Food isn’t just something I consume. I enjoy breathing in a dish’s aromas. Savoring each bite and decoding ingredients. Capturing an eye-pleasing arrangement with my camera. The latter, especially,  is what makes this post about the new Uptown Little Tokyo (aka Little Tokyo Small Plates & Noodle Bar) of exceptional length.

My adorably awesome friend Dorothy [...]]]>

Food isn’t just something I consume. I enjoy breathing in a dish’s aromas. Savoring each bite and decoding ingredients. Capturing an eye-pleasing arrangement with my camera. The latter, especially,  is what makes this post about the new Uptown Little Tokyo (aka Little Tokyo Small Plates & Noodle Bar) of exceptional length.

My adorably awesome friend Dorothy told me to come see her at her weekend gig, the new Little Tokyo on South Carrollton. Not wanting to pass on the opportunity to see Dorothy or miss out on delicious food, we aimed to catch lunch, but just missed it (and Dorothy’s shift), so we opted for dinner. Oh, darn. Now, for those who are looking for weekend lunches, they offer the menu until 4 pm even on the weekends.

Upon entering the restaurant, you can tell that this location caters to the “UniversityPlus” crowd. (That’s my lingo for the 20-something to 30-something demographic.) The music has been lively, the staff youthful and menu offerings different from the other Little Tokyo restaurants. More fun, perhaps? Yes, definitely.

Our server suggested my husband try the Ramune Soda, a carbonated Japanese beverage that isn’t for people with weak thumbs.

Only with the plastic tool that accompanies the soda are you able to enjoy the soda. The refreshing and bubbly beverage is only attainable after you (or your significant other/dining companion with stronger thumbs) depress the marble into the neck of the bottle. With great force and furious anger, you will be sipping on your soda in no time. My husband describes the flavor of Ramune as Crystal Pepsi meets bubble gum.

As much as I love fries, I would pass up a platter to dive into these tempura green beans and sweet potato fries. Both are served with a wasabi ranch dip, but it has just a slight bite, so even the kiddos can partake.

One thing you might not know about me is that I believe there is no such thing as the weather being too hot for a bowl of soup. If there are seemingly edible items floating in a savory broth, chances are I’m going to eat it and not ask too many questions. I was actually excited to learn that they serve ramen bowls. Have you ever met anyone that gets excited by soup?

You can customize your ramen to your liking. At this visit, I opted for the miso base and added chashu pork and hard boiled egg. At other visits, I’ve added extra green onions, which I think I prefer to the extra sprouts. I’ve tasted the mild and “little bit spicy” heat levels, but one day I’m going to be brave enough to order my ramen “gonna spit fire” spicy. Yes, that’s how the menu describes it.

For those wondering, the little white hard boiled egg white-looking sliver with the pink swirl is naruto kamaboko, a type of processed fishcake. It’s made from bits of white fish species, sort of like crab sticks. That is also a type of kamaboko.

Hard Boiled Egg = Crazy Delicious

Noodle Surprise!

In addition to my selections, my husband ordered the gyoza and chicken yakitori. Unbeknownst to me, gyoza is a popular accompaniment to ramen. I didn’t try any of the dumplings, so I can’t say much more than how appetizing they looked. I wasn’t blown away by the chicken yakitori, but I rarely order chicken when dining out. Even prepared perfectly, it’s still just chicken.

It’s virtually impossible to take my son to a Japanese restaurant and have him not order sushi. His favorites, which are done well here at Little Tokyo, are the fresh salmon roll and tuna roll. It is my understanding that they do not currently offer sushi during lunch service, only dinner.

Even after gorging ourselves on all that food, we just had to share a dessert. We ordered the mango ice cream, which comes drizzled in chocolate syrup. I would have preferred it so much more without the topping, but my son loved it. I haven’t met a kid that has turned down chocolate syrup.

We’ve been back to Little Tokyo several times since they opened a month or so ago. Most recently we celebrated Nolan’s fifth birthday. Management allowed us to bring our own cake (the Berry Chantilly from Whole Foods) and the staff went out of their way to make the night special. I had my husband bring Nolan to the bathroom to wash up, and when he came out, we all had microphones and sang “Happy Birthday” to him, karaoke style.

Oh, yeah. You read correctly. They offer karaoke rooms, equipped with flat screen televisions, high-end sound system and comfortable seating. And this, my friends, is where the next NOLA Eats event will be. So, save the date: Saturday, July 3rd @ 8:00 pm – ’til. I’ve got the largest room reserved for a very unique and probably very embarrassing night of food, cherry sake bombs and karaoke. Feel free to state your interest here, as I will be rolling out the invite and RSVP list very soon.

I don’t get uptown very often, but I when I found out that Ninja on [...]]]>

As a non-vegetarian person, I have been witness to about a million eye-rolls from vegetarians whenever sushi is mentioned. Thanks to Daniele’s great post about one Japanese restaurant’s vegetarian menu, perhaps one day we can all dine in peace and harmony.

I don’t get uptown very often, but I when I found out that Ninja on Oak Street had a special vegetarian menu I knew I had to make a special trip to go check it out.

My boyfriend and I went there for a late dinner on Friday night. The friendly staff seated us promptly and handed us menus. I eagerly flipped through to find the vegetarian section… but it wasn’t there! Did they discontinue the special menu? Had I hallucinated the pages of vegetarian options that I saw on the website? I asked our server, who quickly brought over a copy of the vegetarian menu. I was relieved, but also perturbed. The only reason that I asked for a veggie menu was because I knew they had one. If I had just walked in off the street I would have thought Ninja was just another Japanese restaurant with a paltry amount of vegetarian options.

After we ordered, the sushi chef presented us with a little starter of cucumber salad in a mayonnaise sauce. I was about ¾ of the way done with it before I realized that the stupid thing had fish in it. Super. I thought about pitching a fit, but I am not really the fit-pitching type. And my tolerance for accidental meat contact has increased exponentially since I moved to New Orleans. Sad, but true.

Okay, so I wasn’t off to such a good start at Ninja. But things began looking up once the food came. I split a tempura appetizer with my dining companion and got two sushi rolls for myself: the shiitake and the tempura sweet potato. The shiitake roll was okay. As it turns out, I am not that big of a fan of rolls that have the Japanese mayo in them. The tempura sweet potato was great! Once I had it in front of me, I grew a little skeptical about how well sweet potato would work in the context of the rest of a sushi roll. You know: rice, seaweed, soy sauce, pickled ginger. As it turns out sweet potato goes amazingly well with these things. Who knew?!

Now that I have learned two important things about Ninja (ask for a veggie menu; don’t eat the cucumber salad) I think my next meal there will go much more smoothly than my first.