Iroha Sushi of Tokyo
12953 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
818.990.9559
If there is any place I hate more than a place that requires a plane ride, it’s The Valley – the San Fernando Valley, also colloquially known as SFV to those who TLA-ize, and also hatefully known as the Stupid Fuckin’ Valley to me. I hate it. If hate is too strong of a word, how about I say that I really, really, really don’t like the detestable Valley to the point that I abhor it and will use the thesaurus like a weapon to defend my poor vocabulation. I’m sorry. If you live in the Valley, please don’t be offended. I don’t hate you. I just hate the sweltering, smog-smothered place that you have ignorantly taken up residence in order to save a few dollars on rent that you end up spending in deficit on astronomically priced gasoline to get “over the hill” because you only live there, you would never actually hang out there.
Hey, it’s just your home; it’s not like I’m making fun of your mother.
Despite how much I aych-ay-tee-ee The Valley, I find myself there every once in a while. Sometimes it has to do with food.
tokyo in studio city
*pause*
(Just waiting for you to finish laughing).
Yes, let’s be real here. Food in The Valley? I can hardly walk myself to the Cheesecake Factory in my own backyard, let alone drive all the way to what feels like central California for the same sort of oversized chain restaurants in different makeup all lined up along Ventura Boulevard. Right. However, I was quite surprised by dinner at Iroha Sushi of Tokyo.
(Incidentally, the other reason why I may find myself in The Valley has something to do with being blinded by lust, but I will just keep that part to myself.)
Iroha’s façade looks something like a samurai fortress. Granted, I have never seen a real samurai fortress, but I have seen Shogun! Iroha has the same look with dark, rustic wood and the sign that looks like a strange cross between animé and calligraphy. Though samurai fortresses have a strong silence about them, there is nothing quiet about the din created by a dining clientele made up primarily of young non-Asian people in trendy clothes and wearing sunglasses. At night. That's not judgment, just an observation. When making our way through the open-air courtyard in the front of the restaurant, we had to negotiate several precarious situations that involved first dates, second dates, tables that were too close together, and our asses.
We squeezed into a spot at the sushi bar, which is up againt the back wall of the inner dining area. Iroha has a regular sushi menu, but it seems that most of what the customers order are scrawled on boards on the walls behind the sushi chefs. As you know, I am not fond of “creativity” when it comes to sushi, and in my wide and deep and varied experience, I have more often found that dishes that are scrawled on boards on walls behind sushi bars are something to the effect of “Super Crunchy Vegas Rainbow of Fruity Godzilla Pebbles Mixed with Sriracha Swirl and Cherry on Top” rolls. However, I will on occasion scan the boards for special seasonal fish.
big mac(kerel)
at this point, spicy tuna is normal
Nothing on the board grabbed my attention. Hell, nothing even whispered at my attention. I silently surrendered, then relinquished all ordering to him, with the understanding that we could very well end up with an entire platter full of Cowboys and Oversized Lizards.
Normally, I don't order anything with unagi until the end of the meal because the accompanying sauce is always too thick and sweet to start. Our first roll, naturally, then, was uangi and cucumber topped with thick slices of avocado! There were no surprises, good nor bad. In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised by how tight the roll was.
Mackerel nigiri sushi, my one and only request, was a test, both for Iroha as well as for him. The sushi was well done with tightly shaped rice, clean, uniform slices of fish, and a simple garnish of some sort of seaweed that gave it a polished presentation. It tasted as beautifully fishy as mackerel should, though I was the tiniest bit aware of how large the slice of fish was as compared to the rice. Nonethless, Iroha passed. He, on the other hand, said he liked it, but looked like he didn't. That's a passing grade, though it's still a B-.
I didn't find the traces of spice on the cut edges of the spicy tuna roll too offensive. A spicy tuna roll is a spicy tuna roll. If the fish isn't rotting, I'll eat it. Then again, even if the fish isn't fresh, if there's enough spice, no one can really tell, can they?
big scary roll
The last roll was something of a problem. With a smattering of tiny scallops (which once caused an allergic reaction so severe that I hallucinated) and a corpulent mass of broiled mayonnaise that appeared to have collapsed onto the roll after some gruesome battle with a bottle of unagi sauce, it represented almost everything I hate about these types of rolls short of it being dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried. I honestly cannot remember the name of the roll, but if someone said "BAM FS Roll, i.e. Big Ass Mother Fucking Scary Roll," I wouldn't be surprised. It was so wrong in so many ways as sushi that I could do nothing but surrender completely, as if in some childish ignorance, and consume the monstrosity as simply "food." I didn't touch a scallop, and scraped off as much of the offending mayonnaise as I could before tasting.
It wasn't horrible.
I mean, I've had much worse. In The Valley.
Who Else was Dazed at Iroha:
~ 14 Yelpers give it 4½ stars out of 5
~ Citysearch's 15 reviewers all rate it a 5 out of 5
~ LA.com has seen Kirsten Dunst and Janet Jackson there
** a year ago today, i went to vip harbor seafood for dim sum because sesame balls are cheaper than gas **
** two years ago today: we ate at chosun galbee, captain's orders and i wrapped salmon around asparagus from westchester**
tags :: food : and drink : japanese : sushi : restaurants : reviews : los angeles
JF says
lol, SFV got pwn3d. l33t.
sa says
jf: you know, i never did know what l33t meant...
Anonymous says
I will never read your blog again after your comments about the Valley. See ya.
sarah says
anonymous: *kisskiss!* it was fun while it lasted!
foodette says
The first paragraph on the valley cracked me up. And, totally reinforced why I spend so much $$ to live in a dump in Brentwood. Thanks for validating my choices.
