quality sashimi, although it wasn't bad. I wondered why the "old yellowtail" - because, yes, it tasted pretty "old". Anyway it wasn't bad and for $35 for this and a lot more I wasn't going to complain.

5. King crab legs
Yum. They're king crab legs, I don't know what else you want me to say O:)

6. Grilled items: Miso salmon and green beans wrapped in wagyu beef
Pretty standard, salmon's a bit overcooked and hence, dry, for my taste, but overall everything was solid, even though not remarkable.

7. Braised Skate wings
This was my first time having skate. It was pretty fishy, but also pretty meaty. The braising has made it tender, so it was quite tasty - although I wasn't able to finish it because I was full and also because it was too fishy for my taste.

8. Shrimp with sweet potato fried rolls
This was served with cocktail sauce, which I wasn't too keen about. Overall this was pretty bland in my opinion, although it did have nice textures.

9. Chawanmushi
With ginkgo, small shrimps, etc, this was one of the best chawan mushi I could remember having.

10. Miso soup

11. Chirashi with tuna, scallops, uni.
Again, the fish quality is not the best, but the uni is not bad. I didn't really like the scallops as they were not fresh, but I thought the other two were decent.

12. Vanilla ice cream
I can't say for sure but this tasted very much like Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream. Which meant it was good :)

Overall we had a great variety of dishes, and some of them very interesting ones I've never had before, and all for $35. Plus they're open late daily. I'll be back here, and I think you know when :P

Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241

Mole and Margaritas: Loteria Grill

I finally tried the somewhat-new Loteria! Grill in Hollywood about a week ago. A completely different ambiance than its predecessor at the Farmer's Market, this Hollywood outpost has high ceilings and a nice looking bar.

The salsa and tortilla chips at Loteria are amazing, but as some have noticed, they're pretty stingy about it. A small portion for the 4 of us, we chowed it down in 5 minutes. We flagged down 4 waiters to ask for more, but their 'yes' never materialized into more chips and salsa. Finally we managed to flag down a busboy who graciously actually brought us more!

Tacos aren't cheap at $3.50 a piece if you want meat. I ordered two cochinita pibil tacos (slow roasted pork)

No rice or beans were given - just two tacos at $3.50 each. The tacos were great, thought. The cochinita pibil was very flavorful, with a light spiciness. The meat was very tender.

For drinks I ordered a mango margarita (I believe this was $11).

A delicious margarita although the mango flavor was not that prominent. The only problem - bcs I ordered this the server didn't bother bringing me water ...
Loteria definitely has service issues :(

One friend ordered the chicken mole enchilada ($12).

I tried a bite of this and absolutely, absolutely loved the mole sauce! The enchilada is also a better deal with more food, and rice and beans. Next time I will get this instead of tacos..

As I said, I absolutely loved the sweet and smooth mole that I ordered another taco - this time chicken mole (I just wanted more of that mole sauce!)

The mole taco was great, and did the job of satisfying my craving.

A couple friends ordered the Michelada for a drink ($9), which is basically a bloody mary mix with cerveza.


We all really liked the food at Loteria, and I will definitely come back another time, if only for that mole. Again, though, service can be much improved ...

Loteria! Grill
6627 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 465-2500
http://www.loteriagrill.com/loteriahollywood

24/7 Comfort Food

This was one of those late nights, with class ending at 9 pm on Mondays. Since half of LA closes on Mondays and half closes at 10 pm, 24/7 places like BCD Tofu House are lifesavers.
Although they have many branches, the Wilshire one is the most popular and I can only assume that there's a reason for it.

This late at night there's usually a short wait for a table - about 10 minutes. As with most Korean places, they bring out small plates of banchan. Kimchi, bean sprouts, and fish cakes are common fares, but BCS gets extra points for their fried corvina - whole small fish for each patron.In addition to soon tofu they also serve kalbi, bulgogi, bibimbap, all of which you can get as a combo with a smaller portion of soon tofu. I got the beef soon tofu- mild, of course, since I can't eat spicy.
Not really comparable to Beverly tofu, for one. The one here is rather ... bland, in comparison. They also give less tofu and meat, and of lower quality. But it's not bad. It's still comforting and filling. At 10 o'clock at night, it's very satisfying. I used to love BCD but not that I've gotten spoiled by Beverly it's harder to come back here unless the other one is already closed.

The kalbi is tender and flavorful.
The meat is sometimes a bit fatty, but overall a tasty dish.

Another thing that BCD Tofu gains extra points at is this: Their rice is served in a stone pot, and then they scoop out the slightly burnt rice from the edges and serve it with water.
This make a nice, soothing rice 'soup' that is just soo right after all that spiciness from the soon tofu.
BCD Tofu House will always remain on my radar, since it's really quite often I find myself looking for food late at night! 24-hour places hold a very special place in my heart :)

BCD Tofu House
3575 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 382-6677

www.bcdtofu.com

Late Night Run to Donut Man

How far would you drive for donuts?
Donut Man in Glendora sits on the historic route 66 ... definitely out of the way, both from Westwood or Pasadena, but Pasadena is definitely closer than the time I made a midnight run there from Westwood. But with all the reviews surrounding it, I had to go and try. Luckily they're open 24 hours and the drive is that much shorter late at night - barring any road constructions ...

Donut Man carries all the varieties of donuts you might expect to find in a donut shop:
Your glazed, your cake donuts, your chocolate twists, your apple fritters, your crumbs ...
And yes, those are all good. But their specialty, and why people make this drive, is their
But of course, no late night drive to Donut Man is complete without getting their specialty fresh fruit stuffed donuts:
Depending on the season, they offer strawberries or peaches. So far thought, I have not had the chance to try out the peaches one (when do they offer those anyway? In the fall, I heard. We'll see). A glazed donut stuffed full with fresh syruped strawberries. Truly a heavy duty dessert; there is no way to eat this without a fork.

Sure, sure, it's a loong drive just for donuts, but we're young and foolish :) As I get older I don't think I'd be doing this anymore, but for now, seeing that I enjoy driving late at night ... it's worth the drive for me.

Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740-3608
Phone: (626) 335-9111

Mango Addict

My new favorite dessert (especially in this price range):
Soy Custard with Tapioca and Mango
from the Phoenix Food Boutique (also available at the restaurants).

A really refreshing dessert, and the mangoes they use are (most of the time) very sweet! Like Pinkberry's mangoes USED to be ...
And the tofu hua (soy custard) is very silky smooth. The sweet creaminess combined with the slightly tart mangoes are just perfect.

The best part is that some locations are open until 1 am!

Phoenix has multiple Food Boutique and Restaurant locations.
Find one at: http://www.phoenixfoodboutique.com