SO MY MOM'S A VEGETARIAN....

Well, I was back in LA this past weekend for my best friend's wedding. It was a short trip, just 4 days, but I was gonna make the most out of all my meals there. Yes, I did got to Mozza, but I'm gonna reserve that post for tomorrow when I have more time to upload all the pics I took. So I'll write about the dinner I had there my second night in LA, at Sakura House.

So apparently my mother has become a vegetarian in the 3 months since I've been home. And I think it's a good thing. Both she and my father are eating better and they've lost lots of weight. I'm sorry they didn't start doing this 10 years ago. But this meant that we couldn't go to Yakitoriya, which I had been planning on visiting for months, since EVERYTHING on their menu contains some form of meat (usually chicken.) I settled for Sakura House because they have a robato grill. They have a bigger menu, with plenty of veggie options for my mom, but I could still get my skewers of chicken.

The extensive menu is much more organized than Tory's. And even though dining here wasn't as refined as Tory's or as delicious as Yakitoriya, I still enjoyed my meal and could only wish that one of these existed in Boston.

They start you off with a little dish of sauce and raw veggies to snack on. I was with my entire family at dinner, so we were able to order a bunch of stuff and share. While my little sister and her boyfriend shared a set course (which came with certain sides and skewers, much like at Yakitoriya) I ordered some random skewers and shared with everyone else. Here's a view of the grill, which you can see is lined with a bar. If I was there as part of a couple, I'd sit at the bar and watch the action, but that wasn't possible with 6 people.We ordered two bowls of ground chicken rice to share. I found the sauce on this too sweet and preferred the one served at Yakitoriya.

And now here's a listing of dishes that I ordered:

Chicken wings! (Juicy and delicious, I wouldn't order the spicy one again, cause it wasn't very spicy).

Chicken liver:
A grilled rice ball (stuffed with miso and green onions). I wouldn't order this again, either. It wasn't as grilled and crispy as the rice ball I'd had at Tory's.
Chicken Meatballs:
From the top down, gingko nuts, shitake mushrooms and chicken hearts.
Agedashi tofu (Fried tofu in broth):
Overall, I enjoyed my dinner and will certainly come back in the future. I was disappointed that they'd run out of chicken gizzards, but I think this would be an excellent place to try out robato grilling for the first time (hint, hint, Katie.) I didn't love the sauce which they seemed to put on most chicken skewers, I prefer plain salt, but I didn't find it overly offensive and will order it without the sauce next time. Overall, a delicious meal with my family.