Raging Taste Buds

What the Internet? Kokekokko? How do you even say that? That name has almost twice as many K’s as the you know who and sounds like a legit nick name for crack cocaine. Take the name or leave it, but at the end of the day remember that this place is a good Yakitori spot.

So what is Yakitori? Well, its Japanese for starters. “Yakiatori is a type of skewered chicken. It is made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken offal, skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbequed, usually over charcoal.” And yes, I copy pasted that straight from Wikipedia. Shows you how much college taught me about using legitimate sources. Anyways, this spot is in Little Tokyo in downtown LA… of course.

Ultra Chicken Vibes

At KKKKK you will find the atmosphere to be very authentic (except for the Jazz music coming from the ceiling speakers). As you walk in, you see walls of bamboo, a rectangular bar with stools that look like tree stumps, chefs barbequing skewers behind the bar, and oh yea…a line. This place is always jam packed. Mostly with Japanese folks.. and if they are there, you know its authentic. Now I have heard some hype about Kokekokko giving regulars preferential treatment and from what I saw its somewhat true. And good for them. If you are a Newbie and you are not Japanese then… you are a newbie who is not Japanese. Get over it, enjoy your food.

You pretty much have the choice of ordering a full course meal ($27), a half course meal, roasted duck, and some amazing rice. I chose the full course and it comes with the following parts of the chicken (that are to be dipped into a wasabi mustard or a ginger sauce) on skewers. The breast, thigh, wing, heart, gizzard, liver, meatball (mix of breast and thigh), and zucchini & eggplant wrapped in a thin slice of chicken. I loved them all except the gizzard. It just tastes like you are biting straight into cartilage. Not my fave. I also had the chicken dumplings & spicy chicken over their amazing rice filled with bits of seaweed. Both were very, very good. It’s the quality of the barbecuing that makes Kokekokko so good. Check it out on video, and go there for a very unique dining experience.