Haru Ulala

Frankly, Japanese cuisine is not my favorite--I tend not to find much in the way of vegetarian selections. Because sushi is particularly trendy in NY, I usually end up paying 20 bucks for some rice with avocado in it. The great thing about LA, however, is that with its large Japanese population, there are more options than just sushi. There are tons of ramen shops and many other kinds of less trendy, more affordable, more vegetarian options.

So we tried Haru Ulala, a place that specializes in grilled meat, fish, and vegetables, but also makes noodles and pancakes called okonomiaki. This is the green soba noodle soup, which came with garlic scapes and an unidentified green vegetable with the texture of kale; and the vegetable okonomiaki. We also got agedashi tofu, grilled asparagus, pickled plum sushi, a pickled plum rice ball, and green tea and mango ice cream coated with a sticky rice paste called mochi. The broths were almost certainly fish based, but I wasn't complaining. Although this meal would have cost $50 easily in NY, we got out for under $30.