Otomisan Restaurant

Otomisan Restaurant
2506 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90033
323-526-1150

Otomisan Restaurant was listed in a LA Eater as one of 15 Hidden Gem Restaurants for the winter of 2018.  A Japanese restaurant in Boyle Heights intrigued me and I made a trip down here.

It's a small restaurant with counter seating in the left and about four booths in the right.  The last booth the owner, and sushi chef  were on their phones.  There were only two other customers the entire time I was there.

Spicy tuna roll, $6.95 and shrimp roll, $6.95.  Both rolls were huge.  Good sized portions with plenty of spicy tuna.  The shrimp roll, had small thin pieces of shrimp.  Both were fresh.  Well worth the price, especially for the portion size.

Service was good.

Otomisan Restaurant has ramen, teriyaki and other items, but their sushi selection is limited.  I won't rush back, but have no problems going back.

Baja Beach Bar-Closed

Baja Beach Bar
6613 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-378-6151

I was near Hollywood and Highland, and started walking east on Hollywood Blvd.  I came up to Baja Beach Bar, and while it is really a tourist trap, stopped in here for a late lunch.

As the name suggests, it's a beach themed bar.  The bar is on the left side of the space.  Booths and hi top tables are spread out throughout the restaurant.  They blast the music in here, so much so, that you need to speak loudly with the person at your table.

Fish tacos- basa fish, $9.79.  The fish tacos come with some chips.  Most places beans and rice are included, but here those are about $3.50 more.  The fish was grilled, and was ok.  The portions could be bigger.  The cabbage was fresh.  But, there was nothing outstanding about this fish taco.

Service was good.

I wasn't expecting much from Baja Beach Bar, and it met my expectations.  I won't go back.

Pots n’ Woks

 Pots n’ Woks
11213 E Washington Blvd
Whittier, CA 90606
562-463-7755

Pots n’ Woks is an interesting Chinese fast food restaurant.  They have a full steam table with beef, chicken, and seafood.  But, they also have cooked to order vegan items- beef, chicken, and seafood!  They put the vegan items in a container that is black on the bottom and has a clear top.  The regular meats are put in a white container.

Vegan beef and broccoli- $9.99 vegan combo-which comes with rice and chow mein and your choice of one item.  I got all chow mein.  Al carte is $10.99 for beef and broccoli.  This was great.  The chow mein portion is huge, made with cabbage, onions, and some soy sauce!  The broccoli was cooked perfectly, though they could cut it into smaller portions.  The vegan beef, was great!  Soy and wheat were used to make something that tastes just like beef!  If you were blindfolded and tried this beef, you would not know the difference.

Service is good.  I was greeted when I walked in, and the guy was very nice and hard working.  He answered my questions, and I told him I was waiting for a friend to come.  He was cleaning when there wasn't any customers, and when there were customers, he was nice to everybody.

I would go back to Pots n' Woks anytime.

El Chato

El Chato
Corner of Olympic Blvd and La Brea Ave.

A friend invited me for a late night, 9pm, taco truck run.  El Chato is a taco that comes to the corner of Olympic Blvd. and La Brea Ave., and they have a good following.  The Great Taco Hunt blogger, gave raving reviews of them back in 2010.  Yes, it took me this long to finally give his blogger some props!  Sadly he stopped posting, a few years back.

I got there about 8:45 and there were already two people in line.  Within 5-10 minutes, there were 20 people in line.  The line moves fairly fast.

They have tacos, the carne asada seems to be the most popular meat.  But, I got a veggie burrito.

Veggie burrito-$6, grilled onions, jalapenos, rice, beans, onions with cilantro and salsa.  This was a decent sized burrito, with lots of beans and rice.  Not that many veggies.  Overall pretty good, nothing great or outstanding.  I think I would get the bean and cheese burrito next time.

Service was good.

I can't say anything about the meat at El Chato, but the veggie burrito was pretty good.

Mr. Poké

Mr. Poké
20651 Golden Springs Dr
Diamond Bar, CA 91789
909-598-1333

Long time residents of the area will remember this location as the original location for, Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe.  They moved about a mile away, and for the past two years, Mr. Poke has been here.  Cafe Terrace was a restaurant that went into this space after Charlie's moved. 

Regular poke bowl-$9.85.  Shrimp, Ahi tuna, and spicy tuna as the three proteins.  Spring mix and brown rice as the base, corn, edamame, corn, jalapenos, green and red onions, with sesame seeds on top.

Hinterhof-Closed

Hinterhof
4939 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042

Hinterhof  is a vegan German restaurant that opened in January 2019.  They were so popular, that they ran out of food on one of their first days.  Luckily, they have worked out the kinks, and they had food on a raining Thursday night.  I've been to Red Lion Tavern, a German restaurant in Silver Lake.

Hinterhof, which is about half a block from The York, has seating outside in the front and a huge dining room. 

Soft pretzel-$5.  No  salt on the pretzel, but a good chewy texture, decent size.
I would ask for salt next time.

Jaegarschnitzel-$19- housemade schnitzel, creamy mushroom sauce, spatzle and red cabbage!  This was outstanding!!  the schnitzel was made with seitan, and was coated with a perfectly fried batter.  The mushroom sauce was very creamy and balanced.  Spatzle-potato dumplings were covered with the mushroom sauce, but was pretty good.  I didn't touch much of the red cabbage, too vinegary for me.

Service was good.  There were only four people in the restaurant when we got there.  Within 30 minutes, most of the tables were filled.  But, we got good service.  We didn't lack for anything.

I would go back to Hinterhof anytime!

Kismet Falafel-Closed

Kismet Falafel
317 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-357-2412

The last time I was at Grand Central Market, I went to a seafood place, Prawn.  I wasn't in the mood for something heavy, and found Kismet Falafel.  So I decided to give them a try.

They are located to the Hill entrance of Grand Central, and they are on the west side of the market.  They have a few seats at the counter, or you can find some tables that are spread around the market.

Classic falafel sandwich-$11. Tomato, tahini, cabbage, pickles, onion and basil.  This is stuffed with a ton of cabbage, pickles and onions.  Maybe two or three small sized falafel.  I would like to see more falafel-either bigger sized falafel, or another one inside the sandwich.  The falafel was fine.  Nothing special.  For what you get, it's a bit overpriced.

Service was good.

Kismet was ok. I won't return

Counterpart Deli-Closed

Counterpart Deli
1559 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Counterpart Deli used to be Chango Coffee, and they opened up in December 2018.  Counterpart is a vegan deli, offering something that isn't available in the area. 

Vegan pastrami- $16, purple sauerkraut, vegan swiss, alfalfa.  Frankly, this was below average.  I felt like I could go to any grocery store, buy their vegan pastrami, cook it up, and then place it between the bread and other toppings, and it would have been just as good.  The vegan pastrami was just like any off the shelve seitan.  The dressing was good, the sauerkraut was fine, not that tangy, and the bread was fine.  But, overall, just a below average sandwich.  Not worth the $16 price tag.

Service is good.

I wouldn't go back to Counterpart Deli for this pastrami!