That was me and my friends in college!
Not based on the Brentwood (although I honestly don’t go enough to know if they have a ton of business). 
I also am not super fond of their curry and plating (although Curry House has/had fallen off so much that there’s parity btw the two, I think).
do you have a favorite Japanese style curry in town? There is plenty ‘OK’ Curry but not much to get excited about. Yakisoba is even harder to find. funny it’s not the fancy food i miss from japan mostly good everyday stuff
I haven’t been in some time but a lot of my friends and i used to go to Ducks off of Las Tunas in San Gabriel. I also remember Foo Foo Tei making their own Japanese curry from scratch.
I haven’t been to both places in quite some time.
No, but I also haven’t had a ton. And I don’t know if Japanese curry does much for my taste buds. Curry House, Hurry Curry, Coco Ichibanaya, Kimikatsu, and Blue Marlin (RIP) are the only ones I’ve ever had (at least more than once). And of those, I only know that Curry House and Blue Marlin had their own versions (I assume Hurry Curry does, as well, but I’m not sure about that). No bang-banging, which makes it hard to compare.
Kimikatsu is pretty good. I actually like(d) the gloppy richness of the Curry House one, although I think other people find that off-putting. My fondness of Curry House curry could also be b/c it was my first and the stuff I grew up with. I assume the supermarket stuff tastes the same as what you find/found in the restaurant.
Ichibanya has sometimes had a bit of a bitter flavor that I don’t like, although maybe that was at the slightly higher spice levels. I don’t recall the last order I got (which I think was the default spiciness level) having that same issue, but I went yrs btw orders.
Does Japanese curry taste much different in Japan? The stuff we have here doesn’t send me the way, say, Indian sauces do.
TBH, when I went to Curry House, I was more apt to order the meat-sauce spaghetti (which I ADORED)… and the tofu salad, but just for the miso dressing.
When tonkatsu is fried well (as it was at one place in the food court at the Torrance Mitsuwa… I think the place is gone, unfortunately), I actually don’t want the flakiness to be buried by much sauce (just a TINY amount of tonkatsu sauce will suffice).
Okay, that was way off topic. 
I think it’s mostly memories of going to school campouts in Japan probably bumps it up more than if i was judging on taste
Speaking of Japanese curry…
Menya Musashi in Sawtelle
Curryfornia in Gardena
Those 2 are on my to do list, thoughts/opinions/experiences?
my only concern is that you have 3 huge boxes of lipton, despite you being a tea enthusiast, lipton in tea bags might be the lowest common denominator when it comes to tea. i suggest that you try more loose leaf teas vs. the dust that gets packed into tea bags. it’ll be a lot more expensive, but worth it.
if you explore chinese teas, you might want to consider getting a thermometer - the temperature of the water makes a difference in the brew. water for white/green tea shouldn’t go above 185 degrees or so, while oolong should not be below 185. black/pu 'er - close to boiling.
infusion times also make a difference; first infusion - no more than 30 seconds. and some folks don’t even drink the first infusion. think of it like pre boiling pork bones to make the meat sweeter and discarding the cooking waer.
finally, water can make a difference as well. bottled is probably your best option.
and if you use a single cup tea infuser, you can appreciate how the tea changes from the first sip to the last sip.
having said all that, you may find you prefer a weak infusion of a lower grade tea to a “properly” infused higher grade tea. a chacon son gout.
I always bake from scratch but every once in a very rare while, I make cookies using the slice-and-bake rolls of refrigerated Pillsbury cookie dough. There’s just something really nostalgic to me about that commercial sugary taste. Makes me think of elementary school. 
after my lastest round at Hayato, I’m started to have real guilt over the money I spend on food. I’m not sure I could do that again.
Sort of the same way I felt after Californios. Can’t imagine a better place to drop $300pp, but I’m not really sure if I want to drop $300pp at any place.
To be sure, dining out at a restaurant of that level can be pricey. But also keep in mind that the percentage of the price used to cover just the ever-increasing ingredient cost of these chef-driven experiences is also increasing at an alarming rate.
Oh I get the pricing esp with a 7 person restaurant. I’m just not at the level of balling where I can even eat there as a special occasion restaurant without feeling some type of guilt.
“It’s cheaper than a flight to Japan” is not a great way to justify it lol
Apocalypse preparation is very costly 
It actually might just be cheaper to fly to Japan now lol…
I like this better than Lao Gan Ma. This is 50% Trader Joe’s chili onion crunch and 50% sambal. One of those situations where 1+1=3
I tried but I don’t like quinoa.
I like fries dipped in BBQ sauce. I think this stems from childhood at McD’s. Remember when you can get as much Nugget dipping sauce as you want? Well naturally I experimented with Nugget dipping sauce with fries.
The hot salty beef fat fries in contrast with cool sweet slightly smoky bbq sauce? Heaven. I love sweet and salty combinations though. But the sweet and sour never really went well with the fries.
After McD’s it was off to Aladdins Castle arcade for games and the bookstore to read comics. Than maybe Spencer’s Gifts, a Orange Julius, and greasy ass pepperoni pizza from Sbarros, Maybe a movie. Than call my mom to pick my ass up from the mall lol
I miss being a mall rat kid in the 90’s lol
Kids and teens these days have no clue and missed out!
Shout out to Del Amo Mall, Cerritos Mall, Buena Park Mall
Since I was born in 1947 I had to LOL over this. Love it.
An affogato for breakfast is coffee and Frosted Flakes with less steps.
