Kagaya

For Taizo's 25th Birthday, we celebrated at Kagaya in Honda Plaza in Little Tokyo, right next door to Sushi Gen. If you don't know already, Kagaya has in my opinion the best shabu shabu in LA hands down. Not only is the meat phenomenal, but you also get a multi-course meal as well. Check out pictures of the feast below (courtesy of Amy):

Toro w/ grated daiko and wasabi in ponzu

Salmon Soup

Spicy chilean seabass

The sauce setup

Shabu shabu beef and vegetables

Udon noodles in egg broth

Rice w/ plum in egg broth

Apple pie w/ vanilla ice cream

Creme brulee

Banana pie w/ vanilla ice cream?

If you aren't full after this meal, you're a fatass. Check it out when you get a chance. Cheers.

Kagaya
418 E 2nd St

Los Angeles, CA, 90012

(213) 617-1016

Doughboys Bakery

Today I finally had a chance to visit one of my all-time favorite lunch spots, Doughboys Bakery. If you're familiar with Toast, it's on the other side of 3rd, one block east. Certainly a better alternative to the scene-y, one-hour wait at Toast, and better food in my opinion.

Doughboys has your typical bakery cafe fare, such as breakfast, soups, salads, cakes, bagels, cookies, muffins, etc., but I go there for the sandwiches. Being that it is a bakery, Doughboys pride themselves not only on the fillings, but on the bread the sandwich is served on. My personal favorite is the portobello mushroom sandwich on a French baguette. My stomach tends to do all the thinking when I'm at a restaurant, so I usually forget to take the picture before I start eating. (Notice the premature bite on the top-left, as well as cole slaw damage)


As you can see from the picture, Doughboys does a good job serving their sandwiches according to the form factor of the bread. For this particular, notice how they hollowed out the middle of the baguette somewhat to all for the mushrooms, radicchio, and artichoke pesto, with a little parmesan sprinkled in there as well.

My other recommendations are Fat Boy burrito (pulled pork -- crazy good, 2nd favorite, not on the menu I don't think) or the Artichoke sandwich. Make sure to avoid the S.O.S. (Shit On a Shingle) by all means. As optimistic as I was ordering it, it really does look like someone shitted on your plate.

Doughboys Bakery
8136 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90046
www.doughboys.net

Wat Thai Temple

Over the past weekend while on my way up to the Valley, I swung by my old stomping grounds, the Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood. I used to have to come here every Saturday/Sunday for weekend school, praying in the temple and learning myself some Thai. It's funny -- I somehow managed to advance a grade every year without ever having to take a final exam...

The real reason I love this place is the food. Oh the food. If you want some real Thai food in LA, go here. Period. You don't get much more authentic than this. Most of the people who serve up the various goodies from sate, papaya salad, and the phenomenal sticky rice and mango, have been here for 10+ years, if not much much longer. If anything, you have to try the sticky rice and mango here. I guarantee you that you have never had a better tasting version unless you ate it in Thailand. And even then I wouldn't believe you, because I'm Thai and you're probably not.

The best part about all this is that the food is mad cheap. Chicken sate = $1. Papaya salad (som tum) = $3. Sticky rice and mango = $5. All of this AND you get a taste of where I'm from. Shit.

Make sure to get some tokens before hitting up the food stands. Red = $2, Green = $1, Yellow = $0.50.

Wat Thai Temple
8225 Cold Water Canyon Ave

North Hollywood, CA 91605

Johnnie's Pastrami

This past weekend while hangin' with my cousin in the Culver City area, we didn't have much time to drive all the way out to lunch at Doughboy's in LA, so we decided to stay local and try out Johnnie's Pastrami on Sepulveda Blvd. just north of Washington.

The place resembled an old school 50s diner, reminding me of something between Ruby's and The Apple Pan. They even had the original jukeboxes at the ends of the tables from when they first opened. They also had quite a lot of tables on their patio, which worked out perfectly since it was hot that day.

They were pretty busy when we went around noon, but the service was prompt. They start you off with a little bowl of dill pickles while you wait. Once you get your order in, you got your food within 5 minutes.

Between my cousin and I, we had the pastrami sandwich and corned beef sandwich, both on French rolls. The pastrami was phenomenal. They slice the meat deli-thin before dunking it in the broth that they cook it in. When the sandwich finally comes to you, it's packed high, but in a way that's very well put-together and not sloppily. Real easy to eat -- you don't have chunks of pastrami falling out every bite.


The pastrami itself was good, but I thought the key to the sandwich was the bread. The French roll that it came on was perfect. Fluffy on the inside, yet had a nice crisp, brown finish on the top. I think they spread a little butter on the halves and grilled them slightly before loading it with the meat.


The corned beef was also good, but I definitely preferred the pastrami. It was also cut deli-thin, but I guess with the way the meat is, or perhaps just the way they packed it into the sandwich, it was much denser than the pastrami, but had relatively the same feel and consistency of the pastrami. If you're a corned beef fan like my cousin, you'll love it.

In my opinion, Johnnie's is definitely one of the better places to get a great pastrami sandwich in LA. Make sure to bring cash though, since they don't accept credit card.

Johnnie's Pastrami Restuaurant
4017 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230

Welcome to our food blog!

Before you continue reading, stop and bookmark this site right now. If you are into food, you are in the right place. If you eat simply to become "un-hungry", leave now because this blog will make absolutely no sense to you.

Teddy Fong and myself, Opie Lopansri, like to eat. We are obsessed with the fact that one good meal can make our entire day, if not our week. We are always looking for the latest and greatest places to eat, whether it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, or simply dessert. We like to eat so much that it's not enough to talk about it just amongst ourselves. We have to tell you about it too.

On this blog you're going to find restaurant reviews in and around the LA/OC area by either me or Teddy, along with plenty of random rants about food that'll probably leave you hungrier than before you got here.

So all you foodies out there rejoice -- we have arrived.

Cheers,
Opie + Teddy