The SLY Foodie

The Flying Pig Cafe opened its doors in Summer 2011, to much anticipation from food truck followers. The Flying Pig Truck currently has a successful run serving pan-Asian fusion food to pork lovers. We visited the restaurant in Little Tokyo within the first two weeks of its grand opening.

Flying Pig Cafe, 141 South Central Avenue, Los Angeles

Read More......

Tenno Sushi is one of several Japanese restaurants in Little Tokyo that we frequent for lunch. It serves sushi rolls at half price during lunch, plus it also has several lunch combinations available for your palate’s enjoyment. On this particular day, we stopped by for lunch because we wanted to go to Beard Papa’s for dessert.

I ordered the Beef Bulgogi and Shrimp Tempura combination. It comes with miso soup, green salad, three pieces of California roll, white rice and some potato salad. That is a lot of food for under $10, which to me, is a great deal. The miso soup tasted so-so, it had several pieces of tofu, which also was ok, I prefer the soup at AOI. The salad was also ok, nothing memorable about it. I liked the California roll, which is a big statement, because I don’t necessarily like seaweed, but it was one of the higher points of the meal. The potato salad, in my opinion, was a disappointment only because it lacked the classic potato salad flavors I was looking for. I did, however, love the bulgogi; it was easily the star of the show. The tender, marinated beef, cooked with red and green peppers, sweet onions and mushrooms had a sweet, yet savory and meaty flavor. The tempura was also good, crunchy on the outside with the tender cooked vegetable on the inside.

We also got an order of Philadelphia Roll, which is salmon, cream cheese and cucumber wrapped up in nori and rice. My husband liked it, whereas I just chomped it down, so I didn’t really get to appreciate the classic salmon-cream cheese flavor profile that always goes well together.

The hubbs ordered Pork Katsu, which is breaded pork cutlet served with rice and tonkatsu sauce. It’s not the best katsu in town - I felt that although it was crunchy, the meat was a little too tough for my liking.

Overall, Tenno Sushi is a nice place in Little Tokyo to grab a quick bite. The prices are reasonable, service is friendly and food is decent.

Tenno Sushi, 209 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles
http://www.tennosushi.com/

Read More......

Since we've been to Daikokuya and love the ramen there, we decided to test the product at its surrounding competitors. So we visited Orochon Ramen, located between 1st and 2nd streets behind the Kyoto Grand Hotel. OR was featured on an episode of "Man vs. Food," where Adam needed to finish a bowl of Special 2 Ramen within 30 minutes to be memorialized on OR's Wall of Bravery.

To order, first select the type of broth from the three options OR offers: soy sauce (shoyu), miso or salt (shio). Then choose a spiciness level, which ranges from Level 1 (mild or not spicy) to Level 7 (extremely spicy). Beyond Level 7 are two special levels, 1 and 2, which will apparently burn off the taste buds on your tongue. After selecting the spiciness level, choose any extras to include in your custom made ramen order. Options include cha shu pork slices, hard boiled egg, corn, extra scallions, extra noodles, bamboo shoots, garlic and butter.

On this trip, I ordered shio ramen in Level 4, with two pieces of char sui pork and an egg. Level 4 is considered middle of the road, not too spicy, and not too bland. It was a mixture of noodles, vegetables, wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, scallions and small pieces of pork swimming in a big bowl of steaming broth. At first taste, or slurp, I found the broth to be flavorful and just a little spicy, and wondered if I had enough nerve to try a Special 2. I was disappointed with the noodles, or lack thereof. Everything else in the bowl was so-so, except for the char sui pork pieces that I ordered in addition to the ramen. The pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender and flavorful - it better be, at $1.50 each. I definitely prefer the Daikokuya version.

We also ordered the gyoza dumplings, but quite frankly, it was pretty mediocre. In fact, the entire Orochon experience was pretty mediocre, despite the crowd. I would have much rather waited in line for a counter seat at Daikokuya.

Read More......

A week ago, we braved the California sunshine and went on a short walk to Beard Papa's, located in Little Tokyo. I've heard good things about BP's, a franchise that specializes in cream puffs. That's right, a store whose main product is a cream puff. I had to see and taste for myself.

There are many Beard Papa's located throughout the San Gabriel Valley, and I would highly recommend visiting one.

Read More......

