A Foodie in L.A. – Part 3 of 3
I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my final posting for LA – welp, here it goes:
Okay, I have to admit, this is not the first time I’ve dined at Katsuya. So, I had to make sure that my previous pre-conceived notions of this amazing place wouldn’t affect me. Hmm…a bias, I think not…
There are three Katsuya locations – Hollywood (where I ate), Brentwood (where I previously ate) and Studio City. Also, look out for other locations in Vegas and Miami that will be opening soon.
Katsuya is actually a Hollywood hotspot, with famous stars such as Audrina Patridge, Rihanna and Jay Z, Jessica Simpson and Eva Longoria and Tony Parker eating at the joint.
Guys – be sure to dress LA-ish, aka you’ll be a winner in tight jeans, a button down and extra points for neon and Ray-Ban’s. Girls – if people confuse you for a streetwalker, you pass. I
unfortunately did not get the memo as I looked around and saw 40-year-old wannabe cougars resembling Stiffler’s mom prowling around in their tight and short clothes. Seriously, how hard is it to get a bigger size ladies?
If you haven’t guessed already, Katsuya is a “Japanese” restaurant. But, you won’t find a traditional bento box on this menu. It’s Japanese food, with flair.
Upon entering, we waited by the bar. My party of seven huddled around these high glass blocks with a knife in it – very trendy, just squished. The entire restaurant was decorated with bright red paintings contrasting with white tables. Even though we made reservations, this was Hollywood, so we waited 45 minutes to get our table.
Katsuya is family style, so ordering a lot of dishes is a must. Since we had a fairly large group we ordered a variety of dishes, including: Creamy Rock Shrimp Tempura, Kobe Style Filet with Foie Gras Plum Wine Soy Sauce, Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna, Seared Albacore with Garlic Soy Lemon Butter, Japanese Mushroom, Asparagus and Shrimp Tobanyaki, Lobster Dynamite.
Every dish was amazing – each was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of seasoning. Hands down, my favorite dish was the Lobster Dynamite. It was a dish our waitress had recommended and proved to be a table favorite. Think a traditional Spider Roll, but substitute the softshell crab with Lobster and mix it with the creamy-ness that you get in a California Roll, in one word: delish.
The second best dish was the Creamy Rock Shrimp Tempura. They were little shrimp cooked tempura style (battered and deep fried) smothered in a spicy orange sauce. What I loved was that the shrimp wasn’t so crispy it was hard to bite into, instead it was cooked to a nice consistency and the shrimp inside wasn’t chewy (which happens to a lot of tempura).
In a close second – the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna. Essentially, the rice is cooked to a “crisp” (with a nice brown to it) served with a spicy tuna (resembling a a tuna-tar-tar on top of the crispy rice). Then for presentation, a little pepper slice sits on top.
Overall, all the dishes were superb.
Alright – the verdict.
Basically, this place almost gets a perfect score. In fact, I went back and forth with it. Instead, it gets 4.75 bytes out of 5. I know this is “so LA” and perhaps I am a Nor-Cal bumkin, but does anyone ever want to wait 45 minutes for a table AFTER making reservations? If so, you are probably crazy. And, I did think it was a bit pricey, but I guess that’s just the price you pay to potentially see famous peeps.
Information
Name: Katsuya
URL: http://www.sbeent.com/katsuya/
Pricing: $15-20 lunch special; $25+ per dinner dish
Address: 6300 Hollywood Blvd. , Los Angeles 90028
Byte Rating: 4.75 out of 5
I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my final posting for LA – welp, here it goes:Okay, I have to admit, this is not the first time I’ve dined at Katsuya. So, I had to make sure that my previous pre-conceived notions of this amazing place wouldn’t affect me. Hmm…a bias, I think not…
There are three Katsuya locations – Hollywood (where I ate), Brentwood (where I previously ate) and Studio City. Also, look out for other locations in Vegas and Miami that will be opening soon.
Katsuya is actually a Hollywood hotspot, with famous stars such as Audrina Patridge, Rihanna and Jay Z, Jessica Simpson and Eva Longoria and Tony Parker eating at the joint.
Guys – be sure to dress LA-ish, aka you’ll be a winner in tight jeans, a button down and extra points for neon and Ray-Ban’s. Girls – if people confuse you for a streetwalker, you pass. I
unfortunately did not get the memo as I looked around and saw 40-year-old wannabe cougars resembling Stiffler’s mom prowling around in their tight and short clothes. Seriously, how hard is it to get a bigger size ladies?If you haven’t guessed already, Katsuya is a “Japanese” restaurant. But, you won’t find a traditional bento box on this menu. It’s Japanese food, with flair.
Upon entering, we waited by the bar. My party of seven huddled around these high glass blocks with a knife in it – very trendy, just squished. The entire restaurant was decorated with bright red paintings contrasting with white tables. Even though we made reservations, this was Hollywood, so we waited 45 minutes to get our table.
Katsuya is family style, so ordering a lot of dishes is a must. Since we had a fairly large group we ordered a variety of dishes, including: Creamy Rock Shrimp Tempura, Kobe Style Filet with Foie Gras Plum Wine Soy Sauce, Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna, Seared Albacore with Garlic Soy Lemon Butter, Japanese Mushroom, Asparagus and Shrimp Tobanyaki, Lobster Dynamite.
Every dish was amazing – each was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of seasoning. Hands down, my favorite dish was the Lobster Dynamite. It was a dish our waitress had recommended and proved to be a table favorite. Think a traditional Spider Roll, but substitute the softshell crab with Lobster and mix it with the creamy-ness that you get in a California Roll, in one word: delish.
The second best dish was the Creamy Rock Shrimp Tempura. They were little shrimp cooked tempura style (battered and deep fried) smothered in a spicy orange sauce. What I loved was that the shrimp wasn’t so crispy it was hard to bite into, instead it was cooked to a nice consistency and the shrimp inside wasn’t chewy (which happens to a lot of tempura).
In a close second – the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna. Essentially, the rice is cooked to a “crisp” (with a nice brown to it) served with a spicy tuna (resembling a a tuna-tar-tar on top of the crispy rice). Then for presentation, a little pepper slice sits on top.
Overall, all the dishes were superb.
Alright – the verdict.
Basically, this place almost gets a perfect score. In fact, I went back and forth with it. Instead, it gets 4.75 bytes out of 5. I know this is “so LA” and perhaps I am a Nor-Cal bumkin, but does anyone ever want to wait 45 minutes for a table AFTER making reservations? If so, you are probably crazy. And, I did think it was a bit pricey, but I guess that’s just the price you pay to potentially see famous peeps.
Information
Name: Katsuya
URL: http://www.sbeent.com/katsuya/
Pricing: $15-20 lunch special; $25+ per dinner dish
Address: 6300 Hollywood Blvd. , Los Angeles 90028
Byte Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Obsessed with Katsuya. I would say my fave is spicy tuna on crispy rice. Simply delicious. I also agree with your byte rating - the extra wait and high pricing was a little ridiculous.
ReplyDelete