Ninja Tacos and the Death Taco from Genkiyaki in Lakewood Get Us All Fired Up!

Late last night I decided to take a quick break from editing Bite Me TV's latest Field Trippin' episode and figured I'd check in on Facebook.  I saw that a friend of mine had posted that he was craving some Korean BBQ, and one of the responses recommended he try Ninja Tacos in Lakewood.

Ninja Tacos in Lakewood?!?!?  (insert screeching tires sound effect here)  You KNOW I had to check that out!

So I did a quick Bing search and found that this little Teriyaki joint in a corner strip mall next to the tux shop where I rented my senior prom tuxedo has been making a name for itself with their $1 Ninja Tacos and their weapon of mass destruction...the Death Taco. A mere 12 hours later, Joel and I were rolling down the road to have ourselves a taste.

Genkiyaki is the name of the place, and it's located on the corner of Del Amo Blvd. and Bellflower Blvd. It's a very casual plate lunch joint with a few tables for eating in and, by the looks of it, a healthy take-out business. The interior is pretty plain, although I took an instant liking to the ninja dude painted on the wall.

Genkiyaki offers a fairly usual array of Teriyaki bowls and plates, and from what I've read they do a better than average job on their plate lunches. I'll have to go back to try one of those out as we were there today strictly for the tacos.

Now you have to understand that Joel has a bulletproof mouth, a lead-lined stomach and balls of steel, while I am a normal mortal without the necessary deflector shields to withstand insanely spicy food. Joel, therefore, was the man to step up to the plate and order himself a Death Taco (as well as 5 Ninja Tacos). I ordered up 3 Ninja Tacos, and ended up going back up to the counter to order 2 more.

Genkiyaki's Ninja Taco is a good quality street-style taco with a twist. A small corn tortilla is filled with a mixture of grilled chicken and ribeye as well as onion and cilantro, and then topped with Genkiyaki's special Ninja sauce. Without the sauce, Genkiyaki's taco is a good, standard street taco. With the sauce, their taco is something special. The Ninja sauce is a spicy sweet sauce that tastes like they sat down one night with some Teriyaki sauce and a bunch of difference chile peppers and spicy sauces and started experimenting until they found a magic combination. Kogi BBQ started the Asian/Mexican taco trend, and while comparisons are inevitable, Genkiyaki’s Ninja Taco doesn’t taste like a Kogi copy. The Ninja Taco is it’s own animal, and for a dollar each you just can’t go wrong.

The Death Taco is a Ninja Taco with the sauce kicked up to maximum power, and it’s also $1 each. That’s Joel’s Death Taco in front of a bunch of Ninja Tacos in the photo above. We couldn’t pry the secret recipe from anyone behind the counter, but it sounds like they add ghost chile (the hottest chile on planet Earth) to their Ninja sauce to turn it into a fiery inferno. Now, I read last night how various customers who have tried the Death Taco have cried, whimpered and even thrown up, and we were able to confirm that, yes, customers have actually found the Death Taco so spicy hot that they have indeed thrown up in agony on the sidewalk outside.

Joel, like the mighty warrior that he is, was not worried at all and faced the Death Taco with a straight face and no fear. And...for the first time, I saw him sweat, sniffle and have to reach repeatedly for the young coconut milk that he ordered with his tacos. There was no sobbing or shrieking in agony (which impressed the staff), but Joel did have blurred vision and a lack of hearing for about 20 minutes. (Uhhh, just kidding…) Yup, the Death Taco proved to be Joel’s match, though I have the feeling that he’ll be back for more.

Word of advice: If you are brave enough to try the Death Taco, do not order a soda to cool your mouth. Water won’t be very effective either. Milk is your best bet. Or bring an iced coffee with milk with you, as that will do the trick.

Genkiyaki is located at 5526 Del Amo Blvd. in Lakewood.

Cheers!
Druu

Curry House Special - Katsu Curry Rice Plate for $5.99

Curry House's most anticipated promo deal is back!  From today through Thursday, they are serving their Katsu Curry Rice plate for $5.99 during both lunch and dinner hours.  All locations, except for their San Diego restaurant and their take-out-only locations, are offering the deal.

Curry House Gardena

Got a hankering for some Japanese Curry? Well, Curry House is the place to go. I've been coming here for years, and always leave having a great experience. Japanese is not all sushi and teriyaki, it's a little Indian, American, German and Italian, all with their own twist. Curry House gives their own interpretation of Indian and Italian . The staff is friendly and the place is clean and bright and also kid friendly. The food is amazing and their prices are reasonable with generous portions. I went with the wife and kiddos to the Gardena location and their kids' plates come with toys.

My wife and I had the Dry Curry which was similar to the Keema Curry, another Curry House Favorite.



I ordered it with a fabulous house salad.



She ordered her's with a awesome corn chowder.



The kiddos had the Chicken Teriyaki.


Food is $10-15 and there are monthly discounts and specials. Sign up for coupons at their website: http://www.house-foods.com/CurryHouse. They're all over SOCAL, so check out a location near you.

BITE ME! the MAN Cooking Show - Shabu-Shabu

BITE ME! the MAN cooking show
Episode 205 - Shabu-Shabu

The Japanese dish shabu-shabu might possibly be the world's perfect date food. Why? Not only is it light, healthy and delicious, but you cook it together with your date right at the table. She'll think it's crazy romantic and the next thing you know your clothes will be all over the floor.

In this episode, Josh Landis shows you how to set up and serve this secret weapon right in your own dining room. Here are the written recipe instructions.


