Little Tokyo’s culinary scene keeps surging ahead, and one of its sparkplugs is clearly Michael Cardenas, who co-owns the Lazy Ox Canteen, the adjacent izakaya Toranoko, and now Fat Spoon, an even more casual Japanese café that’s long and lean, with white walls hosting oh-so meta photos of the restaurant and plenty of bunny imagery. Leap spoon-first into the rabbit hole and order from a menu heavy on curry and pastas. Why not? Fat Spoon bathes most proteins—Jidori chicken leg, short ribs, and the pork cutlet, for example—in dark-brown curry, while beef tongue arrives in tender, shred-ready slabs alongside steamed white rice. Be on the lookout for printed specials like uni croquette, a creamy disk of vegetables and sea urchin sheathed in a panko crust; or a heaping bowl of squid-ink spaghetti that’s tossed with tender squid and plump shell-on clams.

Jidori chicken leg
Pork cutlet
Uni croquette
Beef tongue
Squid-ink spaghetti
view full menu here

Snag a table by the window for views of stylish pedestrians in Little Tokyo, or sit on a barstool to look into the open kitchen. Avoid the black counter that faces the wall on the walk to the bathroom.

Executive chef Hiroyuki Fujita first made pasta in Tokyo at an Italian restaurant called Chic, beginning in 1991.

Sun.–Thurs. 11 AM–11 PM; Fri.–Sat. 11 AM–12 midnight

$6 (house salad) to $12 (seafood curry)