Hakata Izakaya HERO and Unknown Vietnamese Kitchen

Random fooding

LA County Safer At Home: Days 190-191

12 noon, no one else here yet-- clearly a happy hour spot...

Seaweed salad. Tasty but a bit heavy on sesame oil.

The glamour shot.

Hello beef tongue.

So good but so expensive... ;_;

Champion noodle. Did a great job making fundamentally ordinary noodles and cabbage taste good!

The front.

Menu at Unknown Vietnames Kitchen the next day.

BBQ pork spring rolls. Not quite traditional in meat but quite pretty.

Ox tail pho.

It was... good? But not good enough to actually be remotely memorable.

When you worked late into the night on a Saturday...

Westwood is packed.

The old Bruin theater ticket booth is now all outdoor seating.

Starting with Hakata Izakaya HERO, which is normally packed at happy hour. Lunch they're pretty dead. They turned a pile of lettuce and seaweed topped with sesame oil into a tasty experience. The champion noodle was basic ingredients, but also done well. And the beef tongue, while not cheap, was excellent. For a place that doesn't start with anything fancy, they do an excellent job. Very easy to see why they're so packed at happy hour.

Lunch the next day at Unknown Vietnamese Kitchen. They do a modern, decidedly not-authentic take on Vietnamese food. Quality enough to have no complaints, but also not quite tasty enough to be all that memorable.

Just for good measure, worked way too late that night, so why not stop by In-N-Out at 10pm on a Saturday.