Jessica Koslow

Banana Fritters a la mode at Hama Sushi

When you think of sushi, Thai or Chinese food, dessert is probably not the first image that comes to mind. You might top off your meal with a fortune cookie or some orange slices — maybe some ice cream — but it’s not the dessert you covet when you dine at an Asian restaurant. Not like a slice of tiramisu or a pot of crème brûlée.

But more and more these days I prefer the sweets being served at Asian restaurants, including these four Westside standouts worth every bite:

Sushi Roku is one of those restaurants where you can’t help but feel like you’re on vacation, gazing out at the ocean and the animated crowd in every direction. The air is pulsing with excitement as you sit on the enclosed patio looking out over Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

The Carnival Cake is the perfect end to your evening — like the finale of a Broadway show. When it arrives at your table, all you see is an inflated mound of cotton candy, which is then lit on fire and burns theatrically to reveal a New York-style cheesecake with strawberries, cookies-and-cream ice cream and a hint of Bacardi 151 rum.

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

In my ideal world, there would be an artisanal ice cream shop on every corner. Lucky for me, the Westside has been well on its way to making my dreams come true with places like Ginger’s Divine Ice Cream, Salt & Straw, Sweet Rose Creamery, Small Batch and Rori’s Artisinal Creamery, just to name a few.

Wanderlust Creamery is the newest addition to Icecreamlandia. Sandwiched between Wurstküche and Floyd’s 99 Barbershop on Lincoln Boulevard, couple JP Lopez and Adrienne Borlongan’s fourth location occupies the space that once belonged to Juice Served Here.

And it’s a bright, uncluttered, beautiful space that lets the vibrant colors of their house-made ice cream do the talking. A huge glass-and-metal door raises open to a long outdoor wooden bench, where customers (who can also sit at a white-countertop bar adjoining the glass ice cream display case) lick exotic flavors inspired by Borlongan’s childhood memories, places she’s been and places she hopes to visit. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

When the boutique cheese shop Wheel House opened four years ago, it seemed a throwback to a bygone era when people bought their food from specialty shops — a butcher shop for meat, a bakery for bread, and milk delivered from a local dairy.

Even though we now buy most of our groceries in one store, there’s something very charming about specialty shops. And so it was that Wheel House hit the ground running in its first year.

Founder Alex Josef, who lives nearby, was out walking one day when he noticed a for-rent sign on his future shop.

“I picked this space mainly because of the location,” he says. “This area is on the grow. I was a little ahead of the curve, but I knew where it was going. Washington is building and growing rapidly.”

A Westsider for 38 years and counting, Josef has seen the storefronts change all around him. And as a natural-born entrepreneur, he decided to embark on a passion project right in his own backyard.

“I like cheese a lot. You can pair it with wine, beer or cider. Cheese is delicious,” he says. “It’s like the food version of wine. It’s diverse, and it has a lot of influence from wherever the milk came from — what animal, what the animal is eating, different times of year. There’s a geek element to it.” …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo Credit: Shilah Montiel

Imagine walking through the doors of Stacy’s Cookie Lounge at happy hour. There are drinks being poured (lots of tea) and cookies all around: Super Snickerdoodle, El Gringo Picante and gluten-free chocolate chip, just to name a few. You melt into a comfy couch or sit with friends at the bar. There’s even a cookie decorating class at a back table. It’s a snapshot of girls’ night heaven.

For now though, Stacy’s Cookie Lounge is Stacy Parker’s apartment in Playa Vista, which churns out dozens of gourmet and hand-decorated cookies each day — mostly for corporate clients like Google, Prada, Univision, Twitter, Hulu and Estée Lauder

“About 90% of my business is decorated cookies,” shares Parker, who moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue acting. When her acting career didn’t pan out, Parker went back to the 9-to-5 she had for 20 years in construction management. But she never stopped believing in herself, and in November 2015 started making and selling cookies. …

Read the full article at Playa Vista Direct.

Sisters Cathy and Vanda (left and right) and mother Anna Asapahu

Some people are born into a business but choose to follow a different career path. Others opt to walk in their parents’ footsteps. And then there’s Vanda Asapahu, who has done both: She grew up helping her parents run Thai restaurants, decided to spend four years working for the United Nations in Thailand, and then came back to carry forward the legacy of her family’s restaurant, Ayara Thai in Westchester.

“I don’t think you appreciate working with family until you work with everything else and then decide for yourself you want to come back,” she says.

Vanda’s parents, Andy and Anna Asapahu, opened Ayara Thai Cuisine in 2004. It was their third restaurant, and, as they had hoped, the third time was a charm.

“My dad has always been a serial entrepreneur,” says Vanda. “And my mom is his biggest supporter, the implementer of his crazy dreams, the backbone behind it all. They are an amazing pair.”

The Asapahus initially immigrated from Thailand to Montebello, and their experience preparing meals with other immigrant families eventually led to small eateries there and in East L.A. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo Credit: Laure Joliet via nightmarketla.com

I had been to Siam Best, the Thai restaurant in Venice on the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Grant Avenue, a few times. The food was always good, but the standout feature was a colorful fish tank down the center of the room.

