Road Trip: Fukagawa Soba & Udon - Gardena (Los Angeles), A breakfast from memory lane....

With a tip of the hat to Jimmy Buffet:

"I took off for a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year.
All of the faces and all of the places,
wonderin' where they all disappeared......."

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Atittude (1977).

The Missus told me that I needed a short respite, and if anyone would know, She would. This past weekend, the Missus had events planned with Her friends, so I thought I'd take a drive up to LA, and eat a bit, meet a good friend of mine, then meet even more friends of mine, and just basically wander around aimlessly..... I thought I'd start driving early and hit the Torrance Farmers Market, which I've written about several times before. But this time around, I left San Diego extra early, like 530 am early. I decided to grab breakfast.... a kind of special breakfast, at a restaurant called Fukagawa.

Fukagawa is located in the same plaza as Marukai Pacific Market, but is kind of hidden away in a corner. You'll first have to see the Fukagawa sign.

 

Then look down the hallway to find Fukagawa......

 

You may ask why a Soba & Udon (& Shabu Shabu) restaurant would be opening at 7am from Mondays to Saturdays?

I mean, the place doesn't look much different from a hundred, or even a thousand other Japanese restaurants.....

 

What makes Fukagawa rather unique in my mind is that they serve a "Japanese Breakfast". A simple, yet soulful combination of dishes and flavors that may seem a bit strange to many Westerners, but is very familiar to me, as something similar was my Mom's special breakfast that she made on occasion for us.

Something resembling "Combo B" was what we ate for those meals.... so of course it's what I ordered.

 

Just the smells brought back memories.......

The miso soup presented me with a bit of nostalgia as it had sliced onions in it. My grandparents and mother used to put onions in their miso soup..... but I don't recall having miso soup this way outside of home.

 

That's Natto (fermented soybeans) on the left, and Hiyakko Tofu (cold tofu) on the right.

 

Of course growing up, we didn't make things quite as fancy....no katsuobushi(shaved dried bonito) for our tofu, and no quail egg or even mustard (I don't think Mom would have enjoyed that) adorning the natto. 

As for the natto..... my grandparents were from Fukushima-ken, and as long as I remember, whenever someone asked where my family was from in Japan and I answered "Fukushima", among the first things mentioned was, "oh, so you must eat a lot of natto, huh?" Actually, I really don't love natto, in fact, the Missus enjoys it much more than I do. But over time, I have eaten my share......

 

And is it just me, or does today's natto not smell quite as bad?

But for me, the most important item was this:

 

Lest you wonder why the heck I think a boiled egg is so important to me..... well, it's not a boiled egg.

 

And in spite of the recent Salmonella Egg recall and warnings, the dish would not be the same without this.

You add a little shoyu.....

 
Mix.....

 

Pour over hot rice (in all honesty, the rice should have been hotter) steal some green onions from my tofu, and mix.......

 

Creating a dish known as "tamago-meshi". One of the earliest (and few) memories I have of my grandparents, is my "Ji-chan" (grandfather) waking before dawn. Even though the plantation days were behind them; the plantation ways were still strong. Neither Grandparent spoke much English, and always had problems with my name. Ironically, they ended up calling me "Keiki" (which means "child" in Hawaiian). To this day I'm not sure if they actually knew what keiki meant, or of they just chose that word because it kinda sounded like my name, and was something they'd heard before. Anyway, my job was to climb the ricketty ladder up to papaya tree and pick two of the ripes papaya. My reward? My Grandmother would have a steaming bowl of rice, mix the raw egg with shoyu, pour the egg over the rice, top with green onions and mix....... tamago meshi. This in turn was topped with natto. I was also given half a papaya (to help me digest), and a cup of coffee (!!! I was maybe 7-8 years old) with tons of cream and sugar. A perfect breakfast for getting out there and working the fields.......

 

I really haven't had this in years, perhaps a decade (or two!), but it just seemed like the perfect thing to get this road trip started.

My friend, Akira, who I had dinner with later that evening, cracked up when I told him about my breakfast. Even though he lives in Torrance, he'd never heard of Fukagawa. And no, coming from Osaka, he's not much of a natto, or tamago-meshi fan. Still, he appreciated the fact that there was at least one place serving this in LA.

 

I do realize that this is something I can do at home. It may be a bit much for a weekday. But this just seemed like the right thing to start my short road trip.

I don't think younger people eat this much anymore. In fact, much like the next morning's breakfast (an upcoming post of course), everyone here was at least a decade older then me. And no one got the egg raw.......they all requested the egg over-easy......

The Japanese breakfast is available for lunch and dinner, though there's an upcharge of $1 for lunch, and $2 for dinner.

Fukagawa Soba & Udon
1630 W Redondo Beach Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90247

Comments

[Arlene]

Ooh, that does bring back memories, although I never had it with natto on it. I agree, the rice has to be piping hot!!!I'll have to remember to eat it that way when I get some fresh eggs from my friends chickens!!!

[kirbie]

5:30? OMG, so early. But this explains why you can accomplish so much on your trips! The rice dish looks yummy, and you know how I feel about rice. Heh.
I've only visited Japan once, when I was really young. And I remember for breakfast, they were preparing this dish and they were going to put a raw egg in, but my mom freaked out and told them not to. I wonder if it was to make this dish.

[Sandy]

Nice trip down memory lane. My mom used to pack my dad's lunch. The rice would go into a thermos and she would crack a raw egg on top of the rice before closing the top.

