Budonoki
The best thing on the menu at this Virgil Village izakaya is Thai. Naem, a sour fermented pork sausage, comes with crispy rice and slaw.
Why go
Budonoki roved as a pop-up before it took the ground floor of a new condo block at the end of 2023. Brant Cox says you would not guess it, because the black walls and the fluorescent Orion beer sign read like a room that has been there for decades.1
The kitchen calls itself an izakaya and cooks wider than that. Pressed oshizushi sits beside the naem, which Cox rates the best thing on the menu, a sour-savory fermented pork sausage served with crispy rice and slaw.1
Drinks arrive in penguin mugs. Cox found rice milk and plum sake, blood orange shochu slushies, and sake bombs going round the booths.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the naem. Cox:
a sour-savory fermented pork sausage with crispy rice and slaw that's easily the best thing on the menu.
1 - Order: the oshizushi if you want the Japanese half of the menu.1
- Avoid: a quiet table. There isn't one.
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation LA, Brant Cox, 25 January 2024:
This Japanese izakaya in Virgil Village delivers an uncommon combination of strong drinks, spicy playlists, and tremendous food.
1 The Infatuation is owned by JPMorgan Chase. - The restaurant on itself:
a neighborhood izakaya offering drinking snacks and sushi alongside ice-cold beer and cocktails.
2
Good to know
- Booking: through OpenTable, and walk-ins are welcome.2
- Getting there: the corner of Virgil and Melrose, Virgil Village.2
Verdict
could-visit — Brant Cox went in January 2024 and made the case plainly: strong drinks, a loud room, and food you would come back for, which is the combination that usually breaks. He named the naem as the best thing on the menu, a sour fermented pork sausage with crispy rice and slaw, and that is a Thai dish in a room that calls itself an izakaya. The pop-up took its permanent space at the end of 2023, so this is still a young kitchen. The rung is held down by the evidence, not the cooking: one review, and a national listing that could not be verified from any page this pass could open.