Hakata izakaya hero

A hero has come to Westwood — Hakata Izakaya Hero, hakata izakaya hero. Hakata Izakaya Hero replaces Necco on Westwood Blvd, and on a Monday night usually a slow night for dining outevery table was taken in the small restaurant, a good sign.

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Hakata izakaya hero

LA Review. The tiny, minimalist space holds about seven or so tables, with the sounds and smells of sizzling meat emanating from a semi-open kitchen in the back. This is an izakaya, which means the menu features a wide array of small bites, which are meant to be eaten while sipping some sake, beer, or wine. There are separate sections dedicated to sizzling meat platters, rice and noodle dishes, cold and hot appetizers, family-style hot pots, and our personal favorite, fried foods. A short drive away from the more well-known Japanese restaurants on Sawtelle , Hero would be easy to overlook if you were just whizzing past on your commute. Hero has both hot and cold tofu dishes on their menu, but we tend to prefer the chilled version. The tofu itself is silky, yet firm, and the heat from the spicy miso paste on top provides a nice little kick. We adore this dish for its simple flavor: A thin, slightly fatty piece of grilled pork belly comes wrapped around a filling of your choice lettuce, tomato, scallions, cilantro, or Chinese chives. We usually go for the chives, which provide a peppery, slightly bitter contrast to the rich pork. Each piece has a crunchy, slightly sweet exterior with extra-moist thigh meat on the inside. We always ask for more. The sweet and salt marinated short rib itself is perfect—crispy charred edges with a texture that requires very little in the way of chewing.

Hakata Izakaya Hero.

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LA Review. The tiny, minimalist space holds about seven or so tables, with the sounds and smells of sizzling meat emanating from a semi-open kitchen in the back. This is an izakaya, which means the menu features a wide array of small bites, which are meant to be eaten while sipping some sake, beer, or wine. There are separate sections dedicated to sizzling meat platters, rice and noodle dishes, cold and hot appetizers, family-style hot pots, and our personal favorite, fried foods. A short drive away from the more well-known Japanese restaurants on Sawtelle , Hero would be easy to overlook if you were just whizzing past on your commute. Hero has both hot and cold tofu dishes on their menu, but we tend to prefer the chilled version. The tofu itself is silky, yet firm, and the heat from the spicy miso paste on top provides a nice little kick.

Hakata izakaya hero

The food was great, but the seating arrangements could be improved. It's worth trying. September Came here for dinner reservations on a Saturday night. Reservations are highly recommended as they get busy. The service was excellent as the waitresses were all friendly and helpful. They spoke Japanese and English. We ordered a bunch of stuff to try out and they were all delicious. Highly recommend the motsunabe Hot Pot and jidori stuffed chicken wings.

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Subscribe Sign Up. The relatively new Japanese eatery in Westwood fills up nightly with locals tossing back cups of sake alongside traditional Japanese drinking fare. I had imagine a yakisoba dish, but instead an elegant bowl was set upon the table with thin noodles sitting in a thick sauce with some pickled gingers, scallions and sesame seeds. LA Review ratings guide. Do you own this business? Since opening and various stages of reopening , the three-year-old restaurant has attracted a dedicated following with its excellent variety of traditional bar bites, including bright red sacs of mentaiko and chicken wing "gyoza" stuffed with ground pork. Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. For those closer to or living on the Westside, however, proximity might just outweigh all other factors, and more power to you; faced between crawling east on the 10 during weekday rush hour or a painless surface street commute, I wouldn't blame you if you picked the latter. The shabu shabu here involves a bubbling pot of broth in this case, creamy tonkotsu and a massive platter of thinly sliced pork and vegetables that you individually dip into the broth until fully cooked. Probably not. Despite an ill-timed debut just before the pandemic, this Westwood izakaya has become a worthwhile destination for Japanese bar bites—at least on the Westside. More venues.

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LA Review ratings guide. Elsewhere on the menu, sizzling teppanyaki platters, rice and noodle dishes, various appetizers and a fried section cover the breadth of Japanese drinking fare, while the hot pot section provides two pungent but flavorful options: pork tonkotsu shabu-shabu or motsu-nabe intestine. Though touted as an informal neighborhood izakaya, the odds of successfully walking in without a reservation are low at Hakata Izakaya Hero. Contact: Site map. For all these culinary highlights, however, Hakata Izakaya Hero still falls short of other L. The drink: A large selection of sake, plus beer and wine—including oft-maligned hot sake, if you're into that sort of thing. The daily specials include a sashimi plate for two, ever-changing Japanese culinary esoterica and the pricey, delicious Happy Bite: a two-bite portion of scallop, sea urchin and ikura held aloft a delicate shiso leaf. No thanks Awesome, you're subscribed! Hakata Izakaya Hero replaces Necco on Westwood Blvd, and on a Monday night usually a slow night for dining out , every table was taken in the small restaurant, a good sign.