Memorial Day lunch - pizza with chopsticks

10 years ago

We just got back from Tucson late yesterday and decided to have a day of rest today. Also, since we only had on restaurant meal in Tucson the four days we were there, we decided to go out for lunch, after buying some hiking supplies at Adventure 16 that we realized we needed on our hiking excursions in AZ.

Adventure 16 is very close to Sawtelle, and so we went up Sawtelle to find a Japanese restaurant for lunch and ended up at Gottsui, a fairly new (opened 2011) restaurant in a strip mall just off Olympic Blvd. They advertised as having Japanese pizza (Okonomiyaki), and so I ordered the one with spicy Kobe beef. We also had chicken gyoza for appetizer, and Kevin had Yakisoba with mushrooms, which is also a very familiar dish. Neither of our dishes is on their old web site, but similar ones are. Everything was served on searing hot cast iron (including the gyoza), and they had little stainless steel pizza paddles to cut and serve portions, which we ate with chopsticks.

I could not discern a crust on my pizza, other than perhaps a sheet of phyllo dough, and on top of that was a layer of shredded cabbage that barely even tasted like cabbage at first, but it was very good. The top of my pizza was covered with a layer of bonito flakes, which Kevin eyed enviously, but his dish was good also, although he finished it before I could taste it. My pizza also had what tasted like Japanese curry sauce on it, as well as beef, garlic, and I'm not sure what else. I liked the way the food stayed hot on the cast iron serving dishes.

The food was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and I will want to go back soon and am very happy we found it, although we came upon it serendipitously. Afterwards, we went across the street to a Japanese grocery and bought sushi and sashimi for dinner, so that we did not cook at all for Memorial Day!

Anyone else break tradition and not cook today?

Lars

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Comments (6)

annie1992
10 years ago
Lars, that sound like a very interesting lunch, far more interesting than the grilled chicken we had here!

Annie
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
Lars, sounds like you had a wonderful Memorial Day meal. There is no rule that says you must BBQ/grill.

Thanks also for the write up on Gottsui. That's the kind of restaurant I would like to tryout.

I will be in LA a few times this year. For sure I will be visiting Gottsui. It is not far from Sony Pictures. I will go with my friend who works there.

dcarch
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compumom
10 years ago
Gottsui sounds interesting, I'll recommend it to my DH! How long were you in Tucson? We were just there a couple of weeks ago!
Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is an Okonomiyaki recipe very similar to what I had, and it is essentially a Japanese cabbage pancake! I'm going to try to make this myself - it was extremely tasty and I think it healthy also. I saw Nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam) at the market across the street from the restaurant and almost bought some, but now I know how to use it.

Ellen, I was thinking of you when I was at the restaurant - I'm sure your DH would love it - it's on the west side of Sawtelle in the mini-mall that runs north from Olympic to Mississippi. It's easy to enter from Mississippi. Unfortunately, it is not a good restaurant for groups, as seating is limited and tables are small. There are several interesting restaurants in that mini-mall, including a Japanese beef restaurant, Korean tofu restaurant, and several others that I can't remember at the moment, but there was a Hurry Curry and another Korean restaurant specializing in soups, I think.

Kevin and I were in Tucson from Thurs May 23 through Sunday May 26, and we went to the Desert Museum on the day we left. We both bought very nice pottery at the gift shop, and I will post photos of those some time this week.

Dcarch, if you are interested in meeting the L.A. group, we could possibly get a gathering together.

Annie, grilled chicken sounds good, and we'll be having this probably this week-end, now that we have more time to prepare for it. Monday we just wanted to relax and do some shopping.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Mini-mall map
compumom
10 years ago
Of course, I know exactly where that's located. I'll tell him to drop by soon!
We LOVED the gift shop at the Desert Museum. Their selection of Indian pottery was outstanding! The piece we loved was very costly, needless to say, it didn't come home with us!
Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
Ellen, I was able to find some pottery made by someone from the same tribe as the one in southern Arizona, but he was in Mexico, and his pots cost about one-fourth of what the American made ones cost, and it turned out that I liked his best. I'll try to photograph them - they are solid black with polished and matte patterns that may be difficult to photograph. We also bought rings to hold them, but I plan to get some black sand to put in the bottom of the pots to make them more stable. I can't really glue them to the furniture with museum gel like I did with some other objects. Some of the pottery was very expensive but still less than half of what they cost in some of the galleries in Tuscon, but similar to what I've seen them on eBay.

Lars

Memorial Day lunch - pizza with chopsticks

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annie1992

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

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Memorial Day lunch - pizza with chopsticks

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annie1992

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

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