Oomasa...a Little Tokyo Gem

100 Japanese Village Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213)623-9048
Wed-Sat11:30AM-12:30AM
Sun 11:30AM-11:30PM
Mon 11:30AM-12:30AM
Tues Closed

If you'll notice, there aren't many sushi places on What's To Eat LA. Why do you ask? Well, to put it simply, I don't really know how to rate sushi. I mean I can tell what pleases me and obviously what makes me sick, but for the most part the true finesses and little touches that make sushi extraordinary are allusive to me. It's like drinking wine. I can drink and know it tastes good, but why it tastes better than others is something that seems barely tangible. I guess you have to have extremely fresh fish to examine first and then see how ones that aren't so fresh rate to it. When I've read other people articles and posts, the only thing people talk about is how well it's cut and freshness for the most part as if they're coneissures of those fine details of freshness. They must be better people than me and I commend them for it.

I, on the other hand, enjoy sushi quite a bit and have had my fair share of what I would consider very good sushi, so-so sushi and downright scary call the health department sushi. I would also say that I could try any piece of raw fish you throw at me as long as I know it hasn't been sitting out. In LA, there are a plethora of decent sushi places. I use the word "decent" loosely, and please understand that I state that word in a postive light and not a negative. To put it plainly, I would eat at them. Oomasa in Little Tokyo I would rate as higher than decent and a joy to visit when I'm in the Little Tokyo Village. I understand that most people might instantly respond with other places that far exceed Oomasa in the immediate vicinity, but I have yet to be let down here and that's why I'm writing about it.

The inside has a classic sushi bar feel to it except with the addition of booths that harken to a diner in the mid-west. The hustle and bustle is pretty non stop especially considering the constant clientele and the late hours they offer.

Here is their Pork Cutlet dinner combination plate. For $14.95 Celeste got more than she bargained for; a medium sized pork cutlet over salad, 7 pieces of sashimi, 1 tuna sushi, 1 sweet shrimp sushi, 2 big pieces of REAL california roll (ie-real crabmeat), pickled cucumbers, macaroni salad, orange slices, miso soup, a bowl of rice and one scoop of green tea ice cream. The pork was tender (most certainly brined by her opionion) but crispy on the outside with a great flavor of it's own and a sauce that was more savory than sweet, the sashimi was quite to her taste and generously given, and she essentially had to make herself to stop eating at a certain point because it was all so good and there was so much of it.

Here's a plate of their Chirashi Sushi (Chirashi means scattered and that's exactly what this is; a bowl of raw fish fish scattered over rice). All the fish tasted fresh and I must admit that this was the first time I had sushi like this as I'm usually just a sushi-by-the-bite kind of guy. I could do this almost every week. Though the food was a hefty amount (10 slices of fish), I found myself just stuffing it into my face bite after bite. It was really solid this time around and a pleasure to eat. 10 slices of fishes could run you modestly around $18 minimum (if you're lucky) but this plate will run you $16 which is a pretty decent deal.

Parking is available (and validated) at the adjacent lot to Little Tokyo as well as the surrounding streets for parking which, believe it or not, you can find pretty easily. Of course Little Tokyo is aimed at tourists, but don't let that stop many of you from coming on down and exploring. Many of the establishments there have been there for quite a while and with good reason. This place and a few others are quite the gems and cult favorites of downtown LA.

Free Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range: Lunch specials are $10 to $12 and sushi and sashimi plates will run you $15 to $20

Miru 8691...local, different and by far not for the purist

9162 W. Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310)777-8378
Daily Lunch: 11:30AM-3PM
Dinner 6PM-11PM

Miru 8691 was a place found after frustration. Walking up me and Celeste were both hungry, tired and still didn't know what we wanted. We looked at the menu outside the restaurant and thought that sushi was not on our appetite BUT they had other stuff. So we walked in not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into.

We had arrived pretty close to when they opened for dinner. Their vibe is more about comfort and it's casual with a long bench against the wall and what would appear to be IKEA tables.

No we don't know whether they ALWAYS give free appetizers at dinner time, but we got our own individual taster plates with mini cucumber roll, spicy tofu and edamame. All very fresh tasting and a good way to start the meal.

We then shared their Vegetable spring roll, which came lightly fried, mainly filled with mushroom and avocado, over rice straws and a tangy citrus shoyu. This was very good, but I'm not sure if it's seasonal or not. And also we shared...

....the scallop sushi with garlic aioli. It was really fresh and the garlic was not too strong but a welcome change. I don't know but something was pretty surprising about this. There was a just a tad of citric flavor that really added some character to this.

