Tokyo

Tsujita Annex: Now Open with All-Day Ramen, Umbrellas Awesome Signage

With the dollar-yen exchange rate so good right now, you may be reading this in a Tokyo tsukemen shop. Lucky you. But if you're still in L.A., you might instead consider heading over to Little Osaka, where the beautiful noodle palace of Tsujita L.A. has recently expanded across the street. Lucky us. ... More >>

Japanese Flower Arranging: Live Onstage!

See also: *Takashi Murakami's New Culver City Show *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *5 Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week The North American Sogetsu Seminar is like the Olympics of flower arranging (though, of course, only for North America). Held once every four years in a different North ... More >>

More Events: Fried Chicken Night, Bibigo Anniversary, Dish Crawl Grilled Cheese & Beer Night

Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Night For one night, Bouchon Bistro is hosting a buttermilk fried chicken dinner complete with baby gem lettuce salad, pommes allemand and Parker House rolls. The buttermilk fried chicken is based on the popular ad hoc recipe. WHAT: Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Night WHEN: Monday, Apri ... More >>

Daikokuya Little Tokyo Celebrates 11 Years With $5 Ramen

As Daikokuya prepares to celebrate 11 years of delivering steaming bowls of tonkotsu ramen to the slurping masses, it has been amazing to watch the rest of Los Angeles catch up. There are ramen shops in Torrance for the noodle-obsessed, in West L.A. for those who follow best-of lists, and all over L ... More >>

Ikemen Ramen Opens Today in Little Tokyo

Little Tokyo's array of ramen eateries attests to the dish's versatility -- and booming popularity. There's Daikokuya's rich pork broth. Shin-Sen-Gumi's thin, Hakata-style noodles. The blended soy-pork broth of Men Oh Tokushima. Orochon's super spicy "Special #2." Possibly two dozen types at Mr. Ram ... More >>

Men Oh Tokushima Ramen Opens Today in Little Tokyo

It's October on the calendar and thus theoretically great ramen weather. Alas, theory hasn't quite met thermometer just yet, but when it does, it might be a good time to welcome the belated fall season with a nice bowl of noodles from a new ramen joint (yes, another one): Japanese chain Men Oh Toku ... More >>

Tokyo nights

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including Vindictive Office Supplies

This week, a bathroom in Tokyo becomes an artist's laboratory, a manmade geyser spews in a new video and hosiery makes paintings as awkward and ambivalent as human bodies. 5. Nailing it Chicago artist Dzine grew up in an underground nail salon. His mother, a first-generation Puerto Rican immigrant ... More >>

Kula Sushi: Conveyor-Belt Sushi in Little Tokyo

Conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, or kaiten-zushi as they're known in Japan, are big business these days. You might not think so when plates of sushi are priced at just $2 each, as they are at Little Tokyo's Kula Sushi, the newest and most ambitious kaiten joint to hit the L.A. scene. But arrive on a ... More >>

Gyoza Eating Contest Returns to Little Tokyo: Grab Your Chopsticks Loosen Your Belt

Think you could eat 264 gyoza in ten minutes? That's the record the world's best competitive eaters will have to beat to snatch the title from 2011 champion Pat Bertoletti at this year's Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship in Little Tokyo. Two of the biggest superstars in the competitive ... More >>

Nisei Week Karate Exhibition

Gottsui: A Review A Brief History of Okonomiyaki

That new metro stop whose opening you've been awaiting: not complete. Those suspension-shredding chuckholes on your street: not filled. But there is still good news. It's not as hard to find good Japanese okonomiyaki in Los Angeles these days as it once was. Even a hardened cynic must admit that's s ... More >>

Fried Chicken Flowchart: Where to Go for Fried Chicken, American and Otherwise

In our last handy food flowchart, we tried to point you in the right direction for those times when you just need a bowl of phở to comfort your soul. Today, our flowchart helps you navigate the city when you're in search of another type of comforting soul food: fried chicken. And because sometim ... More >>

12 Best Highlights From FoodEx, Asia's Largest Food and Beverage Exhibition

Reporting from Tokyo, where just last week FoodEx, the largest food and beverage exhibition in Asia, welcomed more than 73,000 attendees over four days. Samples were flying off the tables, gobbled and chugged ravenously, as suppliers and distributors from around the world wooed potential clients. We ... More >>

