BEST EATS in JAPANTOWN & STREET TACOS in Los Angeles

Good morning, it's Mike Chen here in the 626. I'm actually on my way to Japantown right now in Los Angeles But you know Garfield has a nap attack I have a hunger attack and it's striking hard. Need a little food for the road and I found this place Noodle Art. Never been here before but it's a 25-minute drive and I need some food for the road So this is like Xi'an food. They got lamb noodles, Chinese pork burger, braised Chinese-style pasta I think this is gonna be a legitimate noodle spot. I can't believe I never found this before. They started in 1985. All locals here It's not breakfast time. It's not lunch time It's like that weird time in between. Still a lot of people here. Got a couple of things I haven't tried in a long long time. And yes, this is for real I'm gonna make a video about that later and before the food comes a big shout out and thank you to Raycon Earbuds for Sponsoring this video and continuing to support this channel I've been telling you guys why I love Raycon for a while now. First of all, blue, my favorite color, super compact It's got a really nice improved rubber oil look and feel. Doesn't fall out like my previous pair of earbuds that cost over twice As much and because my ears are super weirdly shaped, earbuds used to fall out all the time Whatever I do with these which is pretty much everything like running every day, working out at the gym, never slips out because it's got The optimized gel tip that gives you a perfect in-ear fit. These are the everyday earbuds that pair seamlessly It's got 8 hours of playtime and 32 hours of battery life Also, built-in mic so you can take calls with a push of a button And if you don't know, Raycon was co-founded by Ray J and they wanted to create innovative earbud designs that don't break the bank And these are definitely it. Blues not your thing They come with a range of different varieties of colors Plus what I really like about these, you can try these out for 45 days Don't like it for whatever reason, get your money back. Raycon starts about half the price of other premium earbud brands They sound just as good as other top audio brands So if you are looking for a new pair of earbuds, go to my link down below Which is go to buyraycon.com slash Mikey Chen. You're gonna get 15% off your Raycon order Think my food is coming. Mmm, this is delicious This flavor is about as authentic as it comes The pork is juicy, the bun is perfection. Toasty outside, soft inside. Check out the two dishes I got These are not typical dishes that we usually get. This is chow chow, handmade stir-fry noodles They cook it like a like a barbecue meat So you get all that roasted cumin flavor with chilies and peppers and this is really something I've never gotten before This is mash. They're squished out by hand So handmade little noodles and it's usually in soup with veggies and meat and I haven't seen this in such a long time Wow, this is good. Oh, that's so spicy and cumin-y Mmm, and the noodles are so chewy and elastic Mmm, oh my gosh, it's good It's supposed to be kind of like a noodle soup, a really comforting noodle soup It's pretty much a dish where you just throw whatever ingredients you have in here and we usually eat it into winter So it just warms us up But since here in Los Angeles, you guys really don't have a winter Just eat it whenever. Oh Yeah, I gotta come back and try more dishes. This place is awesome. I gotta hurry to Japantown. First restaurant is about to open I'm here in West Los Angeles in the area known as South Town Japantown This place is one of only four Japantowns in the United States not to be confused with Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles I haven't really explored this area before but it's one mile of just Japanese shops, grocery stores And of course tons and tons of amazing food I'm actually so excited about this because I've been to Little Tokyo in LA I've been to Japantown in San Francisco, but just walking around here I can tell there's just so much to eat. Let's get started First up at this restaurant called Chinshi Corn. This place is known for Okonomiyaki. Love it when I wake up to a sunrise in my bowl. Scallions, sesame, pork belly Mushrooms and the glorious glorious glorious egg Okonomiyaki just got here. So I gotta hurry up and eat this soba Oh my goodness coming coming here from the Okonomiyaki, but do not skimp out on the soba noodles The chewiest of noodles gently covered with that silky creamy egg providing such a velvety surface before you start munching onto the noodles and these noodles are extraordinary. Pork belly Toasty and delicious, but nothing Beats a slurp of that. Accented by some delicious green onion and sesame. Oh, this is so good I mean this is a start on its own But yeah, definitely get this for an appetizer You can't come here without getting okonomiyaki and you shouldn't come here without trying this. Okonomiyaki If you don't know, such an amazing street food in Japan I think the top layer is a crispy layer of eggs with soba noodle inside, some strands of chili, a layer of beef Cabbage, I think some jalapeno in here as well for the heat This is so good. A layer of eggs over toasty soba noodles, green onions on top The worcester sauce is so smoky and spicy Absolutely must try when you come here. I think there's also sriracha on top of the okonomiyaki as well I love how they made the top layer of noodles so incredibly crispy. Any chance I get to have okonomiyaki I don't miss out on it And sometimes it's not the best okonomiyaki. This is amazing okonomiyaki. It's like that word okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki Mmm, okonomiyaki So everybody was waiting for a tatsu ramen, but I already got a ramen place I want to go to so I'm gonna skip out on that Taking a break from noodles to eat some fried chicken and Japanese chicken Have you ever had it, karaage? One of my favorite things to eat in Japan Oh, this looks good. Tender pieces of chicken crispy on the outside I could already tell how juicy this is without even taking a bite yet I got two different types of dipping sauce. One is sriracha. One is yuzu I know most chickens can't fly but this thing That tastes fly for sure. I mean first of all, the chicken is so incredibly light just a thin outer shell of breading It's just ridiculously crunchy and when I'm