Totoraku

PRICE RANGE: $$$$
AMBIENCE: 3/10 but also 10/10
LOCATION: 10610 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
RESERVATIONS: Call in only
RECOMMENDED DISHES: All of them. You don’t get to choose :)

This past weekend we went to Totoraku, which is a Japanese restaurant, invite-only, that only has about four tables. Right by the Westside Pavilion mall, this gem is hidden behind a nondescript Teriyaki facade, and the only way you’re getting in is if you have the business card of the chef.

Chef Kaz brings in super high quality meats, and you cook it over a Japanese grill. He serves it with vegetables, soybean paste, and, when they’re in season, Japanese tomatoes, otherwise tomatoes from California. It’s not all meat though, at the very beginning he brings out an assortment platter of Japanese style dishes. From there, it’s all meat and whatever booze you chose to bring. True to form, we brought a lot of wine, but mainly old French red.

Totoraku Starters

To get things started Chef Kaz serves a starter platter of Japanese accoutrements. My personal favorite is the foie gras.

Starter Platter with Foie Gras, Sashimi, Rice Balls, and More

A Lot of Raw Beef
Next, Chef Kaz brought out a platter of beef carpaccio adorned with black truffles.

Raw Beef Carpaccio with Black Truffles

Beef Tartare

Beef Tartare

Beef Neck

Beef Neck

The Meats

The “Does This Even Comply with Fire Codes” Grill

Live Coal Grill

Grill Your Own Meat
It’s over $250 a person and I have to grill the meat myself? Yup. Get cooking! And make sure to listen to the instructions for how much time on each side. Or wing it, that’s what I do ;)
Beef Throat?? I totally forgot

My attempt at searing my eyebrows off

Filet. 2 mins on one side 90 seconds on the other

Inside Ribeye

Japanese Tomatoes

Outside Ribeye

Skirt Steak

FINALLY NO MEAT!
The ice cream is super delicious and honestly totally relieving that it’s not beef flavored. Flavors include blueberry, coffee, raspberry, pistachio, and one I don’t like.

The Wine

Despite not serving any alcohol, Totoraku is as much a wine restaurant as any I have ever been to before. But, that’s really dependent on what you’re bringing in :)

1990 Bollinger R.D.

1996 Grand Cru Batard-Montrachet

Half Bottle of 1952 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild

1928 Chateau Beychevelle

1937 Côte Rôtie 1st Cru

We had to make up for the half bottle before so a magnum of 82 Bordeaux did the trick

1982 Château Cheval Blanc

1937 Reisling from the Balz Collection

Very Old Barsac

Ichiro’s Malt “CARD” Joker. Japanese Single Malt Whisky

Some of the wine lineup

All things considered, that was a lot of wine. And to top things off, we finished the night with Ichiro’s Malt Card Series — The Colored Joker.
Yet again, I was younger than all of the wines at dinner.

The Totoraku Experience

If you can get a reservation to Totoraku it’s a must go in LA. Taking out the fact that the food is amazing, Chef Kaz is his own enigma of energy and character. No dinner is complete at Totoraku unless you finish it drinking with the Chef into the early morning.