le blog de tranny

I will write here what I refuse to write in a Yelp review for fear that my favorite restaurant in Southern California will become even more inundated with white people than it already is.  This is always the first place I dine upon arriving in Huntington Beach to visit my folks.  I’ve frequented this restaurant for nearly a decade now and I always order the same dishes.  All of my favorites here are so simple yet so perfect, while speaking to my affinity for the savory.

Spinach salad with tiny fish and ponzu dressing — my favorite salad of all time.  It’s all about the texture, as I like to say.  (I sometimes say this about McDonald’s cheeseburgers.)  The chewy, salty tiny fish paired with the soft, fresh crunch of the spinach leaves (which are always impeccably dried off or otherwise never rinsed in the first place), drizzled in that savory dressing is to die for.

Hiyayakko, or cold tofu, another one of my all-time favorites.  Why would a carnivore like me hold a simple (uncooked) tofu dish so dear?  Maybe it’s force of habit from my brief stint as a vegetarian, but I cannot think of a more satisfying appetizer.  The texture of this tofu is just…perfect!  It has the perfect degree of firmness when served with some ice cubes underneath!  Paired with some soy sauce and all the fixin’s served on top (dried bonito shavings, slivered nori, green onion, karashi mustard), the resulting bite is surprisingly complex and hearty!

What a delicious starter spread!

I know I’ve said this before, but I’ve searched far and wide in every place I’ve lived for some decent udon, and nothing compares to the udon at Kappo Honda.  I usually just get the tanuki udon (pictured here) because I order so much other shit.  Those fat, chewy noodles; that savory, soothing broth… are literally the only things I miss about my hometown.

Okay, so kalbi is clearly a Korean (not Japanese) dish, but what can I say?  I can’t hate on Kappo Honda for not being a purist institution (as I do on so many other “fusion” Asian restaurants) when all of their shit is so tight (even their sashimi!).  They have kimchi on the menu too.. but to my knowledge most of the servers/managers are Japanese, so it’s not like one of those Korean-owned (as so many are) Japanese restaurants or anything.  Anyway, I wouldn’t deign to order a Korean dish at a Japanese restaurant unless it was super legit and tasty, and trust me, the kalbi at Kappo Honda is.  With some lemon spritzed on top and some short grain rice on the side, this dish is the perfect accompaniment to all of the vegetarian/fish-based plates I tend to order here.

Well, time to run, because writing this post is making me miss Orange County which is completely sick.  Why would such a culinary desert be home to such a rare gem of my favorite type of cuisine?  I should just shut up and be thankful to have a place to eat when I visit my parents.