If you are looking for an authentic Japanese Happy Hour in Little Tokyo, Izakaya Go has a delicious and varied selection of bites, along with a 60-ounce pitcher of Sapporo Beer for $16 to wash it down with. Their regular menu is extensive and a click away, here.
I tried small Tapas plates of Spicy Garlic Edamame, Fried Chicken Karaage, and Crispy Pork Belly, plus Hand Rolls, and raw Oysters, all on the cheap.
There are a dozen food items on the Happy Hour Menu, and they all look good. I'll be back to try them all.
What brought me (and my friend Drew) here was the LA Dodgers Baseball Playoffs. The Dodgers have 3 Japanese Players on the roster, and I wanted to watch a few games with the locals in Little Tokyo, located in Downtown Los Angeles.
Little Tokyo is only a few city blocks and easy to walk around and window-browse the restaurants, looking for food and drink specials.
Izakaya Go is a restaurant on Central Avenue, conveniently, right down from the *LA Metro Little Tokyo Station at 1st Street. It's a short walk past a cool LA Dodgers mural.
Entering Izakawa Go, you pass a small sushi bar on the left, large tables in the center, and small tables on the far right with a long upholstered bench seat against the wall. A large TV screen is centered, above and in front of the back wall, so anywhere you sit, the Dodger Playoffs are easily viewed.
If you have been following my Happy Hour Tour of Little Tokyo this week, my previous stop at the Far Bar, down on 1st Street, is where you want to watch sports, as the crowd is loud and boisterous on game days. Here, at Izakawa Go, the crowd is there to nosh, not yell out "Let's Go Dodgers".
The Happy Hour is only an hour and a half, and most baseball games last 3 hours, so I can always end up at the Far Bar for the rest of the game. (Read my Far Bar Happy Hour review by clicking here.)
My friend, Drew, and I started with Spicy Garlic Edamame and a Pitcher of Sapporo Beer.
Usually, Edamame is plainly steamed in the shell and a bit bland, and that's fine. I liked the addition of pungent garlic and spicy chili flavors.
The cold Japanese pale lager, Sapporo, kept things in check. Sapporo Beer is smooth and light and goes good with any food.
We followed up ordering Chicken Karaage and Crispy Pork Belly, both were fried. Might as well get the heavy stuff first.
The Chicken Karaage nuggets were large, tender, and so juicy - done perfectly. The crunchy coating is not heavy like typical Southern Fried Chicken.
The Karaage batter is light like Japanese tempura. This is a large tapas plate for only $7 and is very tasty. It was easy to split between these 2 Dodger fans.
Crispy Pork Belly reminded me of fried pork rinds I've had in Louisiana.
Very dry and crispy, light and airy, like fat matchstick potato chips, the Crispy Pork Belly order is like crunchy Beer Nuts snacks. They did not last long.
We finished up with seafood: Sushi Handrolls and fresh Chef's Choice Oysters.
You could slurp the whole thing down, but be prepared for a tasty sour kick from the vinaigrette. I wanted to taste the oyster with minimal extra flavorings, so I used chopsticks to pick out the Oyster, and gulped the vinaigrette as a chaser - Whoa!
The waitress wrote down the type of Oyster for me. The Kumiai Oyster is cultivated in Baja California, Mexico. They went down smoothly.
They have a Yakitori menu with grilled skewers of Japanese Eggplant and Shiitake Mushroom, I want to try, and the prices work for me, even without the Happy Hour.
Izakaya Go is a grand slam of a Little Tokyo Happy Hour in Downtown Los Angeles, especially when you leave the driving to the *LA Metro rail line.
* LA Metro
Website: www.metro.net
Seniors 62+/ Medicare/ Customer with Disability: www.metro.net/riding/fares/seniors
When you are a senior (62 years old) with a senior-issued LA Metro TAP card, it only costs 35 cents per ride during off-peak hours. The normal base fare is $1.75 per ride - it's a steal.
