Ojiya Restaurant - izakaya style from Niigata

I kinda struggle when I write this post, because I don't want to make this restaurant more popular. Ojiya is one of those hidden gems known only to the local Japanese, and it's always crowded because the restaurant is tiny. There are many izakayas in Los Angeles, but most of them serve pretty much the same stuff. Ojiya stands out because they serve specialties from Niigata, and they constantly come out with new menu items. There is something new to try every time.

This time I got all three specials from the menu. The first was slow poached egg, Chinese broccoli, plum bits on top of natto sauce with bonito flakes. The whole plate is on the salty side and it's perfect with beer.

The second plate was fish sausage tempura with curry flavor. Fish sausage is a favorite snack of school children. Putting it in tempura is very interesting. The tempura batter is just perfect but the sausage is too soft to provide the texture required. 

  

Chicken wings in miso sauce is more standard with very intense flavor, again very good with beer.

The highlight of the meal was the hire katsu with special sauce, a Niigata speciality. Wow. The katsu batter is sweet, with perfectly cooked and tender pork inside. The pork has a very nice sweet flavor by itself, and it shines even more when dipped with the special sourish sauce. This dish is better than even the best tonkatsu places in all of Los Angeles. 

The takana fried rice with egg is always excellent. The slightly spicy takana balances very well with the not-completely-cooked egg.

Miso soup with mushrooms is good enough.

The mochi with kinako and black sugar syrup is highlighted on the menu as a recommended dessert. The mochi itself is alright, but the kinako and the black sugar really make it something special. Little pieces of walnuts provide a nice crunchy counter-texture.

My favorite dessert was the matcha green tea cheesecake on top of red bean. This is definitely a dessert for adults. The first bite is savory which is quite shocking. It then draws you to pick up the red beans and kinda keep going back and forth, until the green tea flavor becomes more and more apparent. It reminds me of the famous red bean cheesecake at Gion Inogashi, which is a nice break from the standard creamy or soft cheesecake everywhere else.

I really like Ojiya. Give it a try if you're tired of standard izakaya fare around Los Angeles, but don't go too often and make it too crowded for me :P

Ojiya Restaurant
21008 Hawthorne Blvd,
Torrance, CA 90503