Where to Eat Now

Comments (0) By Jonathan Gold Tuesday, May 13 2008

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Tama SushiTwenty years ago, Katsu Michite was at the center of the Los Angeles sushi universe, the sushi chef of choice to both famous chefs and famous artists. And Michite’s sushi is still fantastic; his omakaselunch is one of the better sushi deals in town — with all the needlefish and beltfish and various kinds of jacks you’d expect at a high-caliber sushi counter. His signature method is to mold fish to rice in a way that leaves the sushi easy to manage but allows it to practically explode inside your mouth. He may be using lemon to dress his halibut instead of imported yuzuand a decent paste instead of fresh wasabi, but he knows how to buy a fish, and his knife has an unerring sense of the sweet spot on a fillet. 11920 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 760-4585. Lunch Mon.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner Fri.–Sat.. 5–11 p.m., Sun.–Thurs. 5–10 p.m. Beer, wine and sake. Valet parking Tues.–Sat. AE, MC, V. Japanese.JG

South Los Angeles

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Vietnam Restaurant

1011 S. Glendora Ave.
West Covina, CA 91790-4921

Category: Restaurant > Asian

Region: Central San Gabriel Valley

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J N J Burger & Bar-B-QThere may be no more evocative location for a barbecue pit than the one currently occupied by J N J Burger & Bar-B-Q. A bit east of the Culver City Media District, the ramshackle structure is bordered on two sides by the local firewood outlet, in the shadow of fruitwood mountains and hillocks of oak, drifts of stacked logs that reach two or three stories in height. The brawny, dripping beef ribs are great, and the chicken is fine and moist. It is the spareribs, however, that make the barbecue stand. J N J’s long-cooked babies are compelling — blackened, rendered of most of their fat, tending almost toward a jerkylike chaw, saturated with smoke, and profoundly spicy even without the sauce, which blankets the pork like a winter coat. J N J may be the closest thing you are going to find to a country-road shack within the confines of Los Angeles. 5754 W. Adams Blvd., L.A., (323) 933-7366. Mon.-Thurs. 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. No alcohol. Street parking. Cash only. Lunch or dinner for two, food only, $6-$28. American.

South Bay/LAX

Sanuki No Sato Udon noodles come in all the standard flavors: topped with crisp buttons of tempura batter in a plain soy-enriched broth, or with chewy bits of rice cake, or with exquisitely slimy Japanese mountain yams. Yukinabe udon — served in a rustic-looking iron kettle and buried beneath half an inch of grated daikon, a sprinkling of grated wasabi and a ferociously spiced cod-egg sac — is refreshing in spite of its bulk, an exotic bowl you could eat every day. 18206 S. Western Ave., Gardena, (310) 324-9184. Open daily, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. & 5:30–10 p.m. Beer and wine. Lot parking. Lunch or dinner for two, food only, $13–$36. AE, DC, MC, V. Japanese. JG

East Los Angeles/Highland Park

Cemitas Poblanas Elvirita #1 RestauranteElvirita is a small double storefront just up the hill from El Mercado and across the street from a big cemetery. A decade or so ago, the original Cemitas Poblanas, a café in the same location, was probably the first Puebla-style restaurant in Los Angeles, the first place specifically devoted to cemitas, perhaps the greatest of Mexico’s sandwiches. These are the best I’ve ever tasted — careful, lush compositions of crisp milanesa and quesillo; juicy carnitas and quesillo; head cheese and quesillo; and, in one memorable instance, quesillo and quesillo, punctuated with avocado and chipotles. There is the Poblano specialty called taco arabe, carbonized nubs of pork (perversely enough for an Arab taco) dressed with chipotle salsa and rolled like shwarma into a flour tortilla standing in for the pita. And there are giant quesadillas stuffed with the black, musky fungus huitlacoche. You can combine the two most famous Puebla dishes in cemitas de mole: sandwiches stuffed with shredded chicken in a spicy, pitch-black mole Poblano — as perfect as it is possible to imagine a sandwich to be. 3010 E. First St., L.A., (323) 881-0428. Open daily 10 a.m.-9 p.m. No alcohol. Street parking. Cash only. Mexican.

La Casita Mexicana When you sit down at La Casita, the spiritual home of Mexican cooking in Los Angeles, you are brought a basket of warm chips drizzled with jet-black mole poblano, a chile-laced red pepian and a green pepian made from crushed pumpkin seeds: the dense, complexly sweet mother sauces that are at the heart of La Casita’s cooking. Chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu are everywhere if you follow Spanish-language media, demonstrating recipes on the Univision morning show, opening supermarkets, splashed across advertising posters. They dominate the food pages of La Opinión, and no local discussion of mole poblano, nopalitos or chilaquiles is complete until they have had their say. The two haunt communal farms, looking for huazontle, hoja santa and nopales as fresh and beautiful as they might be in an agriculture-obsessed Jalisco village. But mostly there is the cooking: a half-dozen different kinds of chilaquiles at breakfast, a beautiful purple-corn pozole, delicious enfrijoladas, and an impeccable version of chiles en nogada, the most famous dish of haute Mexican cuisine. 4030 E. Gage Ave., Bell, (323) 773-1898 or www.casitamex.com. Open daily 9 a.m.–10 p.m. AE, M, V. No alcohol. Street parking. Mexican.JG H