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Culinary Connection
Wokcano Restaurant Review
By Bruce Wildstein
Wokcano takes a basic idea and executes it well: prepare popular Asian foods at a fair price. This concept seems to work well, as evidenced by the recent opening of their 6th Southern California restaurant in Santa Monica. At Wokcano, you get the best of several worlds: Japanese and Chinese foods, plus a little bit of Thai and Korean thrown in for good measure. The restaurants are creatively decorated with an Asian inspired atmosphere featuring dark woods, marble, hanging lamps and greenery. Each location is somewhat different, but for this review we visited their Burbank location. It’s near the busy shopping district, and aside from the main dining room they20have a sushi bar, lounge, private party room and a bar.
The menu is quite varied but does not overwhelm the diner with a huge number of choices. There is sushi, of course, plus hot and cold appetizers, entrees featuring meat, seafood and veggies, plus Wokcano’s own specialty dishes. Wines are mostly California labels and there is a good selection of beer and sakes. The tables are constructed from dark wood and with the contrasting white dishes the dining experience appears just classy enough without being fussy. Some cold sake and beer got us started while we perused the menu and thought about sharing our choices. I thought it would be best to try a variety of items, so we ordered a California Roll to start things off. It arrived rather promptly, very fresh and lived up to our expectations. The Crab Wontons were selected next and they arrived six on the plate. Hot and crispy, these are filled with real crabmeat and we enjoyed them thoroughly with the sweet and sour dipping sauce. But we weren’t ready to leave the appetizer menu just yet, so we ordered the intriguing sounding Onion Pancake. Yes, it was really a flat pancake made from some type of batter with mild green onions, and we were surprised at how tasty it was and not bitter at all. Other starters include a number of salads and soups (Miso, wonton, hot and sour), and additional appetizers of tempura, egg roll, and calamari.
OK, with our appetizers finished, it was time to get serious with the main entrees. We decided to go with one seafood dish, one beef dish, and a fried rice dish. We ordered the Honey Walnut Shrimp, which is quite popular we were told, and the Black Pepper Beef Mignon. Being a shrimp lover, the Honey Walnut Shrimp for me was a real winner. The plate had a dozen or so lightly battered plump, fresh shrimp topped with honey coated walnuts and a side of broccoli. This dish was so good we could have eaten another one. The pepper beef was a meat lover’s offering, with a mound of sliced beef in a black pepper sauce with sliced onions. Then the Crabmeat Fried Rice plate arrived, which was prepared with cucumbers, green onions, egg whites, and crabmeat of course. This was also excellent. We couldn’t have eaten more, but other specialty entrees at Wokcano include Grilled Seabass, Peking Duck, Korean Style Short Ribs, and Pan Roasted Lobster. You can also order Chinese style entrees where each dish features chicken, beef, vegetables, or seafood. If noodles are your thing, Wokcano has their Shanghai Lo Mein, the Singapore Style Noodles, and Pad Thai (glass n oodles).
Dessert anyone? Yes, we had room to share a dessert. We chose Wokcano’s Mochi and Cappuccino ice creams, which were sweet and went down smoothly. They also have an Oreo Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, and Strawberry Shortcake. Coffee drinks finished the meal very pleasantly.
If you prefer just a sushi meal here, though, you could try one of Wokcano’s five Sushi Dinners. The Maki Combination has California Roll, tuna roll, and cucumber roll (six pieces each). The Sushi Deluxe has nine combination pieces plus six tuna pieces. Each Sushi dinner is served with house salad and miso soup.
Wokcano restaurants stay open late, until 12:30 AM weeknights, and an hour or so later on weekends. So it would also be a good choice after a night out. In the Valley, the Burbank location is currently your choice, with other locations in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and downtown L.A. being alternates. Wokcano in Burbank is located at 150 S. San Fernando Road, telephone 818-524-2288 or 818-524-2088.