N/SOTO
ADDRESS: 4566 W Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016
WEBSITE: https://n-soto.com/
Back in 2020 on Top Chef All-Stars, one of the challenges during an episode was to create a kaiseki menu, which is a traditional Japanese multi-course meal. One of the guest judges, chef Niki Nakayama, opened n/naka here in LA, which currently has 2 Michelin Stars and specializes in kaiseki. When I read in a news article that chef Nakayama opened up a sister restaurant to n/naka, focusing more on an izakaya-inspired menu, that is how n/soto ended up saved on my Google Maps.
My friend Yuji and I decided to plan out a visit to n/soto, which did require us to put in a reservation. We booked it three weeks in advance, and based on how packed the restaurant ended up being when we were there, it’s probably best to book ahead of time if you can. Located in the Mid-City neighborhood of central LA, the restaurant has a relatively small parking lot in the back (valet only), so the other option would be to try and find some street parking. We ended up finding a spot a couple of blocks down the street, so it wasn’t too bad.
You’ll know the building when you see it, as it’s (intentionally) covered with plants on the exterior and an unassuming doorway with “n/soto” on the noren Japanese door curtains hanging in front. Our reservation was at 6:30PM and when we first got there, only a couple of tables were occupied, along with some people at the bar. There is both indoor and outdoor patio seating areas, and it sounded like the outdoor patio area was pretty packed. We had made our reservation for indoor seating, so there wasn’t an issue for us to get seated immediately.
The menu is divided up into a number of different sections, based on the types of foods. You could choose from the starters, salads, kushiyaki (grilled skewers), raw items, nigiri, hand rolls, agemono (fried), yakimono & mushimono (grilled & steamed), and gohanmono (rice dishes). Both Yuji and I had taken a look at the menu beforehand to come up with a bit of a game plan, but the listing of nigiri was very different than what we had seen (probably based on what was fresh). It took us a little bit to look through everything again and come up with a new set of selections. We wanted to choose items from several of the different categories to have a nice well-rounded meal. Our choices comprised between the starter, salad, nigiri, kushiyaki, yakimono & mushimono, and agemono types.
The chefs immediately got to work on our food order, and our starter dish of the Golden Eye Snapper Tataki was out to us in a couple of minutes after we put in our full order of food. The slices of the golden eye snapper were presented on a bed of wakame and other vegetables, topped with scallions and a ponzu sauce with grated daikon. The fish had great flavor, with the ponzu and daikon adding a slight bit of tartness to complement the snapper.
While we were working our way through the tataki, the Brussels Sprouts and Salmon Skin Salad came out to the table as well. This was a dish that definitely intrigued me, since almost all of the Yelp reviews that I read had been raving about it. Well, it definitely lived up to the hype. The Brussels sprouts had been roasted to give them a nice crisp, and the salmon skin was also super crispy and had a smoky flavor to it as well. The poached egg, after it was mixed up and tossed with the rest of the salad, really helped for all of the flavors to stick with the spring mix and the rest of the ingredients. It was a nice mixture of umami flavor that also did not feel too heavy at the same time.
After we finished the tataki and the salad, all of our nigiri order came out to start the next phase of the meal. Each order of nigiri came with two pieces and we went with five different types to try: toro (fatty tuna belly), shima aji (striped jack), tai (red snapper), yaito katsuo (skipjack tuna), and Hokkaido uni (sea urchin). If I had to rank them for my preference, it would probably be toro taking the top spot, followed by tai, shima aji, Hokkaido uni, and yaito katsuo. The toro was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth and the bit of wasabi on top wasn’t overpowering at all. The tai was dressed with a dab of yuzu kosho on top along with a shiso leaf underneath the fish, so it was a really nice meld of different aromatic and citrus flavors. It was actually my first time ever trying uni before, and I liked the subtle sweetness that came from it, without any of the ocean-y taste.
Once we had finished off all of the raw items, that’s when the Maitake Mushroom Tempura came out to our table to help us begin the transition to all of the kushiyaki items we ordered. I liked how the tempura on the maitake mushrooms was a nice, thinner layer, while still providing a solid crisp. The green tea salt that the tempura was served with was definitely spot-on, providing a hit of savory and earthy flavor to really complement the mushroom. I also liked how the tempura didn’t taste too oily or anything like that, too. Definitely a nice way to get introduced to maitake mushrooms for the first time.
The skewers were all now coming out of the kitchen in rapid-fire succession. In total, we ordered seven kushiyaki dishes: negima (chicken), unagi (eel), gyutan (beef tongue), shiitake mushroom, bacon tomato, pork belly, and A5 wagyu ribeye cap. We started off with the unagi, which was super crispy on the skin side and had a great mix of char and savory flavor overall. The gyutan was next, marking the second time I’ve had beef tongue. There was also a really nice savory flavor from the sauce they used while grilling it, and I was surprised at how it wasn’t overly chewy or anything like that either.
Of all of the kushiyaki, however, the one that surprised the most was hands down the shiitake mushrooms. Grilled mushrooms which were then spooned over with a miso brown butter sauce, this dish was simple, yet filled with earthy flavor from each of the components. The miso brown butter hits first, followed by the shiitake mushroom taste on the back end. That will definitely be a memorable dish for me for quite some time.
