carpaccio — Wine & Dine

Everyone went crazy when Daikokuya opened in Monterey Park. The whole 'Yay we don't have to drive to little tokyo!' or 'Yay we don't have to wait that long!' perception will be crushed in a matter of seconds that moment you start writing your name on the wait list. Along with the line of other groups ahead of you. As you slowly count up and realize you are not number 1, but number 15. And then you start reflecting on your life. Have you ever been number 15? It's worse than a midlife crisis. Or, you're all happy pulling up to see tons of parking spaces. But then you see the crowd of people huddled outside like it's below 0 when it's hot as a mother F'er.

Honestly, I have no idea where that rant came from. This is what happens when you have hot noodle soup during a hot summer day. You start seeing and saying sh*t.

Luckily, my friends and I got here in time where we didn't have to wait over an hour. Maybe it was 30 minutes, but it's fine since I ran into really good friends of mine.

I wouldn't say famous, but this is a very delicious bowl of salad that comes with an order of Ramen. It's their own house dressing which you can also purchase a bottle to take home. A must have.

I ordered their Tsukemen which is all the fixings; Seared Chashu, green onions, sprouts, soft boiled eggs and ramen that has been cooked and cooled under running water. Served with a bowl of pork broth.

Salmon sashimi with housemade carpaccio sauce, passer leaf, salsa and parmesan cheese. A lot of flavor, but quite tasty.

Honestly, chicken Karaage is the ultimate beer food. I take that back, it's the ultimate food to have with any alcohol. I love this stuff. With a lot of lemon. And when I am really hamming, over a bowl of rice. Sitting on the floor, with stretchy pants..

This is their signature Tonkotsu Ramen (Ton-KO-t-su, not katsu please). The tonkotsu (pork base soup) is infused with their house blended soy sauce. Served with boiled chijre style egg noodles, kurobuta pork belly chashu, marinated boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprout, green onions and a dash of sesame seeds.

Their famous shredded pork bowl. Ok I'm not sure if it's famous, but it's extremely popular. Tender kurobuta pork belly that's grilled and served over rice with green onions, pickled ginger and a sweet sauce. If you are hungry, and want something extremely umami like, this is it. It's hard not to get this and even harder not to take a bite when someone offers.

111 N Atlantic Blvd, Ste 241, Monterey Park, CA 91754

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I love Los Angeles. It's a blessing to live in such a multicultural community. We literally have culture right here in our own turf. There's nothing that you can't find to eat. We have Vietnamese food, Oaxacan food, all kinds of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Cuban, French, Italian, etc.

Yakitori is something that is widely eaten in Japan and something that I preferred to have when I was there a few years ago. But grilling meats on a stick isn't just a Japanese thing though they did perfect some of the best versions I've had. You will find more yakitori houses located in Torrance. But since we are so diverse, there are more and more locations now serving up cuisines locally so you won't need to venture off too far.

The Backhouse serves items you would find at your typical Izakaya. From yakitori, to sushi, and to many fried nibbles, to lavish ramen noodles to soak up the alcohol you spent drinking all evening. But that's really how you do it anyways.

3500 W. 6th St.Suite 301, Los Angeles, CA 90020

Here are the few, many items that we had.

Our appetizers were a seared Salmon and Albacore Carpaccio. The Albacore Carpaccio wastopped with crispy garlic, onions, extra virgin olive oil, and garlic ponzu. The Salmon Truffle Carpaccio was topped with truffle shaving, japanese pickle, ponzu sauce, and white truffle oil. What's not to love about truffles right?

The corn tempura, however, was so amazingly delicious. The dipping sauce, which I believe was some sweet garlic miso, was velvety and oh so perfect with the crunchy tempura. Great beer food.

A few yakitori samples here to show. Shiitake, cheese tsukune, beef tongue, and rib eye. Everything tasted delicious and memorable. The special beef tongue was very tasty.

Other items we had were negima and grilled jumbo sweet shrimp. The negima was made with chicken breast instead of dark meat.

The sushi sampler we received was a very fancy one featuring some of their best fishes they had to offer for that evening. I can't complain about any of this. They had special uni creations such as their scallop and uni combination topped with caviar.This needed to be devoured in one bite. No exceptions.

Other Uni creations were Uni with Red Snapper wrapped with shiso. I'm in love with shiso. I can eat almost anything that involves shiso leaves. It's so aromatic and fragrant. There's just isn't anything that reminds me of it or can come close to what this taste like. Again, topped with caviar that automatically creates a one bite experience.

Delicious lamb chops grilled and served with a sweet miso butter sauce. Just give me a big bowl of rice and I will be a very happy happy girl. Cooked medium, just the way I like my lamb to be. I find it more gamey tasting when it's closer to rare.

Dessert was a giant crepe filled with vanilla and bananas, topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, brûléed bananas, fresh fruits, and mochi ice cream.

The drive wasn't that bad on a Friday night coming from Pasadena. I recommend an early arrival to grab a table. Seats do fill up fairly quickly with EMC Seafood downstairs.

Eat, drink, eat some more and drink some more.

3500 W. 6th St.Suite 301

Los Angeles, CA 90020

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Wine & Dine

Daikokuya - Monterey Park

The Backhouse - Koreatown