Though I wasn't feeling very sushi, something got me to order their Chanel roll (all their house rolls are named after fancy designers). Quite a quirky roll consisting of white tuna on a crunchy shrimp roll with tabasco, jalapeno and pineapples. I have to admit, I was super shocked at how much I liked this. The roll itself would have been decent but the tuna and spiciness from the tabasco and jalapeno made this thing pretty amazing.

Celeste ordered the Orange Chicken Burger with Fries fried to that perfect golden color. I think this is the reason she wanted to go here in the first place, which in the end was quite the comedy. But, before we laugh, let me tell you why you have to order this at one point to check it off your "life experiences" list. How many people do you know that, as kids or teenagers, weren't convinced to eat Chinese food by the first time by tasting a friends orange chicken. Past that though, most of our Orange Chicken experiences ended, cause at most places, it tastes pretty similar. Well allow this fresh take on the dish to rebirth your craving. This was not just a ground chicken burger dressed up, this was a full on moist, juicy cutlet, in the traditional batter and sauce brought to the point where it was crunchy enough in texture, but didn't fall apart all over you. What DID fall apart was everything else which included greens, tomato, spicy mayo and tempura onion rings (visible on top of the burger) which housed a small pile of mandarin orange sections. As for the comedy...well...that's the picture I'm NOT posting, but I'll just say Celeste got a little messy eating this.

After all that messiness, they were kind enough to bring out the coolest towelette ever. Click the video to see how it's moistened. For us, it was better than bubble wrap.

So hop on down for dinner or lunch (check the hours though... they're closed from 3pm-6pm). They had great looking lunch specials, and on the special side for dinner, they have a prix fixe menu that looks delightful for just $30.

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Ranges: Lunch specials are $8 to $16 and dinner prices go from $7 to $19 with most being on the lower end of the scale.

Kado...check your mail right now!

6333 W 3rd St (The Farmer's Market)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(On the Grove side, near Sur La Table, upstairs...you'll see it ;) )
(323)923-0055
Sun-Thurs 11:30AM-10PM
Fri-Sat 11AM-11PM

It's about time they added something like this to the Farmer's Market! Tell you a funny story. We come home and we're like, dang what should we eat? I go downstairs and check our mail and in the mail is a flyer for Kado... a very good flyer. A buy one get one free tepan dinner or $20 free sushi if you order $20 or more on their sushi side flyer. So we're like... that settles that.

We head over to the Farmer's Market and were like hmmm... I wonder where it's at cause I've never seen it. It's upstairs at the eastern most side of the Farmer's Market. We head upstairs and they tell us that the restaurant is divided into 2 sections. One side is the sushi side (freshly made and put on the conveyor belt) and the other side is the teppanyaki side where the pyros hang out. Being that I like to burn things we go to the teppan side.

It's nice and dark inside which I'm sure is designed that way for maximum surprised drama when they start setting off bonfires in front of you. We sit down and order our food and hand them the coupon(says you have to on the coupon), and get this, they weren't about it at all... infact, the guy said "wow, this is an awesome deal! I hadn't seen one of these yet!"(wouldn't it be nice if THAT happened more often). I got a chicken and scallop fried rice plate while Celeste got the tuna teppan plate. Our chef engages us and we feel lucky when we look over at another chef who isn't so engaging, but he sure did love to bring the flames (every couple minutes something was getting torched like an offering up to the gods). Ours likes to have fun and just uses more flash and trickery. We enjoyed everything. It was all good and I do mean that. Our guy hooked it up! The tuna was done just how we like it, the chicken was super tender and very flavorful (I got mine spicy), and the scallops were huge and tasted like everything tasty from the sea. The veggies were just crunchy enough (man they were good) and it was just a joy. Might I mention that as shown below they hooked me up portion wise.


Our guy gives it all 2 thumbs up...so did we!

So check your mail for an incredible deal. The total came up to like 30 some odd dollars. Now here's where the comedy comes in... as we were finishing up, 3 more couple come in and all get sat together. They don't know each other but come to find out they all had the coupon. Great minds think a like. Though I didn't have any, I hear the sushi rocks as well. It's about time the Farmer's Market got a sweet sushi spot. It needed it badly. Don't forget there's free 2 hour parking with validation at the Farmer's Maket...but I'm sure you knew that already.

Tonight I'll be seeing one of the funniest guys in LA retiring one of his funniest shows. Brendan Hunt at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood doing "5 Years in Amsterdam" for $5. Go. It starts at 8. You'll laugh...and then laugh some more when you realize this all actually happened to him.

Tomorrow I will be writing about my Pho spot in Echo park that is the junk. Yet another amazing spot I'll be unleashing on the world...mwahhhhahhhahahaha.

Cheers!

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range: $17 to $28 (not too shabby for teppan) USE THAT COUPON!!!