Ezra says
While I'm not thin skinned enough to stop reading after your Valley rant, I will say the whole, "Our air/temp/overcrowded/overpriced/snooty attitude/everything is so much better than anyone else, I wont even consider venturing out of the accursed Westside", placist attitude is really annoying. Though I have been know to piss people off myself by commenting that "If everything west of Beverly Glenn and south of Sunset cracked off and fell into the ocean, no one would miss it." At least living North of the Santa Monica Mountains doesn't seem to give any of us a sense of superiority over the rest of our overcrowded, overtaxed, unfriendly fellow city dwellers whatever their zip or area code. The food has been good for quite a while out here in the hot, dusty wilderness, but don't tell too many people because the last thing we need is a bunch of Westsiders lining up outside of our favorite eateries and looking at us with that well practiced "you don't even realize how much better I am than you" look that I see every time I'm over that way. I always tell people, "if you hate the Valley so much stay out of it, we wont even notice."
Ezra says
While I'm not thin skinned enough to stop reading after your Valley rant, I will say the whole, "Our air/temp/overcrowded/overpriced/snooty attitude/everything is so much better than anyone else, I wont even consider venturing out of the accursed Westside", placist attitude is really annoying. Though I have been know to piss people off myself by commenting that "If everything west of Beverly Glenn and south of Sunset cracked off and fell into the ocean, no one would miss it." At least living North of the Santa Monica Mountains doesn't seem to give any of us a sense of superiority over the rest of our overcrowded, overtaxed, unfriendly fellow city dwellers whatever their zip or area code. The food has been good for quite a while out here in the hot, dusty wilderness, but don't tell too many people because the last thing we need is a bunch of Westsiders lining up outside of our favorite eateries and looking at us with that well practiced "you don't even realize how much better I am than you" look that I see every time I'm over that way. I always tell people, "if you hate the Valley so much stay out of it, we wont even notice."
Anonymous says
Hating the Valley is so 2005 -- how about that President of ours?
sarah says
foodette: bwood? me too! i'm serious, we really should meet up!
ezra: i don't hate the valley because it's the valley and that i think the westside is better. i pretty much hate the valley because i am damned lazy and don't like to drive. anywhere ;)
anonymous no.2: oh dear. i can't get started on the president.
notice that almost NEVER do i ever talk about the president or other political nonsense here on the delicious life. i have to keep my opinions on THAT to myself, otherwise it would get ugly, and by ugly, i mean ugh-uh-lee.
Anonymous says
Ur a BITCH. Stay outta my fucking valley, bitch.
Food Marathon says
It seems that the valley is a more sensitive subject than politics, abortion and religion combined.
For a place that serves Uber Tuna Teriyaki Dynamo Burrito Rolls and the like, Iroha's not that bad- I mean it's no Sushi Dan.
Might there be a similarity between said 'exploshirolls' and the valley itself?: Vast, oozing suburbs, overflowing with a variety of mismatched ingredients, forced together to form an affordble, soul-less entity.
Ezra says
Oh, my mistake, I thought since you said, "I just hate the sweltering, smog-smothered place that you have ignorantly taken up residence in order to save a few dollars on rent that you end up spending in deficit on astronomically priced gasoline to get “over the hill” because you only live there, you would never actually hang out there." That meant you hated it once you were here, not just getting here.
BTW I can walk to a little coffee house called Aroma from here. It's quite a pleasant place to hang out and it's in the Valley, maybe you should check it out and then write about your impression of it in your blog, though that would involve travel to and hanging out in the Valley and saying something nice about it. I guess Coral Tea Cafe is way better in every way since it's in Brentwood.
Anonymous says
Great blog, but no need to be full of your "westside" self...good eats are everywhere and insulting a place where millions of people live just plain sucks.
hermz says
i !<3 teh \/a||33 2. sux0r.
sarah says
anonymous #3: wow. u called me a bitch! thank you! flattered!
food marathon: love "exploshirolls" - can i use that?!?!
ezra: been to aroma. it's adorable. but you know, a little far ;)
anonymous #4: true. maybe i should just stick to hating the hateful OC?
hermz: that's "suxx0r" to the professionals
shutthefuckup says
sarah -
you are a fucking dumbass. people dont live in the valley to save money on rent. people live in the valley because there is land. i mean, if you like looking over at your neighbors similarly decorated backyard on a postage-stamp-size lot with an oversized Mediterranean across the street, sure, try the west side.
if you really from LA, youll know that the valley is weak, but it has its roots - the old country roots. times when tom petty sang about, "Ventura Blvd" (Free Falling). How bout John Waynes estate with all the stables? There is at least history in the SFV other than celebrities, urth cafes, and persians like in the 310.
Anonymous says
The valley really is awful. So is the Westside.
Not a particularly good review, but I enjoy your feelings on the Valley, so my wife and I will give it a go tonight.
Anonymous says
Also, what kind of person has their comments run from oldest to newest.
Terrible.
Anonymous says
Also, what kind of person has their comments run from oldest to newest.
Terrible.
sarah says
shutthef*ckup: hi! i love you, too!
anonymous #5: the westside is awful?!?! ok, maybe a little, since there are places like Wilshire and uh, Holly's West...BUT. the westside also has sawtelle, on which lives my favorite sushi place, kiriko, and just down the road on pico, mori sushi.
Melissa says
I grew up on the westside and thought I totally hated the Valley too. But when it was time to buy, that's where we could afford so buy we did. Guess what, now I love the Valley and I never want to leave. When I have to head to the westside, I am overwhelmed by the horrible traffic and lack of parking. To each his own, I'm down with that. I really love your blog so I won't hold this post against you. I love iroha too. More sushi for my valley loving fat ass.
Anonymous says
Fuck you Bitch
Anonymous says
Fuck you Bitch