Shabu Squared

I dont often go out to Shabu, but for some reason in the past 5 days I've been twice!

The first time I went with Mike to a place in Costa Mesa called California Shabu Shabu.

It's located on Baker not too far from where the 73 meets the 405 fwys.  

It was such a cold night that immediately upon entering the restaurant we were warmed up by the smells and sights. We sat and waited about 10 min before we were seated which seemed like a miracle considering how packed it was.  We sat at the end of the bar on the right side of the restaurant and immediately placed a order for my new favorite sake- Nigori. Sadly I was sitting right under a draft and freezing the entire meal.

Our waitress helped us out so much by mixing our sauces and telling us how best to enhance their flavors. I ordered the Medium Choice beef which was accompanied by a plethora of veggies like shiitake mushrooms, Napa cabbage, spinach, tofu cubes, carrots, some udon noodles and a pinch of kelp.  They also had two dipping sauces  one ponzu and vinegar based and the other sesame peanut based. I prefer the vinegar for my meat and the peanut sesame for my veggies.  The udon noodles are what really set this place apart from other shabu restaurants  When you're just about to finish up your veggies and meat they bring out a big bowl of udon broth to lay your udon noodles in and finish your meal. Ironically at that point you're usually too stuffed to even consider this notion. Overall delish!

Second experience- last night was in Gardena at Shin-Sen-Gumi locted on Artesia Blvd. just across from Marukai. this place is set up more like a Shabu/yakitori and Christi and I shared a table with a buncha guys. It was fine and was actually pretty entertaining seeing 4 Asian guys scarf beef. Overall the meat quality was the same but they served A LOT more veggies. Still I think I preferred California over this one due to the sauce selection and attention to detail in setting, service etc- though these places were both healthy and delish. A pic from our dining experience below-

If you haven't tried Shabu you absolutely must! its a great winter time meal with lots of healthy veggies and tender yummy meat.