I've never had natto, but raw egg mixed with piping hot rice sounds yummy and comforting. Can you buy natto in a very small quantity at the local markets? That way, I won't feel like I wasted too much if I decide that I don't like natto.

[Dennis]

Awesome post Kirk! Eggs Rocky Balboa style, haha.. ;) My first experience with natto and raw egg tamago kake gohan was in Los Angeles actually. At the time my sister was dating a guy from Tokyo (it's so true about most Osaka people tending to hate natto). Anyway I think Fukagawa is closed on Sundays. At least they were the couple times I visited this complex on the weekend. Super cool that they're open for breakfast. I always wished for that here in SD but I doubt we have enough people interested to sustain.
BTW have you had the soba here? I've been in a huge soba craving this past month and wouldn't mind a special trip up if the buckwheat noodles and dipping tsuyu were made scratch. Cheers

[Lynnea]

what a wonderful and healthy looking breakfast. Matthew and I eat natto for dinner but never for breakfast. ought to try it sometime =) thanks for writing such a sweet, memory laden post.

[Kirk]

Hi Arlene - I'm sure the natto was a fukushima thing...... man, fresh eggs.... that's what my grandparent's had!

LOL Kirbie - If you thought the rice looks good.... then it must be! ;o)

Hi Sandy - You should check out Nijiya or Mitsuwa. Natto is packed in smaller single serve containers..... some of them like little cups. Prices are usually under $2, so it wouldn't hurt to try.

Hi Dennis - I always crack up....folks from Osaka love Horse Sashimi or even Sasami... but no raw egg???? It's all perspective. And yes, Fukagawa is closed on Sundays..... which is why I left early on Saturday. Nothing fancy, but it was a meal with great memories.

Hi Lynnea - Hot rice + natto = a good meal! ;o)

[Chubbypanda]

I love that center, although I usually end up at Spoon House across the street. It's sorta on the way home for me. I'll try Fukagawa out.

[kat]

you are brave to eat raw egg, I can't even do it in Japan.

[bill]

The nostalgia of a simple breakfast. I miss my gramps.
As a matter of fact I had a burger with a sunny side up egg with beer braised onions over the weekend :-)

[Jeff C]

Kirk, love the post. It had a lot of Ohana feeling to it. I don't know the Japanese word for this, maybe you could tell it to us. I felt it was even a bit of Proust and his madelienes.
The mrs and i had gone to Aioi, the hotel served a breakfast buffet with an ocean grotto view. The breakfast was great and I even did the egg thing. The natto was not so great.

[Kirk]

Hi CP - Man ,spoon house is pretty busy.... there seemed to be folks waiting everytime I passed by.

Hi Kat -It was easy for me because tamago-meshi was something I grew up eating. The rice could have been hotter though.

Hi Billy - Sounds like a wonderful burger.

Hi Jeffrey - I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Natto (like Chou Dofu I guess) is a acquired taste.... that's why I'm suprised that the Missus enjoys it so much.

[Rosa]

Oh hey, you were in my neck of the woods!

Hrm...not sure about the natto part but everything else looked good!

[AZ]

Well Kirk, that sent me back a few decades. Raw egg with soy over hot rice, I remember my Mom fixing it for me as a child, no spring onions, no natto (not available in small mining town smack dab in the middle of Nowhere, Arizona). I think I stopped eating it when I was in second or third grade when all the children were asked what they had for breakfast and I piped up with "raw egg and rice" and all the kids went EWWWWWWW! I wanted to be like all the other kids so I stopped eating raw eggs and rice, and switched over to the traditional Mexican breakfast of beans, red or green chili, fried potatoes, and tortillas. Unfortunately I learned at school that the traditional Mexican breakfast was way to "ghetto" so I only admitted to eating cold cereal, which is something I never ate as a child.

[Faye]

I STILL can't bring myself to eat natto. It's the slime part that gets me. Can't get past the slime :) Do you think it's an acquired taste? Like you had to have grown up eating it to enjoy it?

Wonderful post - love the raw egg part!

[Kirk]

Hi Rosa - You know....natto isn't that bad.

Hi AZ - Just think, if you were in Japan and told the kids there you eat beans and tortillas for breakfast you might have gotten the same reaction! ;o)

Hi Faye - Natto really doesn't taste too bad; it may be that you'd have to raised on the stuff to truly appreciate it, but the Missus who hadn't had natto until she met me loves it. You should give it a shot..... just close your eye! ;o)

[Didi]

Wow. Kirk, thanks for the post. nothing like remembering food from childhood and being able to eat it and relive the memories of growing up. I've been to that Marukai market but never been to Fukugawa. Next time, will try the natto, never had it.

[Kirk]

Hi Didi - You've never had natto??? I think you need to try it out soon. ;o)

[sawyer]

i tried natto in korea for the first time this summer and it wasn't that bad at all...but it's nothing something i would want for breakfast lol.

that's a beautiful story about your grandparents though...it def. reminds me of my own grandmother and the meals she would cook for me when i was a kid...

to the power of food!

[Kirk]

Hey Sawyer - Yes, to the power of food times two!

[foodhoe]

mmmm that sounds very worth getting up at 5:30 for! I must find a place up north that serves this kind of hearty breakfast fare... I love the trip down memory lane and reading about breakfast with your grandparents too, those stories are priceless.