Mitsuwa foodcourt WLA recs
Heyo y'all, I'm heading to Mitsuwa (the location on Centinela and Venice) for lunch on Thursday and I was wondering what you hounds would recommend from any of the foodcourt vendors.
I'm a regular at Santouka and I just had some delicious shio there yesterday so I'm not sure if my arteries can handle another superporky bowl this week. I'm taking a friend who is in town for the weekend who has never had a chance to indulge in Santouka's rich broth and amazing pork.
I've always been curious about the other offerings so I'm just wondering what else is worthy of my tastebuds. I'm willing to try anything.
I think the other places are China Table, Misasa, and Sanuki Sandou? Pardon me if I got the names wrong.
Thank you in advance.
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modernist
Jan 18, 2008 08:07 AM
i've been eating at santouka at least once a week for about the past 4 months... i've also gotten kinda fat since then so i dont know what to say about that....
i normally get the small shio ramen and i go into the back to the sashimi section and buy the hunks of fish and ask them to cut it for me... the quality is always much better... the quality overall is pretty decent - not amazing, but it quashes the sushi pangs. actually i go to the back first and get the sashimi cut then i order the ramen so as not to have ramen sitting around getting limp.
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I wound up having the hamburger steak and fried chicken combo and it was so juicy and delicious, it practically melted in my mouth.
My friend liked it too and wound up eating a quarter of it when I wasn't paying attention. She ate that and a large bowl of the shio with plenty of the amazing Santouka pork and agrees that it is some of the best ramen that she has ever had.
She tried to go get her own steak Sunday night but China Table was closed so she had another large bowl of ramen before she flew back to NYC.
Thank you so much for the recs!
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Since my purpose in going there is usually for Santouka (has anyone else noticed that it's spelled Santoka on the receipt?), I've only tried the udon from the place next to it. I did not like it. The udon noodles seemed like they came out of a supermarket single serving package, and the broth was very thin, not much flavor.
Otherwise, I get the prepackaged food in the market, I've tried many of them and enjoy them all.›1 Reply-
re: slacker
Das Ubergeek
Jan 18, 2008 06:33 AM
It's because the Japanese has a long "O" in it, which can be rendered "Santooka", "Santouka" (because the character that represents a lengthened "O" when writing phonetically is actually the hiragana for "U"), or "Santoka" with a bar over the O, which is unpossible in the "normal" character set used on a cash register.
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Dommy
Jan 7, 2008 09:51 PM
Being a good chowhound (and along with being fickle) I RARELY go the same place twice. P. knew this going in and for the most part accepts this, but when he gets his Santouka jones, there is nothing stopping him. So needless to say, my most visited restaurant in 2007 was the Mitsuwa food court.
The thing is, I don't really care for Santouka *ducks*.
*checks to see if its safe*
So I use the time to explore the other food court options....
Sanuki Sandou: The Soba is WAY better than the udon. The best is their beef broth. Really excellent. They also have some wonderful seasonal tempura done PERFECT.
China Table: They have a short order chef on site, so it takes a little bit to get your order (they were recently smart and put up a sign to say so). Anyway, their Mapo Tofu and Nasu is nothing special. But I LOVE their hamburg steak. I also was once brave and tried one of their ChinaJapoMexi Burrito creations (With the fried egg). It was SOOO good... but a total gut bomb.
I haven't been impressed by the place in the corner. I tried their Katsu Curry and it was just okay.
There is also Mitsuwa. Their sushi is actually pretty decent for supermarket stuff. And I always get an interesting Japanese Soda to go with my meals...
--Dommy!
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re: Dommy
The hamburger steak has caught my eye the last few times I was there so perhaps that or the soba is the way to go.
Maybe we can try both since my visiting friend is a wee girl who can pack it in. She's taking a break off from ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) in NYC for the weekend so I'm sure she'll appreciate the good food to be had there.
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So, exactly how bad for your health is the shio ramen at Santouka? I am under the impression that it packs a ton of calories and a fair amount of sodium, but I've got a friend who insists that noodle dishes just cannot be that bad for you (he apparently hasn't seen how they make pad thai or some of the other noodle dishes around the world). Can someone settle this bet?
Of course, it's not like either of us will stop eating at Santouka. The answer will just determine if either of us eats dinner that night after polishing off a bowl of ramen.
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re: glutton
Bon Vivant
Jan 7, 2008 08:18 PM
Wait! Don't forget to add the special pork to that shio ramen. How bad can fatty pork jowl be?
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