Japan Airlines Teams Up With Yoshinoya: Beef Bowls at 40,000 Feet

Eikichi Matsuda opened Yoshinoya in 1899, in a fish market outside Edo Castle in Chuoku, Tokyo. Over the following century or so, the company expanded well beyond fish markets in Japan and, starting this month, its presence will extend to the skies. From now until May 31, Yoshinoya will offer its ... More >>

Saturday Event: Walk and Eat in Little Tokyo

Visit Little Tokyo, and -- even if you're a rabid manga fan or karaoke maniac -- your trip will likely involve food. Perhaps yakisoba, fried noodles topped with bright red ginger. Or okonomiyaki, a pancake cooked with a variety of savory ingredients. (The name literally means "what you want.") A ... More >>

A Little Tokyo Christmas Goes to Vegas

Jonathan Gold Reviews Tsujita L.A.

Ramen and Tsukemen at the city's new noodle lover's paradise

Late Night in Little Tokyo

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​Dear Mr. Gold: I was wondering if you had any ideas for a place to eat after 10 p.m. in Little Tokyo or downtown. We're meeting a group of people for dinner after a movie, and we wanted to try something outside of the normal sushi/ramen/izakaya stuf ... More >>

Tsujita L.A.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Q & A With Far Bar's Jimmy Smith: Little Tokyo's Craft Beer Scene, How Beer Brings People Together Little Tokyo's Beer Week Coming Out Party

Far BarJapanese craft beers available at Little Tokyo's Far Bar ​For decades, Little Tokyo has been a destination for its history, food and art venues alike. But in the last year, Little Tokyo has put itself on the radar for another, more unlikely offering--craft beer. And as the second half o ... More >>

Gyoza: Daikokuya vs. Tokyo Cafe More on the World Gyoza Eating Championship

T. NguyenDaikokuya's gyoza​ The annual World Gyoza Eating Championship descends upon Little Tokyo this Saturday, August 20th, an event in which tiny 100-pound Sonya Thomas, a.k.a. the Black Widow, and others will attempt to eat as many gyoza as inhumanely possible in 10 minutes. As the eaters ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews the Flying Pig Cafe

Brick's Picks: Great Sax

Street Artist Free Humanity Plants Apple Grenades Along Light Rail; Bomb Squad Halts Service, Removes 'Forbidden Fruit' With Robot

Free Humanity​If only every art installation would set off a chain of events this awesome [Curbed LA]. Last week, street-art blog Melrose & Fairfax reported that Free Humanity, otherwise known for his dark, political Star Wars stencils -- read the Weekly's exclusive interview here -- left a r ... More >>

Aburiya Toranoko: Lazy Ox's Cardenas Branches Out

Restaurant merges izakaya with gastropub

First Bite: Aburiya Toranoko, or Lazy Ox's Cardenas Branches Out

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​ The fetish object of the week? My money's on the uni goma tofu at the new Aburiya Toranoko in Little Tokyo, which is to say a smallish cube of firm, blackish tofu made from ground, toasted sesame seeds, served in a shallow puddle of soy and topped with a lobe of sea ... More >>

Suehiro: Little Tokyo Lunch Special

Going old-school

Tokyo 7-7: The Diner That Time Forgot

Long before Culver City became a happening culinary Mecca, dotted with chic brasseries and wine bars, it belonged to humble eateries like Tokyo 7-7. Tucked in an alley off Washington Blvd., this Japanese-American diner sits in the shadows, literally and metaphorically, of half-a-dozen hip, ups ... More >>

Happier Meal: Hide Sushi for the Under 10 Set

Tokyo Japanese Lifestyles & Outlet​ Whoever first came up with the whole "Happy Meal" concept is surely the world's most evil genius, so brilliantly and pointedly does it speak to the dirty (as in: crumbs on the floor, spilt milk on the table, and ketchup on that brand new Crewcuts dress) tru ... More >>

WE SAY, "GO NISEI"

Tokyo Style Billboards For Downtown L.A. Proposed

​Los Angeles is one of the world's great neon cities, but the Korean and American developers of a new high rise proposed for downtown want to take it up a notch. According to Curbed LA, the owners of the Wilshire Grand hotel -- proposed site of a 65-story building -- want to create a sign dist ... More >>

