Thanksgiving feast, Japanese vegan style!

How's this for a yummy, healthy alternative to the same ol' turkey dinner?

Shojin, the classy, tasty AND affordable vegan Japanese eatery in Little Tokyo that I wrote about recently, is serving up a vegan Thanksgiving meal Nov. 25 through 28 that makes even this turkey lover's mouth water:

* Creamy Pumpkin Soup
* Oven Roasted Vegetables
* Marinated Green Beans
* Candied Sweet Potatoes
* Homemade Vegan Turkey with Herb Stuffing
* Mixed Mushroom Gravy
* Cranberry Sauce
* Spiced Pumpkin Tart

And all for just $34.95 per person!

More details (including a reservation requirement, and restaurant hours) are on the Shojin blog as well as on the main Shojin web site.

As I noted in my earlier post, Shojin's food is super tasty and made with fresh organic ingredients.
And the vegan "turkey" (billed as "sooooo soft and moist :) Yum yum!!!") is made with seitan (wheat gluten), which is high in protein but doesn't have the sleep-inducing tryptophan that turkey does.

So perhaps even non-vegans will feel energized - and their stomachs very thankful! - after this meal.

In fact, the menu and photo are tempting me to treat myself to a second Thanksgiving Day meal at Shojin ... Anyone wanna join me?

Read More...

Summary only...

Shojin: Not-so-new organic vegetarian food

A few months ago, I pondered the idea of raw fish becoming "extinct" in sushi bars.
It's a dilemma for me: I do love fish, but I also worry about sustainability, and the impacts to the eco-system of my eating habits and pleasures.

So I was pleased to hear about Shojin, a Little Tokyo eatery that focuses on organic, natural, vegan Japanese cuisine.
(Thanks to Monica V. for the tip!)

The phrase "Contemporary Organic Fusion Cuisine" on the web site's Menu page made me cringe a bit, but when I clicked on the "Why Shojin" tab, I was reminded that this type of food is actually more ancient Japanese than trendy.

The photos at top, of little dishes of cooked vegetables, actually depict some of my favorite Japanese foods (stewed pumpkin, tofu, shiitake mushroom), and the "What's Shojin cuisine?" section explains that this is "very traditional Japanese cuisine and originally Buddhist vegetarian cooking."

The web site explains that Japanese-style Shojin cooking is believed to have originated during the 13th century. A Buddhist Zen sect leader who had trained in China brought back Chinese cooking techniques and practices, thus creating a new Japanese cooking style with innovations like frying and deep frying and using miso, soy sauce and vinegar seasonings.

So, like the Fishlips sushi truck, Shojin's vegan organic cuisine is actually an old concept that is new again, revised with contemporary touches.

I got a chance to visit Shojin recently, and while this isn't a sushi place (and in fact has very limited sushi offerings), the overall menu is well prepared, very reasonably priced and definitely more tasty than what you sometimes get at mainstream vegan eateries.


Shojin is a fairly small, cozy place located on the top floor of a three-story shopping center. But the restaurant's interior is nothing like a typical mall shop; it's decorated in an eclectic, warm and artsy style that makes you feel like you're in an European bistro.
The young, attractive waiters were soft spoken and very accommodating.
The menu is plentiful - numerous pages with photos of the dishes, presented in a slim notebook binder.

We started with the pumpkin croquette appetizer (about $6), served with a light tomato sauce.
The flavors were mild and comforting, the texture a nice mix of crunchy and smooth.

We also had a small dish of miso eggplant (which we failed to photograph because I tore into it so quickly!), for about $5.
I love traditional miso eggplant with its great mix of salty and sweet flavors, bound together by meaty eggplant.
The Shojin version was good, but not noteworthy. The dish tasted very fresh, with the roasted veggies (not solely eggplant - I think there was some squash in there, too) very flavorful but almost not cooked enough - too crunchy in texture. Traditional miso eggplant is stewed, allowing the flavors and textures to mellow and meld. I specifically love the comfort-food texture of it.

For our "entrees," my friend Samantha and I wanted soba (buckwheat noodles), but we also decided to split a Shiitake and Avocado Roll ($5.25) as a "side" (pictured at top of post).
This is one of a handful of sushi rolls offered; there's also a "Caterpillar Roll" with avocado and barbecue seitan (wheat gluten meat substitute), covered in sauce.
I prefer non-sauced rolls, and the traditional salty flavors of Shiitake mushroom and konbu (seaweed) cooked in a sweet soy sauce, rolled with avocado in a brown-rice roll flecked with sesame seeds, hit the spot.

Finally, our soba dishes came out.
I had the Yamaimo Ume Soba ($10.45), a traditional favorite of mine: Buckwheat noodles in a cold soup topped with gooey-starchy mountain potato, ume (sour plum) paste, radish sprouts and seaweed slivers.
Very refreshing, with the tangy-salty Japanese flavors that I love.

