DTLA: Chaya Beer Garden is Back!
Last year, Chaya Downtown offered a beer garden in the summer but it was only on Mondays. Now the beer garden is back but it’s every week day (Monday through Friday) from now until September 2nd. It’s offered 4 p.m. to restaurant close.
Chef de Cuisine Kazuya Matsuoka
sake flight
sake sangria
Despite its name of a beer garden, I started with a sake flight.Chaya Downtown is also offering sake sangria and some great Japanese whiskeys. My favorite was the 18-year blended Hibiki.
spicy tuna stuffed shishito peppers
kimchi flatbread
grilled white corn with feta
We started with some light bites including spicy tuna stuffed shishito peppers, kimchi flatbread and grilled white corn with feta cheese. It’s always fun to see what Chaya would come up with. I enjoyed the peppers and corn quite a bit. It was amusing to see the ladies picking up the corn and eating it off the cob while the men actually cut the niblets off! I’m not sure what this says about us as a society but fresh summer corn should be enjoyed on the cob.
sea scallop miso gratin
fried oysters
Kobe beef short rib melt
Next up, we had the sea scallops from the beer garden menu and the Kobe beef short ribs from the happy hour menu. I’m not sure where the fried oysters are from but they are great. Lightly battered and fried, they evoked lazy days at the beach.
soy braised short rib sukiyaki style
Chaya is really great with beef. The short ribs braised with soy under izakaya items was a winner. The beef was very tender and I liked the melange of veggies.
various yakitori and kushiyaki
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself ordering skewer and skewer. At only $2 a pop, it’s easy to get several orders. The offerings range from chicken, beef, shirmp and shitake mushrooms but the standouts were the bacon-wrapped dates and beef tongue which is marinated for hours.
coffee BBQ pork
My favorite dish that night though was the coffee BBQ pork. The coffee glaze wasn’t cloying and just the slightest dip in the hot sauce left the pork pleasantly spicy.
pistachio chocolate chip cookies
croissant bread pudding
fallen chocolate cake
Chaya’s desserts are pretty spectacular. They make some of my favorite cookies in the city and I have loved the croissant bread pudding ever since I first had it over at Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills. But this night’s stunner was the fallen chocolate cake with the warm, gooey, decadent center.
Chaya Downtown – beer garden until September 2nd
525 S. Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
213-236-9577
I’ve eaten there a couple times now. The skewers are very inexpensive and good.
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Skewers are fun!
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i’m so curious about the chaya restaurants! m cafe is probably my favorite place to eat in l.a. and i’ve tried venice when i first moved here 5 years ago, but have never been downtown or to beverly hills.
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ah, you may not like it as it’s very decadent! Chaya Brasserie uses a lot of butter as the chef is French-born (so good)! Chaya Venice is the party spot and I go to Chaya DTLA a bit since it’s DTLA.
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I used to go to Chaya Venice when I first moved to LA too! Funny that it still draws a party crowd after all these years. Minty, the drinks and food look amazing. I’m so close yet never think to stop by. We need to have a pre-Birthday happy hour here before the 2nd!
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I suck! I need to answer your email! You should definitely check it out since you’re practically right on top of it. 🙂 Yes, let’s do HH soon!
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