Shabu-Shabu

1 pound shabu-shabu beef (Find it in the meat section of your local Asian market or have your butcher slice ribeye or top sirloin paper thin)
1 small head of napa cabbage
4 green onions
1 package of enoki mushrooms
1 bunch of chrysanthemum leaves (optional)
1 package firm or medium firm tofu
1 package udon noodles
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)
1 bottle of pon shabu sauce (ponzu dipping sauce)
1 bottle of goma shabu sauce (sesame dipping sauce)
2 cups of white rice (preferably calrose)

Place portable burner in the middle of your table, or where you and your date can both reach it, and start a pot of water boiling. If you don't have a portable electric burner you can use your stove, but the whole cooking-together-date thing works way better with a portable burner at the table. You can get one for about $20 at your local discount store. Cook the rice. (For rice cooking instructions, see BITE ME! the MAN Cooking Show, episode 102.)

Peel off some napa cabbage leaves and cut them into 3-4 pieces each. You want each piece to be a little larger than bite-sized. Cut off the end of each green onion, then cut each one into finger-sized pieces. Cut off the dirty ends of the enoki mushrooms. Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes. Place all of your vegetables, plus the tofu and udon noodles, on a plate or plates next to your pot of boiling water. Pour the two shabu-shabu dipping sauces into small bowls for each of you. Finely chopped garlic goes great with the ponzu sauce, but if you're cooking for a date you might want to pass on it.  Once the rice is prepared, fill a bowl with rice for each of you.

To cook and serve, place pieces of vegetables and beef into the boiling water. Cook each bite as you go. The beef only takes about 15 seconds, while the vegetables, noodles and tofu take a few seconds longer. Once cooked, dip the pieces in either of your dipping sauces and eat with rice.

Going Light and Healthy with Shabu-Shabu at Shin-Sen-Gumi in Gardena

For a light, healthy and delicious meal it's pretty hard to beat shabu-shabu.  You cook it yourself, it's quick and easy, it tastes awesome and it never weighs you down.  Shin-Sen-Gumi in Gardena is a favorite lunch stop for Joel and me, and Friday was feeling like a shabu-shabu day.

One key to Shin-Sen-Gumi is to go at lunchtime.  Ok, dinner there allows you to kick back and have a few Sapporo's or Kirin's with your meal, but going for lunch will generally save you a good amount of cash.  The food is the same, but the dinner portions are a little bigger and far more expensive.  The large beef is my standard order.  A plate of paper thin beef, another plate of cut veggies, udon and tofu, a cup of rice and the standard two dipping sauces and I'm ready to rock 'n roll.  There's bar seating as well as table seating.

Shin-Sen-Gumi is having a special during the month of June.  They are offering their Japanese style hibachi BBQ dishes for $3.00 each Monday through Thursday, 6-9pm.  Also, they offer their shabu-shabu at 50% off for lunch on the 29th of each month.  The Shin-Sen-Gumi Group actually runs a total of ten restaurants, nine in Southern California and one in Tokyo.  Some specialize in ramen, others yakitori or shabu-shabu.

Another thing to consider is shabu-shabu at home.  Again, it's not only delicious and healthy but it's also great date food as you sit together cooking and eating.  We've just finished a new BITE ME! the MAN Cooking Show that features Josh Landis demonstrating how to prepare shabu-shabu at home, and we'll have the episode released tomorrow.  We'll post the episode to the blog as soon as it has been unleashed.

Cheers!
Druu

Sushi and More at Hashigo in Fullerton

I've walked and driven by Hashigo in Fullerton a bazillion times since they opened, and finally went in to check the place out and taste what they've got.  It's a hipster lounge/restaurant/sushi bar in a town center at the foot of the Sunny Hills area of Fullerton.  Considering that space is fairly small, Hashigo is laid out very nicely and doesn't feel crowded inside.

Upon entering, you can select which part of the restaurant you'd like to sit in.  The menu is the same whether you pick the laid back lounge area, the more standard restaurant area or the sushi bar.  My wife and I decided the lounge was the place to hang, and it was a nice change from your standard restaurant seating.  We basically each had our own couch with a table between us.

Now, the best time to visit Hashigo is probably during happy hour, which is 5:30-7pm each evening.  Unfortunately, we just missed it by about 20 minutes.  $2.95 hand rolls, $5-6 appetizers like stuffed shiitake mushrooms, Kogi-style kalbi tacos, spicy tuna tartare, 50% off well drinks...yup, that's the time to go.

Ok, so happy hour was out of the question.  No problem, though, as they had some interesting items on their regular menu.

Their miso shishito peppers were delicious.  Shishito peppers look sorta like skinny jalapenos.  They're not very spicy (though every once in a while you might find one with a kick) and the miso sauce they're grilled in makes for a very pleasant taste mix of sweet and mildly spicy.  Those are bonito shavings you see sprinkled on top.

Their take on Hawaiian-style poke is more delicate than most.  The fish isn't overpowered by the sesame flavor.  Very nice...and they didn't only use tuna.  There was also salmon and some kind of white fish.

It's hard to resist mochi ice cream for dessert (green tea, strawberry and mango).  I just love that stuff, and while I can find it pretty easily in the freezer sections of every Asian market around, I had no problem paying a little extra for a groovy presentation in the cool lounge setting.

Hashigo actually has three locations, sushi bars in both Fullerton and Huntington Beach and a Korean restaurant in Costa Mesa.  Find them on the web here.

Next time, we're going back for happy hour!

Kampai!
Druu