There’s Always Room for The Room Sushi – Los Angeles

Cows have four stomach, and I covet the cows. Imagine how much more I could eat if I had two more stomachs to put it in. But I don’t have 4 stomachs, I only have two. One for sushi, and one for everything else.

Things like Uni go straight into that sushi stomach, except when I say stomach, what I really mean is a bottomless pit that never gets full. I could eat uni forever and never get tired of it. The uni at The Room was just okay, but uni is always too good to resist.

The Salmon Nigiri was plenty fresh as well, and just like the uni, it barely made a dent in the sushi stomach. Even if that stomach was full, there’s always room for salmon.

Since my second stomach resembles the dark pit of a bottomless cave, I guess it’s only fitting that I start with something that lives in one, something like the Eel Avocado Maki, filled to the gills with soft, sweet eel with a healthy dose of avocado and sauce.

All this, and both stomachs are still starving. Even moving from nibbles of nigiri to overstuffed luxury rolls like The Room Special barely makes a dent. Which is hard to believe when you combine spicy blue crab and avocado wrapped with an assortment of salmon, tuna, shrimp, avocado.

And just when I feel like the sushi is getting too wholesome, I discover the Ocean Wind for a mouthful of all that is unhealthy and over-the-top. As if the spicy tuna, battered shrimp tempura, and crazy amounts of crab weren’t enough, it’s topped off with deep-fried flakes and a contrasting combination of sweet eel sauce and savory spicy mayo. A few bites can quickly become one too many so even my bottomless sushi stomach had to share with a friend.

Both of my stomachs will always have room for The Room, but there’s always room to share. I’ll gladly share my extra room with anyone who needs it. As in I’m always happy to give that room to whatever sushi you no longer have room for. Have a small appetite and a tendency to over-order? Come to The Room with me so we can bond.

Nong La Café – Los Angeles

When Nong La first opened on Sawtelle, skeptics probably thought it wouldn’t last. A cute, clean little café roaming on a road of ramen, this place serves a different kind of noodle. I had my doubts too when I glanced at the affordable menu, which was as short-n-sweet as the cafe. But sometimes good food does come cheap, even on a street like Sawtelle in a neighborhood like Westwood.

The Goi Cuon, or spring rolls are loaded full, and unless you have a friend with whom to share this so-called “snack”, these refreshing rolls will fill you up in no time. I’ve never had Vietnamese fresh rolls with pork before, but from now on that’ll change. The combination of pork and shrimp is a little more savory, the lettuce keeps it light, and the herbs can only help.

It was too hot for pho that day and for once I’m glad it was. I never would have tried the Bun otherwise. Pho is always good, but this bun with Bo Nuong was better.  Flavorful steak with a sweet sesame/lemongrass marinade blends so perfectly with the fish sauce. Mix it all together with chewy vermicelli and crispy vegetables, and you have a bowl of blissful cool on a hot summer day.

Nong La may seem like a standard Vietnamese place at first glance, and the food is just the staples, but something but the polish and crisp composure with which each item is put together turns a seemingly mundane meal into something memorable. Just watch out for the food coma that comes with consuming so many affordable carbs. 

Volcano Tea House – Los Angeles

Milk and honey may make a good tea, but the boba at Volcano was far from explosive.

The bubbles are chewy, and the tapioca texture is just right. Props to the milk tea for not being too sweet, but in the end it’s still generic. Take the Asian invasion that is SoCal combined with the desire of every Californian to be one-of-a-kind, and you can (and should!) do better with boba. Sure that Honey Milk Tea hit the spot that day, but this post isn’t even done yet, and I’m already thinking, “Volcano who?”

Major Mess-Ups at Melanee Thai Restaurant – Los Angeles

There is a paucity of good Thai in LA. Or so I’ve heard. But I don’t like to listen to gossip. Like the people who spread it, gossip can be vicious, cruel, and often unfounded. But if someone were to disprove this particular rumor, Melanee wasn’t that someone as they served one of the worst-tasting meals I’ve had to date. To put it bluntly, Melanee curbed my craving for good Thai about as well as Golden Corral curbs my craving for filet mignon.

Hearing what I had about the Thai food in LA, I played it safe with the Red Curry with tofu. The tofu was safe. Not the best fried, but definitely fine at worst. The bell peppers were fresh enough, but they were the only fresh vegetable in the dish as the peas and cubed carrots were a canned courtesy of the Jolly Green Giant. Did I mention this is a 12-dollar bowl of uneven orange water?  I’ve had all qualities of Thai food, but this stuff was clearly scraped off the bottom of the curry barrel.

My friend got the Spicy Basil with beef. The sauce is tastes like a sticky soy with a little bit of a kick. The veggies were nice and crisp, and though the beef was on the slightly dry side, I wouldn’t call it overcooked. The thing is, $12 is a bit much for a dish that tastes like what I throw together when I’m in a rush.

I live for the firsts in life. Not that I remember, but my first step was monumental, my first tooth marked the first step to becoming a foodie, and my first tear launched my lifelong career of getting out of speeding tickets. First is definitely not the worst, but second is the best. My second step showed I wouldn’t fall, my second taste of food told me I wanted a third, and much later in life, and my second tear taught me to pick myself up. And although Melanee is not the kind of first I care to commemorate, I know that my second taste of Thai can’t possibly be worse.

Asahi Ramen – Los Angeles

Thumbs up for ramen. Thumbs down for going to Asahi, where you get a dime-a-dozen, no-frills, cash only, steaming bowl of the good stuff. I hoovered my Chashu Ramen with a soy sauce broth just salty enough to sip but not salty enough to exacerbate CHF. The noodles were the perfect texture of chewy, and alternating bites of a Kimchee on the side provide a crunchy break from the broth.

Boston is a ramen wasteland as far as I can see. There’s little good to be had and even less to be found. But if you lined up every ramen noodle in LA from end to end, you can probably circle the earth 50 times or build a great wall of ramen. That’s why there’s another ramen place two doors down from Asahi and another one across the street and at least 4 more within a 2-block radius. That being said, Asahi really hits the spot if you’re craving ramen but I really can’t think of any reason to come to Asahi twice...or even once for that matter.