Plenty of unagi.
Argh! Partner and I were about to head down. Any idea of whether the $25 premium unagi is âworthâ the addtâl cost?
whatâs the line situation like?
Long again 
I think had they not bombed it with eel sauce, yes to a person who likes unagi. I just think the sauce overpowered the entire dish.
My suggestion is buying the entering piece in the market for $20 and broiling it yourself and applying sauce as needed.
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FML the sign the guy was holding said out for the whole day. Shit. I was wondering WTF they were doing with these when they were âsold out for todayâ apparently.
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Yum, nutritious eelâŚ
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I went today, and had the unagi. It was delicious. The line for the chicken wings was too long and we didnât have time to wait. It smelled super good.
Nice that folks are takinâ it easy on those scarce unagi. But WOW - everyone lovinâ dem wings - bird donât have chance!!! 
Nagoya Fair 2016 - Mitsuwa Market (Torrance)
Thanks to @MaladyNelson for the heads up, we decided to stop by the Nagoya Fair 2016 at Mitsuwa Market in Torrance (their flagship).
I didnât have high hopes for this fair compared to previous years since there were so few offerings (really just Unagi Hitsumabushi and Chicken Wings from Nagoya), rather sparse. 
Unagi Hitsumabushi (Eel Bowl):
They offered 2 types of Eel Bowls at this fair: One for $7.99 with Eel from China, or a Premium set for $25 with Eel from Japan. We tried the Premium Set:
While visually it looked gorgeous, they were stacking them up pre-made in the refrigerated section, so these were lukewarm-to-cold in temperature, which was unfortunate.
The Eel tasted pretty good, but not worth $25 for a filet IMHO. It was tender, but maybe overcooked slightly, the Unagi Sauce was the standard thick, sweet offering; nothing notable there. The pickles were quite crisp and crunchy and just the right salt and tart.
Yamachan no Tebasaki (Yamachan Fried Chicken Wings):
First a word about the situation: They capped the line and were sold out by 11:00 a.m.! 
Luckily we were already in line, but when watching them work it was rather ridiculous: Extremely inefficient and a result of bad planning, they simply didnât stock enough Wings for everyone. One of the staffers mentioned they sold too many Friday evening and sold part of Saturdayâs stock as a result.
Watching them work, they fried wings to order, but the whole process was really slow. We waited over an hour(!), which was longer than Howlinâ Rayâs at busy times.
Maboroshi no Tebasaki (Nagoya-style Mysterious Fried Chicken Wings):
It should be noted firstly, that these are half Wings (not full Chicken Wings like what they serve at Howlinâ Rayâs). So youâre really getting 2.5 real Wings worth of meat for a â5 pieceâ order.
The Tebasaki Chicken Wings are fresh fried (huge plus). They are nice and crispy with no batter. The taste? Itâs OK. Itâs mainly Sansho Pepper with a bit of Soy Sauce and Mirin. So itâs lightly spicy, a little bit sweet, but thankfully not as sweet as Korean Fried Wings like Kyochon.
Ultimately we all agreed it was not worth waiting over 1 hour for these Wings, and even without waiting they were OK, but not mindblowing.
And their bad planning and cutting off the line (sold out) by 11:00 a.m. on only the 2nd day of the fair was silly and unfortunate. If they had a regular stand and we were in the area? I think theyâd be great to pick up a dozen, drink an ice-cold Asahi on Draft (from Japan) and enjoy, but not like this.
Nagoya Fair 2016 @ Mitsuwa Market (Torrance)
21515 S Western Ave.
Torrance, CA 90501
Tel: (310) 782-0335
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Thatâs unfortunate, i was debating if i should drive an hour to try this, i guess not.
Youâre being very generous. Partner and I went this afternoon. I asked the cashier, âDoes the premium eel taste very different than the regular eel?â Him: âThe premium eel is from Japan, the regular eel is from China.â Uh, that doesnât answer the question, but okay.
Totally disappointing. It looked totally indistinguishable from the regular eel. My eel was mainly overcooked, so it was largely rubbery (I had to take bites from the entire filet b/c it was too tough to separate w/ chopsticks), and the sauce makes it taste exactly like a cheaper piece of eel. Rice was, not surprisingly, kind of disgusting (I poured partnerâs miso soup from Hannosuke over the rice). Best part were the surprisingly tasty pickles.
Honestly, I wouldâve been a little miffed even paying the $9.99 price for this (the cost of a regular eel bowl). Itâs very much just like an eel bowl youâd get at a supermarketâŚ
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Crap! Sorry about that.
The wings reminded me - surprisingly - of Pollo alla Diavolo from a Roman trattoria: heavy on the black pepper. The closest version in L.A. would be the Wings alla Diavolo appetizer at Pizzeria Mozza (or its big brother the Pollo alla Diavolo at Chi Spacca).
We lucked out and got there just before the second wave of wings were ready. Wings were better than I expected given the level of chaos and the panicked look on the faces of the cooks trying to figure it all out on the fly.
I enjoyed the mid-priced eel bento. Not the quality unagi youâd be getting from your favorite sush-ya but very agreeable and fairly true to my memory of versions I had in Japan.
The âprohabitionâ of alcohol - though not a surprise - wasnât as agreeable.
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Ach, sorry the Nagoya Fair was a bust, @Chowseeker1999, @PorkyBelly, @A5KOBE, @paranoidgarliclover, @TriTip, and anyone else I may have left out. Unfeasibly long lines, food shortages, and subpar eel, rice, and chicken wings are inexcusable, plus no alcohol to lessen the blow. My apologies to everyoneâŚ
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Hi @MaladyNelson,
No itâs not your fault! Donât feel bad. 
It was Mitsuwa and their vendors more than anything. Yamachan: Their claim to have been doing this for multiple decades (and I think Mr. Yamachan himself was there), but they couldnât make their Wings in a timely manner, and they sold out by 11:00 a.m. seems like bad planning and execution.
The Unagi was just overcooked and they shouldâve sold some Hot, some refrigerated.
It seems Mitsuwaâs Food Fairs are getting worse recently. Then again when was their last great Ramen festival?
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Iâm assuming that Yamachan didnât anticipate the demand. I go to a lot of Mitsuwaâs food fairs, and theyâre usually very sparsely attended. My guess is the shout-out in Los Angeles Eater brought in an unexpectedly large crowd.
Overcooked unagi is inexcusable, especially since itâs such precious commodity.
I havenât been to any of their ramen fairs, but I go to the regional ones quite often, and the vendors vary in quality. Iâve been pretty happy with the croquette and musubi/onigiri vendors for the most part.
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Why in the world are you apologizing? Partner and I still had a fun time going out to a place that we havenât been to in months. And I got some sesame ice cream (which has made me decide that I apparently donât think ANYTHING is adequately intensely flavored unless itâs just straight-up black sesame! Hee, hee). Iâm glad we share fairs and such w/ each other.
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Oh I forgot to ask, for the pure Black Sesame⌠what do you think of that Black Sesame Dessert Soup at Dim Sum restaurants? 
Enough Black Sesame taste for you?
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