Kids Menu Katsudon

Katsudon is one of my favorite Japanese dishes – rice topped with deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and onion simmered in a savory sweet sauce. It’s super simple to make, except for the deep-fried pork cutlet. One weeknight I was super craving katsudon, but had neither the ingredients nor the energy to deep-fry a pork cutlet….

Buta No Shogayaki (pork with ginger and onions)

Cookbook Club – Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking Our cookbook in May was Iron Chef Morimoto’s Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking. See all the Japanese cuisine we cooked at home on my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! Pork with ginger and onions sounded so good to me, and…

Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich (Tamago Sando)

Before I went to Japan, people kept telling me I would love the 7-Eleven food there. I was skeptical to say the least. I have never eaten anything from 7-Eleven in the US, and with all the incredible food spots I had lined up for my trip, I just couldn’t imagine why I would want…

Air Fryer Butternut Squash Tempura

Continuing my air fryer experimentation. Tempura is a favorite treat of mine, but I rarely deep fry at home because it requires a lot of oil and effort. The beauty of the air fryer is there’s no vat of oil and you set it and forget it. The only thing with tempura is it’s a…

Ponzu Cucumbers

When you’ve put in your order at a Japanese restaurant and you’re so hungry you think you might pass out before the food arrives, and then they bring a little dish of complimentary cucumbers to your table… cucumbers have never tasted so good, and it’s just enough to hold you over. You can have this…

Japanese Curry

When I was in Japan I had some fantastic curry, and was surprised to learn that many people use packaged Japanese curry roux (Golden, Vermont, and Java are a few popular brands), which they dress up with other ingredients to give the curry a rich, deep flavor. It’s so good! Usually Japanese curry has potatoes…

Japanese Restaurant Dressing

You know that salad you get at the start of a meal at so many Japanese restaurants? And somehow they all seem to have the same dressing (which I’m not complaining about, because it’s sweet gingery deliciousnous)? Well, I always enjoy that salad, and found myself wondering why I couldn’t have it more often. So…

Aburiya Raku Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #64 Aburiya Raku is a West Hollywood branch of the much-talked-about Japanese izakaya restaurant of the same name in Las Vegas. The cozy spot apparently has a very different feel from the Las Vegas original, but the food is just as good and it makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Aburiya Raku…

Ramen Eggs

One of the best things about getting ramen is that flavorful egg with the just-a-touch cooked yolk. You can make this magical treat at home and use it to punch up instant ramen in a pinch. I’ve also been known to just gobble ramen eggs as a snack. Guessipe 2 eggs 1/3 cup water 2…

Shunji Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #49 Shunji is a Japanese restaurant on the west side. I had driven past it dozens of times, always thinking it was an odd-looking building but never feeling inclined to think that the squat silo in a not particularly welcoming area on Pico might have even decent sushi. So I was stunned to…

Tuna Time

My friend went fishing and caught a 30 pound tuna, which we were lucky enough to reap the rewards of when he asked a group of us to come over and help him consume the gorgeous fish. Of course we were happy to oblige. Tuna The tuna was naturally the star of the show. This…

Shibumi Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #47 Shibumi is a Japanese restaurant whose menu is driven by local, organic, sustainable ingredients. It is located downtown, with a sign for the parking garage but not the restaurant itself, so look out for the uniquely shaped window. That tinted window lets in the only natural light in the place, so it’s…