Kojima (Sawtelle Japantown): A Pictorial Essay

[aaqjr]

OMG! . That’s hilarious.

[J_L]

Bang cubed

[paranoidgarliclover]

If tip is included but extra is appreciated, is there a general extra amount that is culturally normative in this situation (if that makes any sense)?

[PeonyWarrior]

In Japan, zero tip, period. I had a taxi driver chase me down when I left him spare change.

FWIW - Here in America, I do not tip if there’s a tip-replacing service charge unless someone did something exceptional and it feels wrong not to acknowledge it.

[beam]

@PeonyWarrior

unless someone did something exceptional

Say, I got off the wait list for Hayato reservation, I will leave extra cash for Brandon and his team.

[J_L]

Achieved return of spontaneous circulation on another human being after their heart stopped. Got a three star review ‘cuz their chest hurt afterwards from the compressions.

[PeonyWarrior]

I tried to post a positive review on Yelp. I wrote two sentences and pushed post, and it told me I needed to type 85 characters more. Nah.

[BeamToast]

I feel like a lot of your posts here though are sometimes 85 characters?

They do that to avoid spam and harassment cancellation reviews I think…

[paranoidgarliclover]

Special occasion, so we went to Kojima tonight:

I haven’t been to Hayato (but did get their to-go box during the early part of the pandemic), so I can’t compare.

This place is wonderful. Warm and unfussy ambiance, and the food is fantastic. There’s a really pristine quality to the ingredients and presentation. I can often find pristine to be a boring, but not here. This not a place that will punch in the face w/ flavors (although some of the dishes are intensely rich); it’s the mix of intense and subtle, homey and high-end, familiar and unique, and the overall feeling of satisfaction that are the takeaways for me. The food is very accessible in the sense that you don’t need to be a connoisseur to recognize you’re getting some good sh*t.

Some of the most impressive things to me were the veg! The cabbage in the roll (so yummy), the tomato jelly. I’m glad partner suggested I try the jelly by itself first (Mimi had said we could mix the whole thing up and then eat it). The jelly has such a concentrated and sweet tomato flavor. I think the chef noticed my reaction b/c he spontaneously said that the jelly has no added sugar (!!!). I dunno; I think that jelly might’ve been one of the most impressive things I’ve ever eaten from a “technical” perspective (although I don’t cook, so who knows?).

I’ve also never had anything like the sesame tofu (pictured on top of the persimmon. I could eat that every day.

Even the veg on top of the meatball was delicious (I guess being dressed in beef drippings will do that). Mimi explained the sourcing of the beef, but I don’t know the various prefectures, so I’m not going to be able to repeat it here. I will say that the meatball (as Mimi said it would be) had the most appealing combo of chew and tenderness (and of course tasted delicious).

I even took a closeup pic of togarashi b/c that + the salt (+ chicken heart) was SO tasty….

We saw him making the dashi, and the amt of bonito (and apparently tuna?) flakes was truly insane.

I am not the kind of person who loves to spend tons of $ for a single meal, but this was def worth it.

[avalonmabi]

Going out on back to back nights with 2 kids is hard for us since looking for good childcare is difficult so I was glad that Kojima made up for the prior night’s mixed review. Kojima had great food with no complaints from me. I apologize for the poor quality of photos and we didn’t have a menu to take a picture off so my descriptions are all from memory.

Scallop tempura with salad and a plum condiment. Perfect start and I like how he balances dishes with veggies.

Grilled chicken hearts were perfection. I wanted to order more but I was too full at the end.

Seared Sea Bream with Uni

Potato-taro I think was what they said, in tempura form. His tempura and veggies are all solid.

Longtooth grouper in dashi - rare fish that winning sumo wrestlers eat. I think I got the fish right.

I think this was Katsuo -.nice fatty fish.

Chicken thigh with broccolini - this chicken was perfectly cooked and the skin was so crispy, the meat was juicy, and tender.

Juicy Daikon

Fresh water eel with snap peas - these snap peas were a prefect complement to the eel

Japanese Beef (I’m assuming Wagyu) with salad. The beef was so tender and good.

Tuna with brown rice (per chef it is brown even if it looks white), miso soup, and veggies. That tuna was so good.

Plum from Tokyo - was juicy and sweet.

I like how he changes dishes, it makes me look forward to doing another visit. The wife liked Kojima more than Hayato. I still prefer Hayato over Kojima but only by a little bit.

[beam]

We dined there last week - similar dinner, perhaps 1-2 more small courses.

Kojima is a gem - Hayato san cooks with joy and cranks out more delicious stuff in a very relaxing manner.

[CiaoBob]

cant wait to return this Sat @chewchow

[T3t]

Shirako katsu, salad, tonkatsu sauce

Uni, shiro ebi, somen

Chawanmushi, dashi, ume, wasabi

Grilled chicken, green beans, grated ginger

Dashi broth, kinki, matsutake, yuzu

Wild sea bream (3), (sudachi, salt), (wasabi, soy sauce), (shiso flowers)

Hay-grilled suma katsuo

Daikon, simmer with oyster/sardine(?), then deep fried

Maguro (“the red part”)

Shiitake, potatoes, “lily” sauce, chives

Grilled unagi, kinome

Grilled wagyu, asparagus

Mackerel gohan, miso soup, cucumber

Cheesecake

Highlights… honestly, more than half of the items? The somen was great. The dashi in the chawanmushi was up there with the best I’ve had. The kinki was incredible, 100% perfectly dialed in, tender without being too soft. I actually liked the daikon without any reservations (I’m normally somewhat put off by the funk, which was replaced by the simmering). The shiitake with potatoes were a surprise hit. The grilled unagi was the best I’ve had. The wagyu was, likewise, the best wagyu eating experience I’ve had - I think perhaps I prefer somewhat “lower grade” wagyus; the flavor of the meat was incredible and I got a lot less of that when eating e.g. A5 in the past. The gohan was good enough to get me to go back for seconds.

The sashimi courses were the weakest, imo, but even they were pretty good, and the tuna was great.

If I had to pick a nit, it’s that the indoor smoke got to be a bit much near the end.

Managed to get seats for 4 on Friday night, only two days ahead of time. Criminal, but grateful that I got a chance to go.

[robert]

@paranoidgarliclover

If tip is included but extra is appreciated, is there a general extra amount that is culturally normative in this situation

If there’s a service charge of under 20% I might tip the difference, since I usually tip 20%. There’s no standard etiquette.

[formersushichef]

Kojima is a great addition to LA. Perfect pacing and really delicious cooking. I really wish a place exactly like Kojima would open just for a la carte options; like if you took Kojima & Tonchinkan, they met and had a baby, and that baby ****ed Kinjiro, that’s what that restaurant would look like.

[lizardking]

An a la carte Kojima would be EPIC

[sk8uno]

@lizardking

The excessive use of truffles, caviar, and Wagyu to improve or elevate a dish is 99% BS.

Completely agree. I’m now conditioned such that when I see these listed with a dish on a menu, I immediately assume the dish is mediocre and/or not well thought out. Obviously that is not always true, but I think it is more often true than false these days.