Go For Broke

With a house warming shindig to attend just north of adroit LAX, K and I got an early start on Sabado and went the extra mile down to Gardena specifically for some authentic Hawaiian style comida. Crammed in a tiny strip mall on Vermont Av, Bob's Okazu Ya beckons leeward travelers to have a seat and ease into Island time. Not only is Bob's possibly my new favorito place on Earth, but the food is decidedly some of the best I've had on the Mainland. In Japanese, Okazu means 'side dish' and Ya means 'shop' which in total translates to 'a take-out joint with comida ready to scoop from a steam table'. This is an excellent way to order here, 'Da Kine' plate lunch combos are both mouthwatering and affordable. Just pick your vegetables then your meat and off you go. Along with Chow Fun and Nishime (a humble root stew), some of the more amusing vegetable choices are: cabbage and onion with Kalua pork, beef tofu, and chicken long rice. As for the meat, highlights include: sweet and sour pork rib, shoyu pollo, beef curry, and Char Siu. With that said, K and I formulated a different plan and ordered from the Ono menu instead.

Looking for something crispy, K bravely chose the mammoth 'Go For Broke' special: pollo katsu, Nori wrapped chicken (muy sabroso), Chow Fun, mac salad, and rice. Ah, yeah.

I, Solo Basura, maintain a gigante soft spot for all things Poke: Ahi (Yellowfin Tuna), sea salt, Limu seaweed, Maui onion, soy sauce, inamona (roasted candlenut), and sesame oil served over shredded cabbage with mac salad and rice. After letting the juices flow together for a minute or two, I quickly pulled the trigger. If there exists in the world a mixture of flavors this electrifying I look forward to finding it, believe you me. Bob's also routinely features live music (in our case a duo strumming breezy popular standards) which is truly the syrup on the shaved ice.