Ramen Yukino Ya

There's no shortage of good ramen in southern California.  I've tried most of the ones that hail from the land of the rising sun but I'm always on the lookout for good ramen that I've yet to try.

In comes Ramen Yukino Ya. Reviews on yelp were great and informed us that place is small and fills up quick. So of course I timed our arrival to correspond to the opening time. Also very helpful to know beforehand that it is cash only.

Restaurant is indeed small, probably sits less than 30 pax. Given that we weren't that hungry, we decided to order 1 bowl of spicy miso yukino ya ramen + bowl of stewed pork with rice and gyoza. We also got some hot tea to go with the food. I was rather disappointed that they charge $1 for each hot tea and that they used tea bags instead of loose tea leaves. I mean if I'm gonna be charged for something that is usually free at other restaurants, I would prefer if it was of better quality. 

Food came out pretty quickly. The stewed pork with rice ($2.75) was a small serving, more like a side dish. The pork was finely shredded and top with pickled ginger and green onions. The pork resembled chinese pork floss but was way more moist. Nothing really special but adds variety to a meal if you don't want to just eat ramen.

Next came the gyozas. 6 pieces for $5.50. It was pan fries very well and when you bite into it, it is still juicy inside. I would say the filling included chives (or the likes of it) and pork. Very tasty.

The star of the meal came soon. The red broth was enticing but didn't look oily. We added some garlic soy sauce they provided at the table.  You can't really taste the garlic but if you wanted a stronger flavor, ask for a garlic presser and add the minced garlic to your noodles. It didn't quite compare to Ippudo NY's black garlic oil, but hey, still a pretty good effort. I really enjoyed the spicy miso ramen. It had enough spice, texture of noodles was good and the broth was not very oily. If you get the yukino ya version, you get half an organic onsen egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, green onions, nori, and 2 thick pieces of chashu. To make it spicy you add $0.50 which made our bowl of ramen $8.75 in total. You can also add extra noodles for $1 more. Great value.

Verdict? Will definitely be back but will have ice water the next time round.

Ramen Yukino Ya 

18230 E Gale Ave

City of Industry, CA

626 581 8420

Hours: Tue - Sun 11:30am - 2:30pm & 5:30pm - 9pm

Son of a Gun - West Hollywood

One lazy Sunday afternoon the hubs was browsing the homepage of a certain search engine and saw an article on the best seafood restaurants in the nation. He flipped through it and saw they named Son of a Gun in Los Angeles as one of them. My interest got piqued and I looked through the article and Yelped the restaurant. The pictures of the food looked so enticing. I told hubs he should make reservations for our anniversary dinner there. Fast forward 2 weeks later, we were there waiting excitedly for our dinner.

We got to WeHo around 5+pm on a Saturday afternoon and was lucky to find a street parking spot. Fret not if you can't find streetside parking, Son of a Gun offers valet parking for $5.

We knew what we wanted to order. Lobster roll, shrimp toast and linguine with clams. I would have added the fried chicken sandwich to the mix had we not have awesome Korean fried chicken the day before. The lobster roll and shrimp toast were items almost every diner ordered so of course we have to try it. Linguine with clams was hubs' choice as he had a disappointing experience several weeks ago at another restaurant and wanted to try a winner. We decided to add shishito peppers to our orders so we'd get some greens. Heh. For drinks I ordered a house fermented shandy and hubs got Hitashi Pale Ale.

Our drinks came first and I was wowed by mine. It has apple cider, lemon juice and spiced apple. It tasted like the holidays, so comforting. Next came the fried shishito peppers and shrimp toast. The shrimp toast was beautifully fried to a golden brown. It was small, about 4 sq inch for $11. It was scrumptious. It had shrimp paste some veg and sriracha mayo. The crustacean taste was inviting but not overwhelming. Meal was off to a great start! The shishito peppers were fried with sesame seeds and bonito shreds sprinkled over it. It was served with a lemon garlic aioli $9. While this dish was good, it didn't leave me wanting for more. Serving size was ample though.

Linguine with clams came next. It was such a small serving, probably less than half a regular serving at a regular Italian restaurant for $19. Unfortunately for hubs this dish was not a winner. It was too salty and even if it wasn't, the taste or portion did not justify the price.

Next came the highly anticipated lobster roll. I read reviews saying it can be polished up in 2 bites and figured maybe these people take big bites. But when I saw the size, I understood what they meant. The lobster roll was about 2 inches long. I have to say it was delicious, they were not stingy with the lobster and the bread was pan fried very well and the texture was good. Well worth the $7. Should have ordered 1 each.

We weren't feeling full by the time we finished the 3 dishes so we added another. We decided to go with the country ham with hush puppies $15. The ham was thinly sliced and tasted like prosciutto. The hush puppies were very well seasoned and complimented the ham. The honey butter on the side did nothing for us but then again we are not a huge butter fan.

The meal cost us around $100 including tax and tips. While it was a good experience, we probably will not be making our way here again.

Son of a Gun

8370 West 3rd St

Los Angeles, CA 90048

(323) 782 9033

Jinpachi @ West Hollywood

so the boy was crowned employee of the month several months back and the company gave him a $200 meal budget. so we decided to splurge it on a japanese restaurant in west hollywood after much agonizing research on the delicious life's website (it's tough to decide what to eat!).

we started off with the fried shishito peppers. fried till it blistered and topped off with some lemon juice and bonito flakes, this dish definitely helped to whet our appetite for more yummy food to come.

next up was the spicy tuna with crispy rice. definitely a 1st for both of us, the tuna wasn't exactly spicy but was juicy when you bite into it. it paired well with the sweet sauce and jalapeno pepper on top and the highlight was the crunch from the rice.

our favorite dish for the night has to be the grilled miso black cod. it is ooohhh soooo good! the fish melts in your mouth and you can taste the slight smokiness from the grill and the sweet miso sauce complemented the delicate fish. we were contemplating getting another order of this dish and hating ourselves till this day that we did not.

we ordered several pieces of nigiri and though they were not spectacular, we were satisfied nonetheless. wanting to fully utilize the $200, we ordered other specials such as the sashimi salad which came with 8 pieces of thick cut sashimi, the hamachi with fried garlic and lemony sauce. we rounded up the meal with the blue crab handroll and monkfish liver nigiri. the blue crab handroll was fresh and did not contain any mayo so you can taste the crabmeat itself. avocado gave the same creaminess as mayo and is way healthier for you.

a fantastic meal which was still shy of $200 including tax and tips and so we decided to give them a bigger tip!

Jinpachi
8711 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 358 9134