I love the hell out of these. One may not necessarily think “pickled” - think: leftover - fried fish would work, but it just kills as beer snacks. It was either those again, or the sardines (which were new to me).
Despite OP’s hesitations, Kinjiro is all hits no misses. I hate potato salad, but their potato salad always end up making a showing. That’s how persuasive the food here is (to me).
If you are talking about the fish in “chilled battered smelt”, I suck with hiragana, but I pulled up an online hiragana chart and compared it with the menu picture I took, and it looks like it says Shi Shi Ya Mo Nanbanzuke, so I can only guess it’s shishamo 柳葉魚 シシャモ, but some out there say real shishamo is impossible to get yada yada so some substitute capelin is being floated around instead. Only way to confirm, ask manager/owner Jun-san.
Either way, bomb ass roe inside them smelts. It really helped to have this after the beef tripe miso stew, which I stress i am not a fan of, and was a total miss for me (actually same with their yaki onigiri, just not a fan).
I like Hitachino! I am impressed that an izakaya has such an impressive lineup of their bottles at once. Would be nice if they had more on tap, but they are a very small place. Too bad they don’t have Oze No Yukidoki IPA and Pale Ale, both excellent (ONY also makes two great sakes, one is a super dry Junmai that is designed for izakaya fare).
I recommend rezzies. But if you must walk in unannounced, then Tuesday night or Wednesday night would be the nights to attempt this feat with any possible degree of success.
I’ve seen the owner turn away walk ins every time I’ve dined there. So many people try to pop in for a drink while waiting for sushi gen too! He always politely declines.
Yeah, but for the friends we were planning to eat there with the extra drive to Raku might be a deal-breaker. Any other recommendations in the Little Tokyo area for similar’ish options?
Though I am hopeful about a reservation three weeks out. I sent in an email and will call right at 2 pm today.
So, otherwise, how was the “tuna guts with cream cheese, marinated hotaru ika, and squid ink shiokara”? How did it compare to other LA presentations of the dish? Anyone got a pic? Trying to imagine what this is like…
I didn’t get a close up shot, but this is the trio sampler of bites meant to be washed down with beer, shochu, or sake (sake for me, is the best). You can order them individually of which the portions may be larger.
From left to right: Marinated firefly squid (hotaru ika okizuke), tuna guts (“maguro shuto”) on top of cream cheese, and squid marinated in its own bile and squid ink (shiokara).
The food is very savory, lots of texture, but the highlight was the pairing of the super salty fermented tuna guts with soft cream cheese (almost like a brie, but I didn’t ask what it was). Typical classic izakaya fare to kick off the meal, and to start drawing out the powers of the sake you drink with.
On my trip, I did not visit any other LA izakayas, only Kinjiro and Aburiya Raku where their offerings/styles are different. Aburiya Raku does not have something like this. I will say that for LA this is very good, and the cream cheese/maguro shuto took me by surprise. Usually this trio only exists as individual portions, so kudos to Kinjiro for offering a trio/sampler. Add the marinated wasabi octopus (takowasa) which is a standalone, and it’s all good.
