Roy's Restaurant, Los Angeles

If you continue to visit my blog (pretty please, with sugar on top) you will see more of Roy's I am sure. Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant is where is spent my years as a restaurant manager. I love this concept, their food, the people, the pride they have in what they do and the infectious aloha.

It also happens to be how I met B. We both worked at the training store in Rancho Mirage. Sorry Roy, I might've broken a few rules with that one....

Anyway, we went to Roy's in downtown Los Angeles as they were participating in Dine Out For The Cure.


This is the Dynamite Maine Lobster Melt. B makes dynamite with a mixture of kewpie mayo, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and something for heat like sriracha or chili powder... I think.


I can't explain the deliciousness. Toasted french baguette, tomato, Maine lobster, creamy dynamite, goat cheese, melty, warm.


They have sushi too! On the left we have Hamachi and on the right Tai.

Also known as Yellowtail and Japanese Red Snapper.


I think this picture is even more blurry than the rest of the blurry pictures because I was cringing. I'm not a fan of the texture but there are a lot of people out there that love this.

This was B's Uni which is Sea Urchin Roe. You know, those prickly sea creatures? Break 'em open and you get this delicacy.


~sigh~ This is the Lakanilau Roll. Its pronounce Luh-cah-nee-low (rhymes with how). I crave this roll. When I was going thru chemo I couldn't have it as I was banned from rare foods. Not being able to have this roll was one of the tragedies of chemo. Its named after the lovely Cat who created it.


You are probably thinking to yourself... Is that meat on top?
Oh it is my friends.

Inside the roll is tempura asparagus, creamy crab and avocado. The outside is topped with thinly sliced kobe beef. Then the fun part... they torch it. The seared beef is delicate and melts in your mouth. I can't remember the sauce right now. This makes me kind of sad.

I know its not your normal roll and the meat throws people but just try it. Do it for me. Do it for the children. After all, I believe the children are our future. And the future looks bleak without the Lakanilau roll.


We decided to do all pupus (appetizers) because we didn't want to have to choose. Here is the Salt and Pepper Calamari with a White Soy Dipping Sauce. Notice how totally non-greasy this is. Simple flavors done the perfect way. The calamari was delicate and perfectly cooked.

Now is a good time to tell you that all the restaurants have different menus. They do carry some of the same signature items so there will be some repetition. Otherwise the chefs in each location design their menus and change them often. This allows them to be creative and to use only the freshest local ingredients.


The Creamy Crab Korokke. Korokke is a Japanese dish that is related to the french croquette. Its basically some kind of meat or seafood (this one is crab) mixed with potato and/or cream, formed into a patty, rolled in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and fried.

What you get is a crisp outside and creamy, yummy goodness inside. Its on top a tartare-like sauce and it also had corn in it. I attempted to take a picture of the inside but I think, OK I'm positive it wasn't representative of how it tasted.


This mess was a once beautifully prepared Pineapple Upside-down Cake Parfait. Um, I think thats what its called, I couldn't find it on the menu.

I'll call it... The Best Non-Chocolate Dessert of All Time.

What you see are layers of custard, butter cake, pineapple braised in rum and spices of which I can't remember and topped with toasted coconut. It is the type of decadence that coats your mouth when you eat it and makes you not want to drink or eat anything afterwards. Why? Because I want to taste it for as long as possible.


We finished with the most refreshing sorbets. The bowl included Mango, Mandarin and Strawberry Lemongrass sorbets with berries, pineapple and kiwi.

How cute is that cookie spoon?!

And then we looked around and realized we had spent hours upon hours chatting with everyone there. The kitchen was being cleaned and guests were gone. We got home close to 1 am. At this point I remembered I am no longer in the industry. I had briefly forgotten I had to work in the morning. That 5:30 am alarm was punishment enough for all those calories.