Restaurant Review #129: Ramenya, Sawtelle, West LA

Pork shu mai

Everyone has their own favorite ramen shop, and judging from how often the subject comes up on sites like Chowhound LA and LA Foodblogging, it seems to be a hotly contested topic.

Back in November 2005, restaurant ramen (as opposed to grocery store ramen) was totally new to me. My visit to Ramenya marked my fourth restaurant ramen experience. I was pretty sure that nothing could

Restaurant Review #123: Famima!!, Santa Monica

According to Famima's napkins and bags, "Easy is good. Easy with all the amenities is rare. At Famima, every day becomes a better, richer experience. Simplicity in design, superior products and personalized customer care is what life should be all about."

Should I get into all of the things I take issue with in their mission statement? Why not?

Simplicity in design: First of all, while the

Restaurant Review #122: Sawtelle Kitchen, Sawtelle, West LA

According to Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, people remember an experience as negative or positive depending on two things: how good or bad the experience was at its peak, and how they felt at the end. This theory does a good job of explaining why I do not have fond memories of my experience at Sawtelle Kitchen, even though it's pretty good at what it does.

Restaurant Review #114: Kinchan's, Sawtelle, West LA

Shiitake ramen

Everyone has their favorite ramen house on Sawtelle. Non-grocery store ramen is new to me, so I've been on a mission to try them all--a mission that coincides nicely with my mission to eat at just about every restaurant on Sawtelle.

Ramenya is closed on Wednesdays, so I ended up at Kinchan's. It made no difference to me, really, since I hadn't tried either before.

I got the

Restaurant Review #109: Asahi Ramen, Sawtelle, West LA

Extra spicy ramen with chashu

I finally got to go to Asahi! There is almost always a line several people long to get a table, and I never want to wait, especially when it is cold outside. But I got lucky last Sunday and snagged a table with no wait at 8:30, just 30 minutes before closing time. Maybe that's the secret.

Once inside, I realized that the service is so fast that the wait for a

Restaurant Review #106: Mizu 212, Sawtelle, West LA - CLOSED

Light my fire, baby

Ok, I'll be honest. The only reason I went to Mizu 212 is because there was already a line at Asahi (at 5:00 on Saturday), there was already an even worse line at Hide Sushi (have I mentioned that I've tried to go to both of these places about 5 times each, and always I am thwarted by the line?), and Orris wasn't open yet. Also, one of my anonymous readers was curious about

Restaurant Review #102: Yakitoria, West LA

Assorted Japanese Pickles-daikon, carrot, and eggplant

When you walk into Yakitoria, everyone will turn and stare at you for a good, long, fifteen seconds--or at least, that's what happened to me. My friend and I continued to stand awkwardly in the lack of space in front of the door while we waited for what felt like forever, but was probably about two minutes, for someone to seat us. There was

Restaurant Review #96: Blue Marlin, Sawtelle, West LA

Chicken and organic vegetables in sweet and spicy miso sauce

Blue Marlin has received a lot of bad press on Yelp, and I'm not sure why. It's one of my favorite restaurants, especially for the croquette curry, the risottos, and the tranquil atmosphere.

I wasn't thrilled with the organic dish because of the quality of the chicken. On the front page of the menu, Blue Marlin devotes a couple of

Restaurant Review #92: Chabuya, Sawtelle, West LA

The Classic with chashu (barbequed pork)

On Sunday, there was nothing but brown paper and a sign in the window saying that Hanoi Cafe was moving down the street. On Tuesday, the paper was off, and serious work on a new restaurant interior was underway. On Saturday, I looked inside and saw shiny, dark wood tables and fifteen or so new staff people in crisp white uniforms having a meeting.

I was

Restaurant Review #83: FuRaiBo, Sawtelle, West LA

The Dining Room

I wanted to go to FuRaiBo because I wanted to try a place on Sawtelle that I hadn't been to before, but I wanted to go somewhere that might have atmosphere (Hide Sushi and Asahi Ramen are just tables and floor and not much else, from the looks of them). Also, there is usually a line out the door at FuRaiBo, so early Wednesday evening, a slow time at most restaurants, seemed

Restaurant Review #52: Hurry Curry of Tokyo, Sawtelle, West LA

I thought this place was supposed to be really good. And it smelled good. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed.

I went on a Saturday evening around 6:00 and only about a fourth of the tables were occupied. It's a casual place, with a nice black tile floor and light wood tables and chairs, but not nice enough to take a date.

Loungey deep house grooves emanated from the stereo, which turned

Restaurant Review #24: Musha, Santa Monica

Chicken with yuzuWhy have I been to Musha more times than I've been to any other restaurant in LA? Most of the time, my obsessive drive to try new restaurants prevents me from revisiting even places I love, but Musha wins me over again and again. In a city where restaurants rarely bother to charm their patrons, Musha is a blazingly bright star, going above and beyond most places even before you

Restaurant Review #23: Shige, Santa Monica (now closed)

I've given myself permission to not write about all of my dining experiences, since I want to keep both eating out and blogging as play, not work (at least until I become a famous restaurant critic). This was supposed to be one of those nights, hence, no photos. However, I feel particularly compelled to write about this place because I think it is mysteriously overlooked and underrated.

Located