One late evening, I wanted to give Owen and his mom some time to hang out, so I went out to dinner with Scott to catch up. He had mentioned how he had indulged at Wakasan a few weeks earlier, and I had been hearing about their stellar budget omakase dinner, so I leaped at the chance to go.
The restaurant was pretty full, but I also noted that there weren't very many seats...which would be difficult during busier hours, but the nice part was that the restaurant was open a bit later than I'm used to, (which is one of the reasons why we went here.) As we were being seated, we were handed a drink menu, but I just wanted water. The only thing to order here is the omakase, so we chatted and waited for our meal to arrive...
Part 1 of Wakasan's Omakase - a bit of cooked veggies (mushrooms, spinach, carrot shreds), and some dried bonito flakes on top, in a light clear sauce. Yummy and light, this was a nice start to our dinner. The veggies weren't overcooked to mush and it was just fun to eat.
Part 2 of Wakasan's Omakase - shaved pickled slices of carrot and daikon, in a tangy vinagrette with some sesame seeds on top. This was just okay to me, pickled stuff is pickled stuff, and I wouldn't necessarily order this anywhere. A filler dish.
Part 3 of Wakasan's Omakase - Mini spaghetti "mac salad" - spaghetti noodles made into a cold noodle salad, with mayo and seasoned up mac salad style. Spaghetti mac salad? Well, why not - I think it was actually pretty tasty. The mayo wasn't too thick and it coated the noodles well. I finished this off pretty quick...what's next?
Part 4 of Wakasan's Omakase - Sashimi selection. From the left - scallop, medium tuna, and some sort of white fish (I forgot what it was.) Out of all of these, the scallop was the best, as the others had a lot of tendon going through them, which made eating them not as good. I had to pick out the tendon membrane from my teeth. Gross...but...well, since this is part of a omakase, leaving stuff on the plate is pretty insulting...so I ate what I could eat of the sashimi, but really, in any other case, I would have left the fish on this plate right where it was. Ah, well. Not every plate has to be a winner.
Part 5 of Wakasan's Omakase - Salmon, and a bit of bean sprout stirfry. Pretty tasty, nice grill on the salmon, didn't know what that gourd looking thing was but ate it anyways, bean stirfy was nice.
Part 6 of Wakasan's Omakase - Legs and part of the body part of a crab, the ponzu sauce was on the bottom of this dish. Yum, crab was quite a surprise, when it was brought to the table. The ponzu sauce was great to dip the crab meat in, a fun little interactive dish.
Part 7 of Wakasan's Omakase - Fishcakes and tofu in an oden stew. A little bundle of noodles, tied up, can be seen in the upper left corner. A smear of hot mustard adornes the lower left of this dish. I'm not really a fan of oden but I like tofu and fishcakes enough to ignore any misgivings I had about oden stew. I loved the little bundle of noodles, although maybe I should have untied them before eating? I just popped the whole thing in my mouth and it was gone in a second...drat, is there a knot of noodles in my stomach?? Also, hot mustard makes EVERYTHING better. (this is coming from someone who can eat wasabi by the spoonful though...)
Part 8 of Wakasan's Omakase - Tempura. Assorted tempura, nice that they included two shrimp tempura! Freshly fried, not greasy, and completely delicious! Yay!
Part 9 of Wakasan's Omakase - Chanwanmushi. Savory steamed egg, with special stuff at the bottom, like fishcake. The top is adorned with cilantro, which is not my favorite but I ate around it. Savory egg custard, I love it. It was such a nice flavor and delicately steamed, the consistency was like soft silken tofu. Awesome!
Part 10 of Wakasan's Omakase - miso soup with clams in it, the clams gave the miso soup broth a nice rich flavor. A nice little surprise and treat.
This is the last savory dish...by this time, I was pretty full...Part 11 of Wakasan's Omakase - Mini Beef shortrib bowl. The sauce really made this dish, as it flavored the rice underneat the meat. The ribs were good, a little fatty but the sauce made up for it. Nice way to end the savories.
Dessert! Part 12 of Wakasan's Omakase - one cute scoop of red bean ice cream. Love the dish that this was in, and love the adorable little scoop which matched the sakura blossom design in the bowl. Sweet, but not too sweet, I was DONE after eating this.