Sam had the Spicy Tofu Soba ($9.95) with buckwheat noodles in a spicy miso soup with tofu and ground veggie "meat."
This was clearly a version of the Chinese-style mabo dofu, in which tofu cubes are covered in a sauce of spicy ground pork - sorta like the Asian version of Bolognese sauce.
I'd like to come back for this comfort-food soba now that the weather is getting colder.

The lengthy menu also had some curry dishes that looked good (Japanese curry is milder in spice and sometimes almost sweet; I'm curious what the flavors are at Shojin), and also some lovely bento box combinations I'd like to try sometime.

As you can tell from the prices I listed, this filling meal cost us about $25 each, including tip.
While this type of food will never be an adequate substitute for sushi, the flavors are nostalgic and comforting, and it's further comforting to know the chef is using organic, natural and fresh ingredients.
This will definitely be a stop-in spot for me on my visits to Downtown L.A., and may become a good meeting spot for my vegetarian friends.

Shojin
333 S. Alameda St., Suite 310
(Little Tokyo Shopping Center 3F)
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-617-0305


View Larger Map

Read More...

Summary only...

Izayoi - Yay!

Whenever I'm headed to Downtown Los Angeles for an excursion or errand, I try to schedule it so I can stop by Izayoi for dinner.

Izayoi is a modern Japanese eatery in Little Tokyo that manages to successfully combine traditional izakaya food and high-quality sushi. I like to describe it as "gourmet izakaya."

But what's truly special about this "pub" is that it also offers excellent sushi, which isn't the norm at izakayas. The only reason I rate the Izayoi sushi 4 stars, and not the full 5, is that you don't get the full sushi "experience" here. There's a small sushi bar, yes, but sushi is not the raison d'etre, so the offerings can be limited, and the interaction with the chefs rushed.


Still, the quality of the fresh fish of the day consistently ranks up there with the 5-star joints. I read unconfirmed reports that the folks behind Izayoi came from Sushi Ryo in Hollywood, which would confirm that the chef(s) have good fish-monger connections.

Just look at these gorgeous raw fishies our party of five consumed this past weekend:

Buttery amaebi (sweet shrimp) and tender, subtly fishy aji (a mackerel that typically tastes and smells less fishy than saba).

Albacore: super-tender with just the perfect morsel of horseradish garnish.

Perfect unagi: broiled just enough to crisp the surface and unleash the oils in the meat, topped with the right dose of sauce and a sprinkling of goma (sesame).

And the lovely red snapper pictured at the top of this post was everyone's favorite - a light, clean flavor, and perfectly tender in texture.

Of course, we had more standard izayaka fare this night, too, including ...

Clockwise from upper left: cucumber and wakame (seaweed) salad, the traditional agedashi (fried) tofu (in a very subtle, not overly salty, broth); yamakake (grated mountain yam with chunks of raw tuna); broiled miso eggplant (the miso provides carmelized sweetness to the nasu).

But the Shining Pub Food Stars of the night were ...

The homemade tofu: silky smooth and sublime, flavored oh-so-subtly with the broth. You can also order it served simply with ground sesame sauce on it.

AND ...
The sauteed pork belly, made with melt-in-your-mouth kurobuta (literal translation: black pig; kurobuta is the Kobe beef-grade of pork).

Izakayas are numerous in Little Tokyo, but I find myself always heading back to Izayoi because the versions of comfort foods here are a notch above the others in quality, plus I know I can also get fresh, out-of-the-ordinary cuts of raw fish.

Yes, the prices may be a tad higher than the more casual izakayas in L.A., but you do get the quality that you pay for. And it's a great place to bring a mixed crowd of friends; the vegetarian options are numerous (as expected, the vegetarian in our group Saturday loved the sesame spinach, a homestyle staple), and there are also plenty of meat and fried options for the non-RawFishionados.

Still, if you go, I'd recommend sticking to the non-fried dishes to get a real taste of the traditional, fresh and subtle flavors that make izakaya fare so satisfying.

Oh, and one more tip: the yaki onigiri (grilled rice ball, another izakaya staple) is not listed on the menu, but you can ask for it. I ordered one at the end of the meal Saturday, just to see how good it is, and it was perfect: nicely crispy on the outside, but still steamy-soft on the inside, basted with the right amount of teriyaki sauce so that the sauce dripped into the rice but didn't overwhelm it.
My friends and I gobbled it up so quickly I forgot to snap a photo. Sorry!
Here's a stand-in photo: the yaki onigiri at Echizen, in Cypress. They could be twins. :)


Izayoi
132 S. Central Ave.
Los Angeles, 90012
(Little Tokyo, between First and Second streets)
213-613-9554

View Larger Map

Read More...

Summary only...