Izakaya Fu-Ga (Little Tokyo, LA, CA)

Located at:
111 S San Pedro St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Date of Visit: 10/10/13

     "A buried treasure", is how my friend would describe this place. And i absolutely agree with him. I've been coming here on and off for two years now but never really knew how to describe this place to my friends. I would just tell them to go and hopefully they won't be disappointed. No complaints so far. And there better not be! Then again it has been a few months since I last pigged out here. So lets see whats up with one of my favorite spots.

      From the outside it doesn't look like much. You could just walk right by it and not even know there was a restaurant located there. Other than their posted menu on the beam by the entrance there really isn't any hints that screams that there is an eatery right here... that is if you didn't read their sign. 

     Even if you do see the menu or sense that there is food nearby like I did. You would have to make your way down a flight of rather shadey looking stairs. And while doing so you may just ask yourself just what kind of gritty hole in the wall eatery you would find yourself in once you make it to the bottom.

     Once you turn that corner, usually a huge sigh of relief will ensue. Or in some cases they would get a sinking feeling because now this place is just too hoity-toity for them. And i still remember that my first thought upon walking into this place was the latter. But i was quickly put at ease by the nice people who worked here who were very charming and congenial.
     When we got seated and with our menus in hand we noticed that there were some newer items to their drinks and food menus. Which usually means they got rid of some older items. At which point i quickly skimmed the menu to see if some of my old favorites were still there. And some were and some weren't. But oh well. This isn't the first time this has happened here since they add and subtract things from their menus time to time.
     One thing to note about this restaurant is that the portions of the food here is rather small. Think of this place as a restaurant that serves up Japanese Tapas. In which case could be a good and bad thing. Good, because you would be able to try a multitude of dishes. And bad because well... you would be shelling out a lot of dough. So we just placed an order in for a few things tonight.
     One thing I really love about this place is their cocktails. I have tried ever single one of them and i would say a good majority of them were very good. But i saw one that they added and i just had to get it.

     The Blushing Geisha. "Freshly Muddled Strawberries, Basil, Lime and Sugar with a blend of Premium Rums. Topped with Champenoise served over ice."  It seems like a very girly drink... but so what? It was so delicious and refreshing. I would have chugged down a gallon of this drink. But it would totally would have put a hole in my wallet and my liver so I had to limit myself to just one. Which usually gets the job done seeing as how I'm such a lightweight. 
     This time around the food took a while longer than the times I've been here before. And the place was not all that busy.

      Crispy Calamari Rings. These were very lightly battered and quite flavorful.

     Sesame Jidori Chicken Karaage. "Tokyo-Style Lightly Fried Marinated Chicken". These were just alright. The flavors were very subtle and the chicken was rather dry.

      Roasted Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast. "Maple Leaf Farms 8oz duck breast with Tokyo Negi-Miso sauce" The duck was cooked very nicely. It was very juicy and moist though it may not look so in the picture. The sweet sauce though threw me off a bit. It didn't feel like it was adding much or taking a lot away from the duck. Not sure what to make of it.

      Sauteed Filet Mignon with Mushroom. 6oz.  This dish is really delicious. We have no idea what goes into that sauce but it just brings everything together. My friend's guess was that it was a plum wine sauce but we never got a confirmation on that. The mushrooms were cooked nicely and the meat was a bit over the temperature of what we asked for.

      Aonori Flavored Garlic French Fries. Very flavorful and crispy.

      Kabocha Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream. The bread pudding was uneven. Some bites it was just purely pumpkin and some just didn't have any. Also it was very sweet so for those you who isn't into super sweet desserts beware.
     Some high points and low points. It's not what i remember this place being a few months back. But it still is very good. And up until now i never really looked up what an "Izakaya" was. Turns out it means a Japanese drinking establishment which serves food to go with the drinks. In this case it totally lives up to the name. They have amazing drinks and a pretty good selection of beer, and other spirits. And good food  to go with all that "alchy-hol". So I'd say this trendy Japanese chic establishment is worth a visit. Especially if it's with a date or a bigger party because they have special rooms that could accommodate that.  To this place a thumbs up and a pinky out.