TBA
Kimukatsu and Chabuya
Kimukatsu is decent for tonkotsu, but it isn't anywhere nearly as good as Maisen (Tokyo)...
Decor is modern and sparse but works quite well, the big TV at the "bar" was a huge plus (NCAA March Madness FTW!), the agedashi tofu was great. Kara age (fried chicken, they called it something weird) was perfectly fried and good quality chicken, but devoid of seasoning (ack!). And the tonkotsu, errr, kimukatsu, was not nearly as delicately layered or breaded as I was hoping. It was still pretty good by LA standards, but definitely not to the better places in Japan...
Hard to knock the place too much, the service was quite enthusiastic and pricing (for high quality tonkotsu) was acceptable enough, but it just didn't quite measure up.
Dinner at Chabuya was quite good; if you want Hakata-style ramen (like Shin Sen Gumi) then it's definitely not your place, but for the kara kara ramen (spicy), it was very solid.