Getting Down in Koreatown at Wako Donkasu:

I met Alex and Ross for lunch at a Japanese restaurant, Wako Donkasu, in Koreatown. This was my first time really getting to explore Koreatown and I think it is one of my favorite parts of Los Angeles. It the best part of the city to walk around, in a city that is not great to walk around.

Wako Donkasu is known for giving you a mortar full of sesame seeds and a pestle to grind them with. Then when your food arrives they pour a brown gravy on top of the seeds. It makes a sauce that is perfect for dipping in whatever variety of katsu you like.

The meal started with a cold barley tea. I have never had barley tea before but it was the closest thing to drinking butter I have ever tasted. Incredible. This lunch was almost worth it because of the tea.

I ordered a lunch combination that came with pork katsu, potato katsu, one shrimp katsu, soba noodles, some cabbage salad thing, pickled jalapenos, and what I think were pickled radish. I usually eat sushi or yakitori when I get Japanese, a full meal of only katsu was kind of new to me. That being said Wako Donkasu kind of blew my mind. All the katsu items were moist, cripsy, and the ideal vehicle for the sesame sauce. The crunchy cabbage slaw with it’s tart dressing was the perfect thing to alternate bites of katsu with.

I retardedly ate the soba with no sauce because I couldn’t find it on my tray. About half way through Ross found the sauce for my noodles. I dumped the sauce on the noodles and it went all over my tray. Basically I needed some soba lessons.

I can’t wait to go back to Wako Donkasu. Alex is two for two with the food recommendations. Everyone should get the chance to share a meal with Ross. He might be the funniest person I know. Everyone should also try Wako Donkasu when they are in Los Angeles.