Nestled amongst several restaurants on Melrose, just west of La Brea, Kazuyo, which means “all together” in Filipino, was quite a pleasant surprise. Parking is a little tricky because all the neighborhood areas are for residents only (be careful because parking tickets are $55 – we found out the hard way!) If you cant find metered street parking on Melrose (good luck) you will end up having to valet for $5. First off, we were seated on this large 8-top table on their outdoor patio in the front of the restaurant – great for large groups as it seems like you have your own private space. Watch out for the crazies walking by on Melrose though! We had one of them lean over the glass to yell all aggressively at us – luckily he kept walking by. Our waitress, Tracy, along with the co-owner Angie treated us like royalty, as did Chef Joe. We ended up eating A LOT of food…I suppose that is a good testament as to how good the food was. We could really use Kris this time to help pack it away!
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What We Ordered
- Bonzai Roll (compliments of the chef)
- Spicy Tuna Crunch Roll
- Seaweed Salad
- Garlic Albacore Sashimi
- Popcorn Lobster (YUM!)
- Hollywood Roll (Outstanding!)
- Spicy Tuna Biscuit
- Dragon Roll – nice presentation with eyes!
- Monkey Balls
- Japanese Pizza – spicy! (recommended by Tracy, our server)
- Kazuyo Roll (house compliments)
- Yellowtail & Salmon Sushi
- Black Cod – with Mashed Potatoes!!!
- Banana Wonton (house compliments)
- Crowned Green Apple Ice Cream (house compliments)
- Mochi Ice Cream
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Our Favorites
Spicy Tuna Biscuit
We actually get this at nearly every restaurant we go to although it often has slightly different names. We all agreed that there was something that made this particular version of it especially tasty. Plus, I am not a huge spicy tuna fan, and even ‘I’ could tell this one was actually quite excellent. For that, it gets a special shout out: “yum!”
Popcorn Lobster
YUM YUM YUM! Imagine small spicy crunchy pieces of lobster on top of what I believe is a California Roll. It really didn’t matter what kind of roll it was cause it was so super yummy though. Just the right amount of crunch, just the right amount of spice, just the right amount of roll.
Bonzai Roll – thanks Chef Joe!
Pretty much as soon as we all arrived 2 orders of Kazuyo’s special Bonzai Roll showed up. We figured the chef wanted to get us set up on the right foot for our evening with him. It was warm and delicious. Obviously we just ate what was put in front of us, but after it was on our mouths, were were asking “wow! what was that?”
Kazuyo Roll
This is an original roll that was designed with love by the owners, Angie and Joe. It consists of shrimp and softshell crab to represent each of their favorite items. It is a rice-less roll so it is filled with all sorts of goodies, was delivered with a beautiful presentation and its own special dipping sauce.
Both Desserts – Thanks Angie!
Both the Banana Wonton and the Crowned Green Apple Ice Cream were nothing short of awesome. I think we were more taken back by the banana one though. I mean warm baked apple with ice cream on top…of course it’s great. But the banana wonton, we didn’t know what to expect. We did all agree though (including Angie, the owner) that it would be slightly better with ice cream – so make sure to ask for that when you order it…them them its a Sushi Club special recommendation!
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Sushi Gallery
(click image to zoom)
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- Bonzai Roll
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- Seaweed Salad
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- Individual Wasabi & Ginger
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- Japanese Pizza
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- Garlic Albacore Sashimi
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- Hollywood Roll
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- Popcorn Lobster
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- Spicy Tuna Crunch Roll
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- Spicy Tuna Biscuit
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- Monkey Balls
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- Baked Black Cod
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- Yellowtail Sushi
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- Dragon Roll
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- Kazuya Roll
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- Banana Wonton
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- Skip
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- Sushi Club
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- Lovely Ladies
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- Enjoying Dinner
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- With Server Tracy
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- Signage
Points of Interest
Patio for Large Group
Except for the random ‘crazy’ walking by outside and all the street noise, the large 8+ person table on the front patio made this my favorite atmosphere for sushi sharing so far. It was light bright and like having a private dining room. Because it was more of square table than a long one, it made socializing and sharing much easier. Even on my venture inside, I noticed that the back of the restaurant had a curtain that probably allows for private parties. Kazuyo is good food and good for groups.
Extremely Friendly and Gracious
Not only was our server Tracey nice but the co-owner, Angie was also coming by to check on us and talk to us. She told us about her husband, Chef Joe and kept bringing up complimentary dishes she wanted us to try for one reason or another. Also special thanks to our runner Skip for grabbing us some much needed soy sauce in our moment of need!
Dish Presentation
Honestly, I didn’t even notice until looking at all the dishes side-by-side on our photos, but the visual presentation of every dish was just beautiful. Many of them you don’t even notice except for the birds-eye view. Most impressive was our Dragon roll that was amazing with eyes made of octopus tentacles! It reminds me of the impressive dragon roll that we ordered at Sushi Fukyu that was laid out on a ring of fire.
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Summary
Date: June 18, 2009
Restaurant: Kazuyo in Los Angeles (Melrose & La Brea)
Desserts: Banana Wonton, Crowned Green Apple Ice Cream, Mochi Ice Cream!
In Attendance: All Founding Members (except for Kris) plus special guests: Ted & Leah
Price: $$ – Actually a great sushi price for all the food we got. Keep in mind we did get some complimentary dishes AND we had a $50 coupon. Meal cost was $35 pp. (with 20% tip)
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SPECIAL NOTE: We got our $50 certificate from www.restaurant.com. If you’re not familiar, you need to get with the program…literally!
1 Comment
July 8, 2009 at 11:32 pm
[...] Wasabi wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptNestled amongst several restaurants on Melrose, just west of La Brea, Kazuyo, which means “all together” in Filipino, was quite a pleasant surprise. Parking is a little tricky because all the neighborhood areas are for residents only … [...]