What a fun little place...I felt like I was eating at someone's house, with dish after dish arriving from the kitchen. On top of that, a pretty good deal, 35 dollars each. I'll be back!
Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241
The restaurant was pretty full, but I also noted that there weren't very many seats...which would be difficult during busier hours, but the nice part was that the restaurant was open a bit later than I'm used to, (which is one of the reasons why we went here.) As we were being seated, we were handed a drink menu, but I just wanted water. The only thing to order here is the omakase, so we chatted and waited for our meal to arrive...
Part 1 of Wakasan's Omakase - a bit of cooked veggies (mushrooms, spinach, carrot shreds), and some dried bonito flakes on top, in a light clear sauce. Yummy and light, this was a nice start to our dinner. The veggies weren't overcooked to mush and it was just fun to eat.
Part 2 of Wakasan's Omakase - shaved pickled slices of carrot and daikon, in a tangy vinagrette with some sesame seeds on top. This was just okay to me, pickled stuff is pickled stuff, and I wouldn't necessarily order this anywhere. A filler dish.
Part 3 of Wakasan's Omakase - Mini spaghetti "mac salad" - spaghetti noodles made into a cold noodle salad, with mayo and seasoned up mac salad style. Spaghetti mac salad? Well, why not - I think it was actually pretty tasty. The mayo wasn't too thick and it coated the noodles well. I finished this off pretty quick...what's next?
Part 4 of Wakasan's Omakase - Sashimi selection. From the left - scallop, medium tuna, and some sort of white fish (I forgot what it was.) Out of all of these, the scallop was the best, as the others had a lot of tendon going through them, which made eating them not as good. I had to pick out the tendon membrane from my teeth. Gross...but...well, since this is part of a omakase, leaving stuff on the plate is pretty insulting...so I ate what I could eat of the sashimi, but really, in any other case, I would have left the fish on this plate right where it was. Ah, well. Not every plate has to be a winner.
Part 5 of Wakasan's Omakase - Salmon, and a bit of bean sprout stirfry. Pretty tasty, nice grill on the salmon, didn't know what that gourd looking thing was but ate it anyways, bean stirfy was nice.
Part 6 of Wakasan's Omakase - Legs and part of the body part of a crab, the ponzu sauce was on the bottom of this dish. Yum, crab was quite a surprise, when it was brought to the table. The ponzu sauce was great to dip the crab meat in, a fun little interactive dish.
Part 7 of Wakasan's Omakase - Fishcakes and tofu in an oden stew. A little bundle of noodles, tied up, can be seen in the upper left corner. A smear of hot mustard adornes the lower left of this dish. I'm not really a fan of oden but I like tofu and fishcakes enough to ignore any misgivings I had about oden stew. I loved the little bundle of noodles, although maybe I should have untied them before eating? I just popped the whole thing in my mouth and it was gone in a second...drat, is there a knot of noodles in my stomach?? Also, hot mustard makes EVERYTHING better. (this is coming from someone who can eat wasabi by the spoonful though...)
Part 8 of Wakasan's Omakase - Tempura. Assorted tempura, nice that they included two shrimp tempura! Freshly fried, not greasy, and completely delicious! Yay!
Part 9 of Wakasan's Omakase - Chanwanmushi. Savory steamed egg, with special stuff at the bottom, like fishcake. The top is adorned with cilantro, which is not my favorite but I ate around it. Savory egg custard, I love it. It was such a nice flavor and delicately steamed, the consistency was like soft silken tofu. Awesome!
Part 10 of Wakasan's Omakase - miso soup with clams in it, the clams gave the miso soup broth a nice rich flavor. A nice little surprise and treat.
This is the last savory dish...by this time, I was pretty full...Part 11 of Wakasan's Omakase - Mini Beef shortrib bowl. The sauce really made this dish, as it flavored the rice underneat the meat. The ribs were good, a little fatty but the sauce made up for it. Nice way to end the savories.
Dessert! Part 12 of Wakasan's Omakase - one cute scoop of red bean ice cream. Love the dish that this was in, and love the adorable little scoop which matched the sakura blossom design in the bowl. Sweet, but not too sweet, I was DONE after eating this.
What a fun little place...I felt like I was eating at someone's house, with dish after dish arriving from the kitchen. On top of that, a pretty good deal, 35 dollars each. I'll be back!
Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241
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