{"id":303499,"date":"2025-10-14T20:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/303499\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T20:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:13:10","slug":"budonoki-review-the-virgil-village-hot-spot-is-the-most-playful-izakaya-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/303499\/","title":{"rendered":"Budonoki Review: The Virgil Village Hot Spot Is the Most Playful Izakaya in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph n2hx75i _1knl15h1 _1knl15h0 cej01i1\">Entering <a href=\"https:\/\/la.eater.com\/venue\/108053\/budonoki-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Budonoki<\/a> feels like stepping into a really cool party: neon LED wall art lights up the room, 2000s R&amp;B hits are bumping, and the fun, inviting vibe permeates all corners. The most important aspect about this <a href=\"https:\/\/la.eater.com\/2024\/12\/3\/24299784\/eater-awards-winners-los-angeles-2024-restaurants-bars\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2024 Eater Best New Restaurant winner<\/a>, however, is the inventive and irreverent food. Helmed by executive chef Dan Rabilwongse with partners Eric Bedroussian and Josh Hartley, Budonoki is an adventure that combines Japanese precision with bright Thai flavors and French techniques.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph n2hx75i _1knl15h1 _1knl15h0 cej01i1\">The most iconic drink at Budonoki is the Girl\u2019s Night Out, a sweet and citrusy plum wine cocktail that arrives in an adorable animal-shaped mug. Half the fun of ordering this drink is seeing which whimsical creature you\u2019ll get; options include otters, whales, and penguins. There\u2019s also an extensive sake menu to peruse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph n2hx75i _1knl15h1 _1knl15h0 cej01i1\">A birthday party (book a large patio table or the round table with a lazy Susan that foregrounds the host\u2019s stand), a meal out with friends, or a date night that doesn\u2019t feel too fancy, but is still impressive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph n2hx75i _1knl15h1 _1knl15h0 cej01i1\">Save room for dessert. Although the flavors rotate, the <a href=\"https:\/\/la.eater.com\/maps\/best-soft-serve-los-angeles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">soft serve is never cloying<\/a>, and arrives with an adorable spoon shaped like a shovel that you can take home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering Budonoki feels like stepping into a really cool party: neon LED wall art lights up the room,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":303500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,141333,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-303499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-dining-report","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115374352301859530","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}