biting out the juice from the chicken just bursting with every single bite I take Hmm the ponzu has a nice citrusy kick I think it has a perfect match with this chicken little kick of citrus with that juicy chicken What's great is that they're little bite sizes so you can just kind of Pop it in your mouth. Just let all that delicious juice flow. Oh, that was a good chicken break. All right back to more noodles To me a Japanese food day experience is not complete until you get some soba and some ramen in here. This place, Kasoba It's supposed to be awesome. Oh my gosh Osaka bowl topped with signature sukiyaki beef over rice. Gotta get that. Also, I don't know about you guys When I'm at a soba place, I want a cold soba. Cold soba, the texture of the noodle I feel like it's so much better and then dipping noodles and things. I feel like it's always a little much more fun Mm-hmm got a rice ball and it has this fatty sukiyaki beef. Wow, it's like I kissed a lip balm So there's two types of meat on this bowl and this is a half water still gives you a lot So sukiyaki beef is a little sweet Really really fatty and the other side is this minced meat and you see all the sauce and juice from the meat Soaking into the rice. Look at this So the ground meat is spicy and the sukiyaki beef is sweet Then you got the juice from both leaking into the rice This is basically like a sukiyaki ground beef gyoza. I love gyoza. And look at the juice soaking all the way to the bottom of the rice And that thing of course, it's a little fattier and greasier than a soba so it's perfect transition from something fatty To something utterly refreshing. These are thicker soba noodles than I'm used to But thicker noodles usually means a better chew and the texture of these are fantastic Also, I love about all these restaurants almost every single place has outdoor dining so you're just sitting outside the temperature is absolutely perfect So whether you're having okonomiyaki slurping on some noodles, whatever you're doing, it just feels so good doing it Oh, the sami sami place is really taking over the world like everywhere So this is an interesting burger place black sheep burgers really interested in this the katsu California roll burger Wow, look at how high this is And look at this from that almost perfect bun to a stack of Avocados and crab meat to the burger patty on the bottom some cucumbers sprouts Tomatoes, actually, I should have got a knife and fork to cut this apart But I think if I do cut this apart this thing will just fall apart Do yourself a favor comes your pan town. Get yourself some soba some ramen, whatever you want Make sure to save room for this Wow, this is a good burger crab meat brings a tiny bit of sweetness to this perfectly charred beef patty Everything about this is amazing all the way from a toasty buttery bronze that literally melts in your mouth the beef patty and every single Supporting cast character in this multi-layered skyscraper of a burger. I'm sad to report. It has been an accident I was holding on to the burger and strong gust of wind blew the top off So unfortunately, the burger skyscraper has sustained massive amounts of damage. Oh, I feel so bad. That's so good That's so good. Never let go of your food ever wonder what the sauce is We're not your sauce. It's not even more like you're eating a sushi roll and a burger all together Thank you This is Christine's favorite place in the world, so it's a crepe with a creme brulee on top. How do you eat this? Is bite it this is so pretty it's life-changing really it's got a soft crepe on the outside custard inside and beautifully topped caramelized top So good well, well, I've changed why I met you but This is also life-changing Wow Get to the bottom there's more stuff. There's more surprises Mmm, oh, this is so good because the crepe is so soft It just highlights how crunchy that top caramelized sugary layer is custard so creamy and soft Oh, I got this just in time. Now. This place got a huge line Mmm, what'd you say was in here? Well, we have struck strawberry. I don't see the custard itself. It's already so good Mmm, I have struck Corn flake I was kind of hoping like my business is something crunchy that it was another layer of creme brulee down there Oh, wouldn't that be awesome? They make multi-layer creme brulee in this That's so good. The crepe is delicious. The custard is delicious. Everything about this is so good I'm not even done with the first one I already want a second one and this whole street is getting really busy, too I'm trying to come here early in a day on a weekday So it wouldn't be so busy because last time I came here on a weekend every restaurant pretty much had a line So if you do want to come to Japantown, I recommend come here on a weekday and get here early and get this Unfortunately, I gotta cut my Japantown trip short. I ate a lot of stuff that I wanted to try checking out of the hotel today So I gotta go back and move all of our stuff to our new Airbnb and then gonna figure out what to do for dinner but definitely recommend Sawtelle Japantown and Definitely recommend you come hungry New Airbnb for the next couple of days. This is my first time staying in a B&B around LA. Nice kitchen Living room This is why I really need the Airbnb right now. Did not bring enough clothes. Well, this place is pretty nice All right laundry and some tacos. Oh so happy this place is open. Ooh What's up Hola, this looks amazing Set up everything on a hood of the car Anyway, for some reason on Monday, so many taco stands are closed. Luckily. We found this one. That's still open. Everything looks great This is good, this is al pastor, oh my god, this is seasoned so well. Also great thing about this a dollar a taco So happy so happy so happy. Oh, that's chorizo That chorizo is spicy Loving everything I tried so far. Mmm, what a good little place. The rest of these tacos are kind of mixed together I have no idea what's what so crispy bits of liver So today going to Japantown then come here for some street tacos really a food journey You can only experience here in Los Angeles And if you've never been to Los Angeles before highly highly highly recommend the places I went to today All right, I gotta go get another horchata, but it's always all the places I went to listed down below for you guys Thank you all so much for watching until we eat again