Making a thread for what newbs like me call “The Yakuza Series”. Since the “yakuza recommendation” thread was not really ever officially “it”, to the point where people were saying someone should make the thread. So here I am.
(this part of the post is a resturaunt review)
This month I realized there has been a ramen shop just on the other side of the Venice Canals from me. (so like 1 mile EASY but interesting bicycle ride)
Unlike all the Bourgeois gentrification joints on main and rose and abbot Kinney, this one opened in like 2011 and is so mf authentic. It truly is the only thing in my neighborhood that can filter the chaos and make me feel like I am in Japan where things are orderly, frugal in the right ways, and just makes sense.
Basically the menu is straight up video games. And it feels like I gain experience from going there, each time becoming a bit more comfortable. I got there after an especially intense day, riding my bike like a punk, witnessing gang shit, drug deals, thousands of tourists, and in there I feel like a yakuza just trying to relax for a moment. (There’s a lot of authentic places across LA, but I’m about that life so I don’t drive. )
There’s no “Non-Game Resturaunts that remind you of Video Games” thread right?
Anyways, I’m excited for Project Century. I finally got around to busting through some yakuza last year, when I was doing stay-in security work for the Armenian mafia. Some of y’all remember that.
Blurry ass photo of the menu. You already know. It’s shibuya tonkatsu, the menu is organized how you’d expect. The atmosphere is perfect.
Again, there’s plenty of places out there, but I didn’t know there’s one that’s “mine”, where I can really go offload when I feel like it.
“ We need more stuff like this in Venice” is something that people who know the true heart of Venice say. This is it. If you don’t know Venice, it’s accurately portrayed in the GTA series. But I don’t like GTA, I like Yakuza!!
Anyways feel free to stealth drop a resturaunt review, talk about yakuza or shenmue or whatever, organized crime or gang activities, and be excited with me about the next game in the series taking place in 1915!
Final post script Edit: writing this made me realize I need to get back to playing yakuza again now that I’ve been back in Venice over a year since my Armenian involvement.
