[Los Angeles] [Japanese] Wakasan

Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241

It has been a while since we last visited Wakasan.  We've been wanting to come back here forever.  Finally made it on last Saturday.



At the door, there was a sign stating that Wakasan only serves omakase style dinner.  The price is $35 per person for 10~12 dishes.




Since the restaurant does not take reservation for 2 people, we arrived at 6pm right when they open to grab a table. Without reservation, it's best to arrive right when they open or go a little later.


Kurosawa Sake ($15.00)

We chose Kurosawa Sake to go with our izakaya omakase dinner.  This sake is medium dry, very smooth.


Spinach with Bonito Flakes

Three dishes of cold appetizers were brought to the table immediately after the sake was served. The first dish was spinach with bonito flakes. The spinach was soaked in a flavorful stock.


Squid with Miso Sauce

The second dish was squid with miso sauce. Two slices of squid were topped with a thick miso sauce. Dr. P liked this one a lot. Under the squid there were sweet and sour daikon salald.


Green Bean with Peanut Sauce

The last dish of the trio appetizers was green bean with peanut sauce. The sauce was made with real nuts and you can still bite into the little pieces of it. The bean was fresh, but the sauce didn't really have much taste to it.


Sashimi

There were three kinds of sashimi that night: mackerel, amberjack and grouper. The best one was the grouper. We've never had grouper sashimi before. It had that melt-in-your-mouth texture and was very delcious. Amberjack and mackerel were both very good, too.


Miso Salmon & Okra Wrapped in Wagyu Beef

Next we were served some hot dishes. Grilled miso salmon and okra wrapped in beef.


Miso Salmon

The salmon was marinated in miso before grilling.  My salmon was grilled perfectly.  I especially like the part near the skin.  But Dr. P mentioned that his piece was a bit dry.


Okra Wrapped in Wagyu Beef

An okra was wrapped with beef and grilled.  The beef was tender, but could use a bit more salt.  This was a great idea.  Maybe I'll try to make it at our next BBQ.  This meat dish was served with some potato.


King Crab Legs

Big pieces of king crab legs.  Each of us got three pieces.  The fresh crab meat was sweet and delicious.


Simmered Chicken Meat Ball with Pumpkin

We LOVE this meat ball dish.  The huge chicken meat balls were tender and so flavorful.  It was simmered in a very tasty stock.  The sweet and almost creamy pumpkin was delicious.  I was really tempted to drink the stock out of the plate.


Draft Sapporo Beer ($4.50)

We were out of sake by this point.  So ordered a large draft Sapporo beer.  Best Japanese beer!


Tempura Shrimp

Then came the fried dish, perfect with the beer we just ordered.  Two big pieces of tempura shrimp and one shiso leaf.  Dr. P usually doesn't like fried food and he liked this tempura shrimp.  It wasn't as oily and heavy.


Egg Custard

Smooth and creamy egg custard was served next.  There were shrimp, chicken, fish cake and lotus seed at the bottom of the custard.


Salmon Roe Rice

The rice dish that night was salmon roe over rice.  I like how each salmon roe burst open in my mouth.


Clam Miso Soup

The final savory dish was clam miso soup.


Grapefruit Jello

Dessert was grapefruit jello.  There were big chunks of grapefruit in it.  Yum!



We had 13 dishes this time.  Almost all of them were different than the last time we were here.  Everything was delicious.  We were really full, but didn't feel heavy.  We really like Wakasan and want to come back more often next year.



The two Japanese girls sitting near the wall know the people who works in the restaurant.  And they were served a completely different omakase menu.  I saw sizzeling plate with BBQ meat.  In the picture they were eating inidividual shabu shabu.  That must be the VIP omakase menu.  I wonder how do you get on their VIP list?  Maybe if we go there every week?  ^^

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