Kanpachi sushi in Gardena

Omakase! Served by the soft-spoken Kiro-san, a sushi chef who is an old friend of Jen and her family.

1) Hirame (halibut) and Tai (red snapper)
2) Toro (fatty tuna) and Maguro Tataki (marinated seared tuna)
3) Hotate (scallop), Mirugai (giant clam), and Awabi (abalone)
4) Uni (sea urchin roe)
5) Aji (Spanish mackerel) and Kanpachi (amberjack)
6) Ama Ebi (sweet shrimp) and Tako (raw octopus)
7) Tamago (omelet)

Interspersed between the sushi courses were a miso soup with the tasty head of the shrimp (from #6) and a delicate steamed egg custard.

Was very interested in the progression of the omakase, starting with the lighter-tasting types of white fish to red fish, then to crisp bivalves, back again to fish, this time of the stronger, oily varieties, and climaxing in glorious shellfish. Tamago a sweet ending.

Tasty bits I got after the omakase was finished, out of greed:

• Saba (mackerel), which this chef makes extra luscious through smoking
• Tako (octopus), miraculously tender, cut into chunks, and served with a dipping salt

Many thanks to Jen for introducing me to this wonderful restaurant, and for helping to reconstruct the menu we had last week. And for throwing in all the Japanese names for the sushi, which I am still trying to learn.

NY food, and friends on the LA freeways

On New York:

I have been surfing Chowhound for the past hour, trying to find a good but not overly expensive restaurant to try during a quick trip to New York next week. But sadly, on Chowhound the prevailing opinion seems to be that $60 a person is a bargain.

If you are seeking to spend less, Chowhound may not be friendly territory. Just ask the poor guy who was looking for suggestions on an anniversary dinner for two for around $100. He got a list of top-notch carryout options and was directed to a previous post about "cheap eats" around the city. But in a nice way.

Despite this, and in the spirit of splurging a bit, I've narrowed it down to 3 places I'd like to try: The Spotted Pig, a British-Italian "gastropub" whose chef worked at Chez Panisse; Aquavit, a Swedish place that serves things like herring, salt-baked fennel and house-made flavored liquors; and Convivio, where I read you can get a good southern Italian prix fixe dinner for $59.

On L.A.:

Twice now, I have re-seen the same person on a freeway during my commute, days or weeks apart! It gives L.A. such a small-town America feel, just like running into people you know at the post office or market.

1) The first guy is a motorcyclist. He wears a helmet that is not so much a helmet as it is a costume mask shaped like a brown, wrinkled demon's head, with curved horns at the top. I have never seen his face, only the back of him as he zooms through traffic on the 10.

2) A dark green Nissan 240SX. It has stickers all over it, and a stuffed blue M&M character dangling from its rear bumper, really close to the ground. The M&M is wearing a Santa's hat. I spotted it for the first time on the 110 a week ago, and again this afternoon on my drive home on the 10.

R.I.P. good Szechuan restaurants

My family has a handful of Chinese restaurants that we always go to. They are

1) Dumpling House, Temple City
Operators: A Northern Chinese family who lived in Korea
Actual Chinese name: The Home Village

2) Szechuan Express, Monterey Park
Operators: A Szechuanese couple and their sons
Actual Chinese name: Little Szechuan

3) Lu's Garden, San Gabriel
Operators: Taiwanese
Actual Chinese name: Little Lu

4) Oriental Pearl, San Gabriel
Operators: Mainlanders
Actual Chinese name: House of Szechuan Flavors

The Oriental Pearl and Szechuan Express tragically closed their doors recently. A little tribute follows:

The Loh family à table

Mom, Dad, Scott and I sit down at the Oriental Pearl.

Dad [opens menu, pretends to read]: Okay, what do we want to eat?

Scott and me [rolling our eyes]: C'mon, Dad.

Dad: Everybody pick one dish.

Me: Okay, how about salt-and-pepper pork chops?

Dad [snorts]: Don't be a fool.

Mama chuckles, shaking her head at us. Dad waves a waitress over and proceeds to order our habitual menu, refined over time and now as good as set in stone:

• A combination cold plate: Fu qi fei pian (thin slices of beef and tendon, spiced with smuggled Szechuan peppercorns and cilantro), marinated slices of pork tongue, and blanched celery salad
• Twice-cooked pork (the true test of a Szechuan restaurant)
• Mapo tofu (the other true test of a Szechuan restaurant)
• Water-boiled beef (water is a misnomer here, unless water is something that is a deep red color and turns your tongue into a mass of numbness)
• Soup of white fish, pickled greens, and hot peppers
• Stir-fried bitter melon (the only non-spicy dish on the table).