Most of the time, the restaurant was empty. My brother would comment that the quiet made for good conversation. I always felt a wave of sadness as I scanned the place.

As more and more hip restaurants began to pop up in Venice, Siam Best began to feel more like a relic. Each time I drove by, I would think incredulously, “Still here, eh?”

Then one day, the lights were off at Siam Best. It had become another casualty of the rising rents and changing demographics of Venice.

I’m not so sure anyone was too upset about this closing. This wasn’t like Hal’s or Abbot’s Habit on Abbot Kinney.

Conversely, soon came jubilation as news headlines declared with delight: Night + Market Sahm is coming to the Westside.

Chef Kris Yenbamroong, owner of Night + Market in West Hollywood and Night + Market Song in Silver Lake, was opening a third incarnation in Venice — replacing Siam Best. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo by Andrew Noel and Tegan Butler

There’s a huge fork on the exterior of 2424 Main St. in Santa Monica, signaling this might be a place to eat. And it is … at least for another month or two, or maybe longer.

What used to be the California-Mediterranean eatery Fork in the Road is now a pop-up brunch and cocktails spot called Little Prince, so named after the French children’s book which chef Ari Taymor’s mother read to him as a kid.

Taymor has a few notches on his culinary belt: He has been named a Food & Wine Best New Chef and was nominated as a Rising Star Chef by the James Beard Foundation. The celebrated culinarian was the force behind Alma, which closed its doors inside The Standard in West Hollywood this past New Year’s Eve.

Perhaps there were many signs pointing to Taymor’s eventually landing on the Westside. His first Los Angeles home was near Rose and Pacific avenues. His first-ever chef job was in Santa Monica, across the street from Little Prince. And he loves to surf. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

It’s hard to write an article about Coni’Seafood Restaurant without mentioning the pescado zarandeado and Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold. He called the dish “one of the wonders of the seafood world” and has made the Inglewood restaurant a regular on his annual 101 Best Restaurants list.

On Jan. 6 Connie Cossio’s Coni’Seafood celebrated the grand opening of its second location: the corner of Centinela and Gilmore avenues in Del Rey, near local favorites Angel Maid Bakery and Sakura Japanese Restaurant. But the name Cossio and Coni’Seafood were already well-known throughout Los Angeles.

Connie and her father, Vicente “Chente” Cossio, are restaurant royalty in L.A. Los Angeles Magazine referred to Vicente as “L.A.’s Godfather of Mexican Seafood,” and quoted him as saying Connie was the best cook he ever trained.

Vincente planted the seeds for Coni’Seafood in 1987 in the backyard of the Cossio home in Inglewood. That’s when the neighborhood got a taste of Acaponeta, Nayarit-style seafood. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

“Sandy feet welcome,” declares Sam Trude, sitting on a sidewalk stool outside Great White, his new Venice Beach restaurant. “Come in with your towel after a surf!”

There are no surfers eating here today, but the place is packed with bubbly, smartly dressed men, women and toddlers, too. The young, handsome crowd resembles a postcard for chic Venice. The décor is open and airy, and the food is bursting with color.

More than a few customers are hovering on the sidewalk, waiting for a table, eyeing diners as they munch on menu items like the Blue Smoothie Bowl with e3 live blue algae; the fish tacos with citrus slaw, chipotle aioli and mango herb sauce; and corn fritters with poached egg, avocado salsa and fresh greens.

Great White occupies the space where Seed Kitchen once stood, sandwiched between Mollusk Surf Shop and Subway in the mall on the southeast corner of Pacific and Windward avenues.

For eight years, chef Eric Lechasseur whipped up tasty organic, vegan, macrobiotic dishes at Seed, which he co-owned with his wife. Locals would pop in for healthy eat-in and to-go favorites, like the rosemary seitan bowl and tempeh chorizo tacos.

Seed closed in September 2016, leaving up for grabs an ideal spot for another eatery to blossom. The location has its own parking lot, albeit small, plus guaranteed foot traffic and a growing workforce in the surrounding neighborhood. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photos by Erica Allen

Hash. It’s a breezy word, with a few different meanings. Merriam-Webster lists it as “chopped meat mixed with potatoes and browned.” Or, “a confused muddle.” Apparently, it’s also Irish slang, used to refer to mixing things up completely. And then, of course, there’s … well, you know.

It’s almost as if the mind wanders automatically when hearing or uttering the word. Hash … in a subtle way, whispers “hunger.”

Which makes it the perfect name for an eatery tucked down a side street off Bluff Creek Drive, surrounded by large office buildings on the Campus at Playa Vista.

Pop in any weekday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., order, take a seat with your number, wait for the food to arrive and look around — you’re in the company of the young and industrious types who populate the nearby offices of companies like Yahoo, YouTube, 72andSunny and Science 37.

On weekends, the hours are the same but Hash is a little less crowded, but you’ll still find Loyola Marymount University students, travelers who recently arrived at LAX and, of course, plenty of Playa Vista residents. …

Read the full article at Playa Vista Direct.