We polished off the negima next, with great char flavor on both the chicken and scallions. The bacon-wrapped cherry tomato was relatively straightforward and was a great palate reset with the tomato’s acidity before we moved on to the pork belly. Each piece of pork belly had a small dab of yuzu kosho to provide a small burst of citrus flavor to complement the pork very well. Last, but not least, came the A5 wagyu ribeye cap, which we purposely waited to finish off as the final item. Each of the A5 wagyu cubes had a slight bit of wasabi on it, which honestly is not a mixture I had considered before. The steak was so tender and brought a ton of umami flavor to mix with the slight earthiness of the wasabi. Definitely worth it to save the A5 wagyu to cap off our kushiyaki run.
The final two main dishes that we had come out to the table were the Miso Baked Bone Marrow along with the Agedashi Mochi. We started with the bone marrow first, which actually ended up being my least favorite of the evening of all the items we tried. The bone marrow got masked too much by the strong flavor of the miso, in my opinion. I did think that the umeboshi onigiri paired well with the bone marrow, giving a bit of crispy texture to contrast with the smoothness from the bone marrow.
Our waitress had told us that their Agedashi Mochi was one of their signature dishes, and it was definitely different than anything I had ever had before. The mochi pieces all had a crispy shell around them after being breaded with potato starch (I think) and fried. That textural contrast between the crunch of the breading and softness of the mochi was definitely on display. The interesting pairing on this dish was with the tempura-battered shishito peppers, stuffed with shrimp, shiso, and wood ear mushrooms. Definitely a nice amount of flavor in each bite with that filling as well.
I do want to give a quick shoutout to the waitstaff as a whole, who definitely operated with a very quiet precision when taking care of the table. They came over frequently to fill waters or beverage cups if they saw them running low. They cleared out empty dishes from our table in a very timely fashion. They even swapped out our plates after our Brussels sprouts salad when they saw that a moderate amount of salad dressing remained on the plate, in order to ensure that other food wouldn’t be affected by us using our plates. It’s an attention to small details on their part, and it was very much noted and appreciated.
It’s still pretty staggering to think about the fact that we tried 16 different items from the menu. All in all, I thought that we were able to construct a selection of food that had a lot of balance between the different items we chose. It’s really hard to choose a favorite dish amongst everything that we got, as almost each dish was something that both Yuji and I said “man, that’s good” as soon as we took our first bite. This restaurant is definitely a hidden gem, quietly serving up very high quality food that contain an array of different flavor profiles. If you’re looking for an izakaya experience in LA with a multitude of dish styles to choose from, n/soto is absolutely worth the visit and not to be missed.
Let’s now take a look at the n/soto Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Golden Eye Snapper Tataki **
Slices of golden eye snapper on a bed of wakame and other vegetables, topped with scallions and ponzu sauce with grated daikon.
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** Brussels Sprouts and Salmon Skin Salad **
Roasted Brussels sprouts with crispy salmon skin tossed with spring mix, poached egg, red onion, and carrots.
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** Tai Nigiri (Wild Red Snapper), pictured top left **
Dressed with yuzu kosho on top, shiso leaf underneath.
Yaito Katsuo Nigiri (Skipjack Tuna), pictured top right
Dressed with ginger on top.
** Shima Aji Nigiri (Wild Striped Jack), pictured middle **
** Toro Nigiri (Fatty Tuna Belly), pictured bottom **
Dressed with wasabi on top.
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** Hokkaido Uni Nigiri (Sea Urchin) **
Wrapped with nori.
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** Maitake Mushroom Tempura **
Tempura battered and fried, served with green tea salt.
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** Unagi Kushiyaki (Japanese Freshwater Eel) **
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** Negima Kushiyaki (Chicken) **
Served with grilled scallions.
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** Gyutan Kushiyaki (Beef Tongue) **
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** Shiitake Mushroom Kushiyaki **
Served with a miso brown butter sauce.
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** Bacon and Tomato Kushiyaki **
Grilled bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes.
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** Pork Belly Kushiyaki **
Served with dabs of yuzu kosho.
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** A5 Wagyu Ribeye Cap Kushiyaki **
Served with wasabi.
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Miso Baked Bone Marrow
Served with umeboshi onigiri and pickled red onions.
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** Agedashi Mochi **
Mochi breaded and fried, served with tempura-battered shishito peppers, stuffed with shrimp, shiso, and wood ear mushrooms.
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** Black Sesame Brownie **
Brownie served with black sesame chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream.
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And finally, here are my rankings for n/soto:
Food: 5 / 5
16 different dishes tried and practically all of them were hits. The food quality and flavor combinations were all on point, with all of the ingredients tasting really fresh. The diversity on the menu between the different dish types also made it hard to choose what to order, since everything sounded real good.
Atmosphere: 5 / 5
The décor style inside the restaurant had a modern Japanese feel to it, with the light wood frame and noren curtains that divided the wall where we were sitting into different sections helping to accentuate that. The color palette centered around gray, white, wood, and black, with strip lighting combining with overhead lights to help contribute to a casual, yet intimate atmosphere.
Service: 5 / 5
The quiet precision and attentiveness by the waitstaff was definitely noticed, with them coming to always take off empty plates in a quick manner along with refilling any drinks if our glasses ran low. There was also a nice progression to all of the food throughout the meal, both in pacing as well as richness of the food.
Price: 5 / 5
For the quality of food, quantity of food, along with also being right in central LA, I thought that the prices were really reasonable for all of the food items that we ordered. I would absolutely pay the amount again for the experience we got.
Overall:
20 / 20
(100%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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