W/ all due respect to @attran99, I thought I’d kick off May w/ what I’m dubbing the @JeetKuneBao special (although I think it was from @J_L that I learned about this place).
A work-related volunteer activity takes me to Oceanside once a year, so I must, of course, stop by Kawamata for some poke. It remains delicious.
Hope y’all have some good eating this month.
Holy cow, is that for one person??? Is that a whole avocado?
Oh, I’m not sure big the box is looking! How big does it look? Maybe some fish eye distortion in the camera lens.
The avo slices themselves seemed very short, so not sure what kind of avocado they were using.
It was the “large” portion, and it was filling but totally doable for me. 
It looks fabulous!
Sipan Bakery, Glendale
Lahmajune omelette. I actually kinda look forward to going to the Glendale DMV because it means I get to eat one of these bad boys.
Putting that on my map. Surely I’ll be passing by there one of these days.
What’s in the little cup?
Salsa
now that is the ultimate breakfast taco
Errand in the OC made for two meals…bang-bang style.
Stacks Pancake House (Irvine)
A Hawaiian-inspired cafe with breakfast, brunch, and lunch options. We caught the tail end of breakfast service. Ordered at the counter, meal delivered to your table.
My sister ordered the crunch macadamia French toast…crusted in both Captain Crunch cereal and crushed macadamia nuts and served with whipped butter, strawberries, and syrup. It was sweet, but not terribly saccharine sweet. I enjoyed the crunchy coating, and it was much better without syrup…syrup made it soggy. I had the loco moco with Portuguese sausage, steamed rice, gravy, and 2 over easy eggs. Runny egg yolks mixed in with the savory gravy was just perfect.
Tanakaya (Tustin)
I’ve been wanting to come here since seeing @Chowseeker1999’s epic posts. So we hopped a few streets over to Tanakaya. My sister got the Kamo Nanban with fresh soba in hot duck meat broth and green onions. The broth for these noodles is delightful…rich and deep in duck flavor while also being light…I don’t know how they do it. I got the Oh Zaru because I wanted to make sure that I would be taking cold soba home for later. It’s a double order of their soba noodles served simply with soba dipping sauce, nori, green onions, an wasabi. The chew and texture of the soba was just perfect…and like magic. I loved that these noodles were more buckwheat-y. I didn’t even finish the first layer, so was super happy to be taking home plenty of leftovers.
There are too many sweets at my house, so a trip to Cream Pan was not necessary. I still feel guilty for not stopping by.
Nice @attran99 glad you liked Tanakaya. 
Although I’m surprised you didn’t get anything at Cream Pan (how could you miss out?!). Remember you can also get their Housemade Nikuman (Steamed Marinated Pork Buns), or Curry Pan if you wanted something savory. 
Also I was so full after a bang-bang…I couldn’t dream of doing another bang. I am untrained in the ways of @PorkyBelly.
Any relation to Sepan Chicken in Glendale?
Seems unlikely but I can’t say for sure. Evidently Yelpers hate Sepen Chicken.
Takoyaki is supposed to be molten, loose, and battery inside.
The undercooked critique is common of customers in the U.S. that are not used to this texture/consistency. But I am positive that Gindaco takoyaki are not undercooked in their eyes or in the eyes of many Osakans, or other Japanese.
Gindaco’s takoyaki is not even what Osakans would call authentic takoyaki–it is a chain from Tokyo that slings takoyaki that are very (intentionally) crispy on the outside.
Also, regarding EAK’s takoyaki, I would wager that they deep fry frozen takoyaki. I would not use their takoyaki as a baseline.
Love your reports. Wanted to offer a counterpoint to your critique.
Regarding “bait and switch”
This phrase is used a lot on FTC to criticize Japanese businesses opening in the U.S. and it always irks me.
Why? It is dismissive and implies intent of the Japanese operators to deceive their customers.
I do not believe that most Japanese business owners aim to deceive their customers. Rather, they are trying their best to localize their businesses in the U.S. and train local staff.
It is very costly and difficult to have Japanese employees come from Japan and oversee the opening of businesses and stay for a prolonged amount of time–especially for fast food or casual restaurants.
They need to establish their business and train local staff quickly to be able to have any chance for long-term success.
I can’t speak for others, but for me," bait and switch" is a significant issue not necessarily because the chef in the kitchen is different (in fact, I wish a change in chef led to no change in quality - that way cooking would be easily scalable, and places could expand the number of locations without losing quality!), but because there is a noticeable decline in the quality of the food.
A prime example for me is a place called Ramen Setagaya in the East Village in NYC. For the first year or two when they opened to long lines, they might have been my favorite ramen in NYC. The shio broth was light, yet complex - I remember tasting discrete dried scallop pieces and so many more seafood flavors infusing it. Fast forward a couple years, and the broth, to put it mildly, tasted like dish washing water. I don’t know if it’s because the Japanese chef had left (because they now had a different chef), or because they were cutting corners on ingredients, or both, but the product at that point had no resemblance to the opening product.
I totally agree that many restaurants–especially ramen restaurants–see declines in quality over time.
I do not see this as “bait and switch” but rather succumbing to business realities.
I think there needs to be malicious intent to “trick” the customer to qualify for “bait and switch” and I don’t see it.
If they say they are offering authentic Hakata-style ramen and you get dishwater soup, they are not baiting & switching, they are just failing to execute.
Maybe they don’t pay enough or treat employees poorly leading to high turnover and lower quality product, but that is a different problem–not bait and switch.
Denition from Merriam-Webster:
1: a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one
2: the ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support) then thwarting expectations with something less desirable
