Random LA Restaurants

Wokcano: Asian Cuisine

Restaurant: Wokcano: Asian Cuisine
Location: 33 S. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CA
Phone: (626) 578-1818
Other Locations: Downtown LA, West Hollywood, and Century City

At first glance, Wokcano seems to be a very cool place. There's tiki huts over the tables, a very tropical feel to the whole place. The menu seems very long, with lots of options, until you start reading it. As far as appeizers go, I couldn't complain. I would have gotten appetizers except what I wound up getting for dinner was a bit much. They offer 4 kinds of soup including MIso, Hot and Sour, Wonton, and Spicy Seafood Soup. Next on the Menu is the Sushi. I'm used to a seperate menu for sushi, that you mark with your pencil and they give it directly to the sushi chef, but OK, I can do this. I look at this, and they've got a ton of sushi/sashimi cuts, and a lot of rolls, but none of their rolls are very creative. Two of them start with the description: "California roll topped with..." And none of the rolls are cheap either. They start at 4.50 for the avocado or cucumber rolls and it goes up to 13 for a Volcano roll which is shrimp tempura and eel and spicy sauce. They do so many of the basic rolls that people are used to, that they don't put forth any effort for creativity. They do a whole tropical feel in their decor, but don't do it in their food. They could throw in a roll they did at a place called Blu Sushi in Florida called Cool Hawaii which had cream cheese, kiwi, tuna cucumber and something else. Except for the kiwi, it was a very standard roll; the kiwi made it very tropical.

It took me a lot longer than normal to decide what I wanted to eat because I didn't want to get a California roll (although I did anyway). I wound up with one of the Sushi dinners, the Triple Sushi. It was $23 for 3 pieces of tuna, 3 pieces of salmon, and 3 pieces of yellowtail. It was supposed to come with a Fire Island roll, although it says "special roll" on the menu, but I asked for a Rainbow roll instead. A fire Island is a "California Roll Topped with Spicy Tuna, scallion, & Smelt Egg" where a Rainbow Roll is "Tuna, Salmon, White Fish on Top of a California Roll." I didn't see the California Roll at the very end right away. The sushi was very good. The fish was extremely fresh, and thicker cut than I am used to. The dinner also came with soup and salad. I ordered Miso, of which I am a huge fan, although this tasted like the tofu had been sitting in it for a really long time and had fallen apart, so they added more. It was a little thin and bland. Steve ordered Pad Thai, which he apparently loves. It was $8. It was good, but not great. Again, it tasted thin, like they didn't have enough sause for the amount of noodles.

posted by Unknown @ 12:37 PM