New for May (before contact with Eater’s radar?): Soft open (takeout only) for Haru Omakase Sushi (Westwood), just south of the Hammer Museum (same block as the UCLA Nimoy Theater). The takeout chirashi (a downright deal at $40) and okonomi nigiri (less of a deal at $18 for one bite of toro/uni/caviar) looked and tasted like a new heavyweight contender to me. The buildout won’t be done 'til later next month, so verdict isn’t in yet on the space itself…
Moulin house made ham and cheese baguette with lettuce. Had zero expectations since it was at south coast plaza. But it turned out to be delicious. Baguette had great crust and chew with a noticeable fermented flavor and the ham and emmental cheese were very complementary. Simple and straight forward reminded me of getting a sandwich at a boulangerie in France.
Only thing for me was that I wish there was some Mayo or Dijon for lubrication.
This isn’t the best picture, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Egg Salad Sandwich at Highly Likely. It has a touch of harissa mixed in, which is just enough… but what kills it is that bun. Milk Bread with crisp edges. It’s like the very best in and out bun… With a luscious egg salad.
The plaza with Earthen was as packed as its ever been. Earthen ownership has changed hands twice during covid. New chefs. Not pictured but still very good are the jjammpong and salt n pepper chicken cartilage.
The green onion pancake is not the same. Doesn’t have the same crispness but the actual flavor/recipe seems the same. I recommended to the waitress that the chef go back to the old version.
They were doing brisk take out but the actual restaurant itself was only half full. There are all brand new nice menus with pictures, prices and captions in Chinese and English.
Was on Fairfax before a show at the Brain Dead theater so my buddy and I stopped in to eat at Yojimbo. (He had preemptively vetoed Jon and Vinny’s because we have eaten almost exclusively pizza the last few times we were out)
It was aggressively fine.
Heiwa “Kid” Junmai Cup
The best find here actually–loved that they had a cup version.
The real highlight though… scoping out Animal after we walked out. There were people seated inside, so I went in and was told they were in a “soft open” and anticipate opening next week (!!!)
We’ve walked by the place a few times and once saw a fairly large crowd, so we hoped the food wouldn’t be terrible. It turns out it’s quite good (IMHO). Not sure why the tacos are red. I didn’t try the shell by itself, so can’t say that it made a difference in flavor (as opposed to just being a dye).
Agua frescas were fine. I asked the cashier which one had the least amt of sugar added. She said that they were “all natural,” which I don’t think quite answered the question…
Partner had the birria, I had the chicken. The OG plate is $15. Birria didn’t quite have the funk that I like and expect, although I guess that’s not surprising if it’s all beef? My smoked chicken didn’t seem quite consistently smoky (but the parts that were smoky were very tasty and not overwhelming smoky). The consume was, not surprisingly, absolutely wonderful and warming.
I wouldn’t drive across the city for this, but, if you’re in the area, it’s certainly worth a try.
