Japonica
By Richard Foss
Note: Written 2003, minor menu changes since publication.
There’s a pattern of acceptance of any foreign cuisine in America. First a tame version makes inroads, then more eclectic variations, and finally the full flowering of regional styles. Italian food was in America for over fifty years before most people could discern the difference between Tuscan and Sicilian cuisine, and Chinese food meant Mandarin or Cantonese for over a century.
By comparison Japanese food has flourished very quickly, with sushi going from wildly exotic to commonplace in only twenty years. True, we have had teriyaki and tempura joints for much longer, but these are giving way to a wave of new restaurants that are serving entirely different and more interesting items.
Teriyaki and tempura aren’t entirely absent at Redondo Beach’s Japonica, but they definitely aren’t the focus. Japonica is one of the new Tokyo-style restaurants that reinterprets Japanese regional cooking, and it is one of the most interesting of its kind in Los Angeles.
Our initial impression of the place was bad simply because we encountered a wall of noise as we went in. Echoing laughter and loud conversations vied with music to create the impression that we were about to dine in a place as loud as a busy aircraft hangar. We considered going elsewhere but decided that the reports of the food were so good that we would deal with the noise.
We were guided to the sake bar at the back and given menus and a picture book of the various items. The latter was quite helpful, giving a sense of portion size to a list of items with which we were unfamiliar. As it happened the area right by the front door is the loudest in the restaurant, and where we were seated it was quite possible to converse in normal tones.
Japonica offers a wide range of sakes in different styles, most of which we were entirely unfamiliar with. Our waiter offered us an option so new it wasn’t on the beverage list – a taster of three different premium sakes for ten dollars. We agreed happily, and looked forward to seeing how they complemented the foods. Having had sakes of various qualities in many restaurants, I can confidently say the taster here is a real value. We ordered eight dishes based entirely on what sounded unusual and interesting and sat back with cups of sake to await our dinner.
The menu at Japonica is divided into cold and hot appetizers, soups, salads, tempura, tofu, grilled items, and sushi, rice, and noodle dishes, and we had ordered from just about every category. Things showed up in an order with no particular logic – when something was ready from the kitchen, it appeared in front of us. The first thing to show up was a salad of chilled cooked spinach topped with bonito flakes. The spinach had been boiled very briefly so that there was a bit of crispness left in the leaves – it had the flavor of cooked spinach but a salad-like texture. The dry and lightly salty bonito flakes were an interesting counterpoint, and it made a very good starter.
Immediately after this item we received a bowl of simmered shredded burdock root and carrot with soy sauce. Burdock is a kind of wild thistle whose root looks like a carrot and tastes like a cross between artichoke and asparagus, and it mixed nicely with the carrots in a rich broth. Add some chunks of beef and you could create something like an Irish stew gone Asian.
We continued with one of the more conventional items, a shrimp salad Japonica style. The pile of salad flanked by six large shrimp was nothing unusual, but the plum-based dressing made all the difference. It was tangy, lightly tart and almost peppery, with just a hint of fruit sweetness. Like any good dressing it brought out different flavors in the components of the salad, tasting sweeter when pared with a chunk of shrimp, more tart against the greens and shards of seaweed. This item was closely followed by a show-stopper of a snack, lotus root sliced thin as a potato chip and quickly fried. The lacy construction of lotus roots is always pleasing to the eye, and when cooked in this manner it was a marvel of both beauty and crispness. Lotus root hasn’t caught on in the American mainstream yet, but it certainly could – I can imagine a day when Americans will sit down to watch the game with beer, hot dogs, and lotus crunchies. The idea is amazingly simple, the result amazingly tasty.
Our last dishes arrived almost simultaneously – tempura chopped shrimp wrapped in a peppery shiso leaf, a house special sushi roll, and a bowl of tofu in soup with gobo root, eel and eggs. The latter sounds more exotic than it appears. Gobo root is another name for burdock, and our waiter wasn’t able to explain why it is sometimes called burdock and sometimes gobo on the same menu. (It may be some detail of preparation…) Anyway, the lightly sweet soup with vegetables, egg, and eel was like a chowder, flavorful but not assertive. The tempura shrimp was somewhat more interesting, the shiso lending its usual flavor of minty pepper and an unusual crunchy texture to the moist shrimp.
The Japonica roll was the only sushi item we ordered, and it was a good one, a mixture of seafood with avocado, bonito flake, and the gobo root which seems to be such an integral item at this restaurant. The bonito and gobo added textures rarely found in sushi along with subtle flavors. This could be a standout item at just about any sushi bar, and the fact that it was just another good selection among so many emphasizes what a good restaurant this is.
Having dined to a feeling of comfort we got ready to pay our bill, and only then discovered that dessert was included. We were offered ice cream cake or green tea flavored yo-kan. Having never heard of the latter, we ordered one of each. The ice cream cake was good though a bit sweet for my tastes, but the yo-kan , which was explained to us as Japanese jello, was far more interesting. Rather than jello, it is more like a slightly granular custard flavored with sweet red beans and a hint of tea. This description might not make you run madly out of the house to order some, but believe me, it’s worth trying.
Japonica offers a cavalcade of wonderful flavors in unexpected combinations, and does so at a relatively reasonable price – our lavish dinner for two with sake flights and a glass of Japanese soju ran under ninety dollars. While not small change, it is reasonable for dining of this caliber. The place has joined the pantheon of restaurants that I must visit again, taking friends with me.
Japonica is located at 1304 1/2 PCH in Redondo Beach. Open daily for dinner, brunch on weekends. Beer, wine, sake, and soju served. Parking in rear. For reservations call 316-9477.