New Japan ~ 11283 Santa Monica Blvd. West Los Angeles, CA 90025 ~ 310-477-0557

Many of our city’s best sushi joints flourish in crappy strip-mall parking lots like this one, inhaling smog just a blocks west of the 405 in West Los Angeles. New Japan is not one of these. In fact, their cheap sushi truly blows donkey, resembling the type you might get at a fancy Vons, and one piece is usually left sin aguacate, which really pisses me off. The service is friendly, though disinterested, and sometimes you are subjected to large groups of randy office-mates (feel the sexual tension thicken) or sweaty martial arts teams coming to catch a gander at ultimate fighting on the big screen, all while you try to eat and have a moment to yourself.

Still, it is where I often head when I feel like treating myself nicely, having worked hard on something or saved my pennies. I typically skip the pollock-substituting-for-crab roll or limp eel on rice and instead head straight for the chicken and beef special, a sweet-sauce-glazed feast fit for the king of the Huns, accompanied by soft, warm white rice and a carrot ginger salad ($8). New Japan recently got their act together and ditched the heinous mirrors and disco modern theme (but not the obnoxious TV) for a more traditional setting ripped outta Lone Wolf and Cub, with wee Buddhist idols and plenty of bamboo.

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Shinsengumi Yakitori ~ 18517 S. Western Avenue, Gardena, CA 90248 ~ Taco Map

If i stop to think about it, my obsession with japanese culture pretty much starts and ends with food (well ok, and perhaps shibuya gals and gatcha gatcha toys). but beyond that i don’t have much interest in the stuff that most people like about japan - anime, martial arts, zen buddhist rites and flower arrangement… whenever i go there i never ask for directions to the nearest temple. rather, it’s always “where’s the nearest ramen shop?”

So it’s somehow fitting that the restaurant at the end of the universe - my universe - is a yakitori joint. as such, when i fantasize about my old age (not that you could really call it fantasizing, more like, when i consider the grim inevitability of it) i invariably picture myself whiling away the years as “the guy at the end of the izakaya counter with his own personal bottle of sake, somewhere in a rice field in kyushu.”

I’ll be old and quite possibly irrelevant, but at least there’ll be good food and um… young women who’ll let me buy them Prada.

Perhaps then, Shinsengumi Yakitori in Gardena is exactly that. a look into my future. or half of it anyway.
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11555 W. Olympic Blvd. ~ West Los Angeles, CA 90064 ~ 310-575-9337 (TACO Map)

Asahi on Sawtelle has dominated the Westside ramen scene for years. With long waits for ramen that is fulfilling in overly salty, oily, soy-drenched gi-normous bowls, sparsely swimming with pork or beef over a dozen similar dishes, we knew their must be another option west of Broadway for our Japanese noodles.

Sure ’nuff, hiding around the corner, Ramenya has a more refined, though similarly inexpensive, array of flavor, with just as generous portions of excellent ramen, and no lack of options on their 61-item deep menu including plenty of spicy numbers. The second and first generation crowd is also still there, though we had no wait, and the ambiance leans entirely more towards cafeteria than Edo-period hideaway (albeit one with a small manga collection). But the magic of Ramenya is in those fat bowls that hit the table right after your free glass of cold tea does…

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329 E. 1st St. ~ (213) 437-0563~ Little Tokyo ~ Downtown (TACO MAP)

I’m no expert on which Little Tokyo place busts the best ramen, and I think East might be a chain, but I sure do like the cut of their jib. It is a comfortable little spot heavy on bamboo and posters from Samurai and gangster flicks, earning serious cool points. Tables are laid out in the front, with a bar-sized area for the sushi chefs in the back.

The service is cordial and the general atmosphere is very welcoming, a sort of cross between a low-key Izakaya and a traditional eatery on the country road to Edo. Their menu has seemingly everything from yakitori to terriyaki, ramen, and sushi. It’s sort of like Japanese food 101…

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