Yaki Everything Please!

I love Japanese yaki food. Yaki a Japanese cookery in which they grill the item of food they intend to cook, and usually accompany by a layer of sauce.Yakisoba, takoyaki, taiyaki, okonomiyaki, chicken, salmon and beef teriyaki, mushroom yakitori and chicken yakitori are the only yaki food items I ever try, and I cannot imagine how many kind of Japanese yaki food are out there, perhaps everything!

A year ago, my friends and I were in LA and we were disappointed when one of the place we wanted to try, Yakitori Koshiji, was closed for lunch. With a tight schedule, we never were able to go back during that vacation. This year though, I got lucky. I was able to go with my other friends for dinner, and I could not wait. We arrived early and waited outside for it to open. Yup! Since I'm not in Japan for some street yakitori, I'm going to get them in a restaurant in LA instead!

Yakitori Koshiji
123 Onizuka St, #203, Los Angeles, CA

The restaurant was dark, with orangey glow. The grills and kitchen were located in the middle left corner of the restaurant, leaving all other rooms for tables. The kitchen was also open bar style, with stools for the customers who want to eat around the grill. Upon entering, I didn't really notice any kitchen or grease odor, assuming most grill or bbq places have that. Yay! That is a plus because as much as I love food, I hate smelling like grease!

The menu consists of a list of food item such as meats and vegetables. There were also combination dinner with yakitori items. The boys decided to order the combo dinner, whereas the girls order individual items on the menu.

We ordered a bunch of food and the orders were put and mix together in a couple plates, so to share.

Chicken with Green Onion and Meatballs - the chicken was not very tender but tasty, and the meatball tasted very homemade and good.

Marinated Beef and Miso Eggplants - The beef was a bit salty for me, so it is perfect to eat with rice. I am an eggplant fan, so I really enjoy the miso eggplant.

We tried to cover all type of food, from beef to chicken, now onto seafood!

Scallops and Onions - The picture is not really at scale. Even though the scallops look big, they really weren't. It was very tender and juicy though. I could totally taste the scallop.

Chicken Wings and Shrimps - The chicken wings were very tasty. The shrimps were also pretty good. You can never go wrong with grilled chicken wings and shrimps. 

Okay, there is one thing that I always wanted to try, but was never able to find, and that is Yakionigiri. Guess what? They have it! Oh yea, it's a yakitori shop, ha!

Yaki-Onigiri - Okay, when the waiter took this out, it smelled really, really, really good! It was very crispy on the outside, but so crispy that it stuck to your teeth when you chew on it. Like rice on the bottom of a clay pot.

So of all the dishes we tried at Yakitori Koshiji, my favorite has to be the Soboro Gohan Chicken Over Rice. It was not really grilled at all, but it is so, SO flavorful. The chicken and the rice were definitely a good combo. And since the chicken is grounded, it was very easy to eat. I could not stop stealing this bowl of rice from my boyfriend.