Jinya: Ramen Freaks and Noodle Geeks

Getting schooled in the finer points of broth

Izakaya Fu-ga: the Accidental Bar

A discovery in Little Tokyo

Web Surfing: A Roundup of Posts from LA Food Blogs

-- Cocktails @ The Tasting Kitchen. [Naked Sushi] -- Op Fed: Remembrances of Food Past. [Eat: Los Angeles] -- The World Cup at Guelaguetza: Mexican Glory And Chef Ludo. [Teenage Glutster] -- Dean Sin World - Dim Sum, Dumplings, and a Dating Epiphany. [The Delicious Life] -- The Future of Food T ... More >>

Got Mochi: Little Tokyo's Mikawaya Celebrates 100th Anniversary

A. ScattergoodMochi at Mikawaya​ Finish off a plate of hamachi sashimi or negitoro-maki at any sushi bar and you'll most likely have the option to bite into the colorful, chilled dessert that has come to be known as Mochi Ice Cream. With flavors ranging from Green Tea, Strawberry to Mango - t ... More >>

Sweet Streets: Art Inspired by Tokyo Street Fashion

Last week, Caro (of the great Polaroid blog hihicaro) announced that she's curating a second installment of Sweet Streets, Gallery Nucleus' group show of work inspired by Tokyo street fashion. Though the show isn't set to open until September, Caro has already launched the Sweet Streets blog, featur ... More >>

Drumcell Plays Tokyo, Debuts Kontrol X1

Last week, we told you about the forthcoming collaboration between Drumcell mastermind Moe Espinosa and Richard Devine and posted a video showcasing a portion of Devine's collection of gear. Espinosa too is good with gear. He's worked with Native Instruments on the development of various products an ... More >>

BIG ADVENTUES IN LITTLE TOKYO

Food & Wine's World's Top 10 Life-Changing Restaurants: How About L.A.'s? Nominations Open

Food & Wine Magazine just came out with their list of the World's Top 10 Life-Changing Restaurants. Proving once again that we all seem to fantasize about the same restaurants, and that all narrative should now just be written in list format. F&W's Top 10? ElBulli, The Fat Duck, Pierre Gagnaire, The ... More >>

What Was Burning up Tune in Tokyo's NYE Dance Floor? Lady Gaga

For more photos from Tune in Tokyo, check out Timothy Norris' photo gallery "New Year's Eve 2009 Downtown Crawl." New Year's Eve, we made our way to Little Tokyo for Tune in Tokyo's party at Second Street Jazz. Though we were impressed by the mix of club regulars and local party-hoppers and complete ... More >>

Alhambra A Go Go

Today in Photographs: August 23, 1962

​Scene inside a Little Tokyo record shop. Note L.A. sax player Buddy Collette's Man of Many Parts LP in lower left-hand corner. LA Herald-Examiner/LAPL

Big Trouble in Little Tokyo? Transportation Connector Fight Looms

Eric Richardson at BlogDowntown outlines the plans -- and now, the opposition -- to a transit connector in Little Tokyo. Says Richardson: "The project will connect the transit operator's light rail lines by building a link between the Blue Line at 7th / Metro and the Gold Line's Little Tokyo / Arts ... More >>

Rhino's New Jane's Addiction Box: A Cabinet of Curiosities, Quite Literally

Randall Roberts It's pretty great, this new 3 CD, 1 DVD boxed set from Jane's Addiction. The highly anticipated set, which comes out Tuesday, April 21, contains some of the legendary LA band's earliest recordings -- marvelous Radio Tokyo studio demos -- and a ton of other out takes, as well as cove ... More >>

MONDO TOKYO

Over the Weekend: Prince Teases at Conga Room, Tune in Tokyo, Darker My Love and a Raunchy Lip-Synch Contest

Over the weekend, if you were one of the few Angelenos not stricken down with the flu, not partaking in last-minute shopping insanity and not rearranging the contents of your apartment to make room for relatives, then you had your pick of hot shows to go to. From Prince to Darker My Love to Tune in ... More >>

Tokyo Fashion Ass-Whooping

I put together this little assemblage of girls from Tokyo Fashion Week, which preceded our Fashion Week by one month. Must Tokyo so thoroughly kick our ass in the fashion creativity department? I mean, they've got drama and weirdness down, obviously. Like, what's with the pink crablike neck corsage ... More >>

Best Ramen: Daikokuya