“It all begins with the ingredients,” the people of Fatty’s Teriyaki say online. “We start with made-from-scratch sauces, high quality proteins, and a few signature sides that bring all the flavors together. The result is the teriyaki experience of your dreams.”
That’s fair enough. Maybe “teriyaki experience of your dreams” is a little hyperbolic, but we can’t really expect anything else from their own bio. They go on to say:
“Yes, there’s a lot of great teriyaki in the world, but not a lot that’s made with super high quality ingredients, filled to the brim with generous portion sizes, and sold at an affordable price point. We call this the Teriyaki Trifecta: quality, portions, and price point. Hopefully, you love our food as much as we do!”
Fatty’s Teriyaki has 25 locations, with nine in the Southern California area and a further 16 spread out across the States. So it’s not a major chain, but it’s also not a local chain. It does, however, feel like it’s growing.
The stacked menu suggests as much. Items such as the chicken teriyaki bowl, the coconut shrimp and the chicken nuggets. The teriyaki bowl also comes with steak or, as we chose, cauliflower. The vegan in our house was eating, so the cauliflower bowl was the obvious choice. The good news is, vegan or not, the dish is delicious.
The Teriyaki Cauliflower Bowl is described on the menu as, “Fried cauliflower served with rice, grilled cabbage, your choice of two sides, green onions, and sesame seeds. Served with a side of sauce.”
That sounds quite standard, but the reality is far more spectacular and impressive. The rice on the list is a coconut rice, and it’s surprisingly tasty alone–sweet and savory. But it also serves as the perfect side for the teriyaki, due to its ability to soak up and collect the sauce beautifully. As a result, the sweet coconut and teriyaki pair perfectly.
We opted to have the bowl with a vegetable spring roll (“Crispy spring rolls filled with shredded mixed vegetables served with your choice of dipping sauce”), and that’s full of vegetable flavors.
But the breaded cauliflower is magnificent. Crispy on the outside, it’s not just the breading that has crisped but also the surface of the cauliflower which has caramelized. Pasted in that wonderful teriyaki sauce and the dish is all tied together. No complaints from us.
Fatty’s Teriyaki is located at 5660 Selmaraine Dr., Culver City 90230. Contact fattysteriyaki.com.