Went to Kokekokko last night for yakitori. IMHO, this is the best yakitori place in LA/OC. We ordered omakase and pretty much ate everything on the menu except for some side orders. Sorry for some of the poor photos. It was a combination of iPhone and Androids mixed with a lot of alcohol.

Breast - Two dabs of wasabi and two dabs of ginger sauce. They use bluefoot chicken here so this stick is served rare.



Liver and Gizzard - The liver was glazed with tare (sweet sauce) and gizzard is seasoned with salt only.



Meatball - I love this stick. It has a nice crust on the outside, but moist and tender on the inside.



Heart - This is the "regular" heart. This is a little chewy and liberally brushed with tare.



Thigh and Skin - Both were garnished with scallion. I normally prefer dark meat so the thigh was excellent. The skin was crispy and tasty.



Eggplant - Wrapped in a thin layer of leg meat.



Okra - Similar prep as the eggplant. This is one of my favorite veggies.



Neck - This was super fatty with small pieces of crunchy cartilage.



Wing - Commonly know as tebasaki, this is a must have at any yakitori place.

 

Softbone - This is made from the meat around the knee joint. Like the neck, this has bits of cartilage in the meat.



Special Special Heart - They have 3 varieties of heart here. The special special heart is the fattiest and tastiest, but it only available in limited quantities. We were lucky enough to go with a regular customer.



Duck - Duck isn't true yakitori, but it was still delicious.



Soboro - Ground chicken over rice served with a light broth and pickles. I always end my meal this way, although I noticed that they now have ramen on the menu.

 

Looks awesome, the one in Little Tokyo right?

 

DELISH...id even have that for breakfast!!!

 

The Yelp reviews are funny, clearly a cultural clash with some of them.

It looks like if you are not down with Omakase, you should probably pass. As in, if you order California roll at a Sushi place, you'll probably not have a good time.

 

Been there a few times. the food is excellent. Glad you got to try the special special hearts this time Mark.

 

yeah 2nd and central.

exactly. one of them even said, "it's so bad the beef and pork tastes like chicken." LOLOLOL

yeah, most of the time we call ahead and reserve the special special heart and whatever else that's not on the menu for that day. my buddy is good friends with the owner and we've been going since it opened - maybe 20 years now?

 

Nice, don't know why I thought you had only been there once or twice. We should do a TS dinner there.

 

I'd be down.

 

Me three.