Love Life, Hate Kittens

[shrimp heads via yelp/jacq l.]

Imagine. Huge bowl of perfectly cooked noodles, thick, juicy pieces of kurobuta pork. Hearty broth that has been simmered for 3 slow days. Just the thought of it makes me giddy. You know what else makes me giddy? Knowing that ramen cravings can now be satiated at Kanpai between the hours of 10pm - 1AM. The westside is great for many things but late night food options are limited and ramen? Yes, we’ve all tried to rush to Santouka by 7:30. Ugh.

Now imagine your surprise when what turns out to be a quick trip to try the ramen turns out to be your most delightful sushi excursion on LA.

If you go to Kanpai for a full meal, you have to go on a night when Peter is there. Trust me. Peter is the nicest, most informative manager you can ever have. He’s super passionate about fish and is truly excited to share his new fish imports from japan. He literally takes joy in making you happy. OK, maybe not literally. 

After our first exciting trip, we quickly came back to splurge and try the omakase. It was the most incredible meal I’ve ever had. Over 24 courses of food including real kobe beef (we’re shown the certificate of authenticity) on a grill, cherry sockeye salmon, sawara, crispy onions on seared albacore, miso seabass, mushroom medley, scallop sashimi, toro, orange clam 3 ways, live sweet shrimp, salmon with papaya and caviar, baby yellowtail nigiri, bluefin tuna sashimi platter, geoduck, black snapper, spanish mackeral, eel, lots of other fish that I can’t remember….. and ending the meal with small bowls of the aforementioned ramen and dessert.

Stuffed to the gills.

Everything was fresh, amazing. Generous cuts of fish. The food was paced well. He took our recommendations, asked us how adventurous we were . He even taught us how to eat the live shrimp heads. Btw, those little buggers sure stay alive for a long time, frantically moving their little whiskers, and they totally bug their eyes out when you’re scooping out their brains. Mmmmm. Brains.

With the quality and quantity of food that we received, I was sure that the bill would be over $200/pp but get this…. for 3 people, it was only 325! Whaaaaat? While omakase may not be an everyday thing, the ramen itself is worth the trip to Westchester.

See you after 10.

Kanpai Japanese Sushi Bar

8325 Lincoln Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 338-7223