AOI Restaurant is a small Japanese restaurant located in Little Tokyo near Downtown Los Angeles. It serves the traditional Japanese fare, like teriyaki, sukiyaki, tempura, sushi, ramen, etc. It's primarily well-known among people who work in the area who take advantage of their lunch specials.


Speaking of which, the most popular lunch specials is the "B Lunch." The B Lunch features teriyaki chicken, shrimp and vegetable tempura, sunomuno, rice, salad and miso soup. In my opinion, AOI has the best tempura downtown. The batter is light and crisp, and the vegetables are not overcooked. The teriyaki is also very tasty as well. The teriyaki chicken is good, some of the time. Sometimes, it tends to be overcooked and dry; other times you taste the charcoal that comes from burning the edges. There have been a few times when I've actually noticed that the chicken was cooked nicely. The teriyaki sauce is good, not too sweet nor salty. The miso soup is great; they don't add seaweed in it (I don't like seaweed), but they do add some nice pieces of tofu - yummy. The salad is comprised of iceberg lettuce, cabbage and shredded carrots served with their house dressing, which is never enough.


Also available is something called the No. 2 Plate, which includes teriyaki steak, shrimp and veggie tempura, rice, salad and miso soup. It is a generous portion of steak which is cooked well. There are also more tempura pieces to enjoy.


On one of our visits, we ordered the gyoza as an appetizer. We were served with six pieces of pan-fried dumplings. They also included a bottle of sesame oil, which we mixed with soy sauce. The gyoza were delectable, nice combination of ground pork with vegetables.


Overall, Restaurant AOI is a great place for a tempura/teriyaki lunch combo at a relatively reasonable price. Lunch specials start at $8.95.

Read More......

Read More......

When the weather turns cold (as it did just recently), it always puts me in the mood for a bowl of steaming hot noodles. It just so happened that I was craving ramen. Not the packaged ramen that sells 10 for $1, but real homemade ramen in real broth. So we went to Daikokuya, which is located on 1st Street in Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles. They are known for making great ramen, and if you feel like going there, let me just share a piece of advice: go early. It is a small restaurant, and there is always a lunch crowd that goes out the door.


Daikokuya offers traditional, quality Japanese fare at somewhat reasonable prices. One can expect to order the usual teriyaki or tempura combinations, as well as some sushi-type selections. Most people order the Daikoku Ramen, noodles in steaming hot broth served with a hard boiled egg, pieces of karabuto pork, fresh bean sprouts, seasoned bamboo shoots, and lots of scallions. According to the restaurant, it is unique for three reasons: 1) because the broth is made from boiling pork bones for a full day to achieve maximum flavor; 2) they use karabuto pork, which is known for its unique flavor and tenderness; and 3) the eggs are soaked overnight in special seasonings to enhance the soup. For a little variety, try the Ramen Tsukemen, which is the same thing, except the noodles and ingredients are served cold in a separate dish with the bowl of hot broth.


Now I'm not typically a ramen fan, but I will admit that this is good comfort food. It leaves you feeling full, satisfied and warm. What I liked best about it was how the noodles were cooked. There's just something about a perfectly-cooked noodle soup dish that brings the feeling of satisfaction. I always order it without scallions because I don't like them, and they happen to put A LOT of scallions for garnish... well, for flavor too, I suppose. Below are pictures of the Daikoku Ramen, one with the scallions, and one without. See what I mean about lots of scallions?





We also ordered the gyoza, which are essentially fried potstickers served with some type of dipping sauce. They were good, except for the heaping mound of scallions on top. I personally prefer the Chinese potstickers. So with that said, here is a photo of the gyoza:

Read More......

Below is a picture of the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with the garlic fries. It is pieces of flank steak with grilled red and green peppers and onions with provolone cheese served in a french roll. You might be able to see the little pieces of garlic on the fries. That is lots of fresh garlic, so I suggest bringing a lot of mints or gum when you go. I forgot to take the picture before I had some, I guess I was really hungry. =D

Other dishes that are good include the crab cake sandwich, which is a big piece of crab cake served with a red pepper aioli on a french roll. The Penne Florentine is good too, if you're in the mood for pasta. It's penne with chicken, tomato, spinach and mozzarella.

The Brewery also has a great happy hour line-up of appetizers, which include the chicken wings and a basket of the garlic fries. I highly recommend going to happy hour for the food as well as the drinks. They make the best canteloupe martinis in town (well, as of a couple of years ago they did).

Read More......