Osawa

The best Japanese restaurants in Los Angeles are hard to find, and Osawa is no exception: hidden away in Pasadena, like Katsu-ya in the Valley and Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo’s maze. The menu is quite simple: izakaya appetizers (called otsumami), sushi and shabu-shabu. Go easy on the otsumami (shishito tempura stuffed with spicy tuna, beef tongue with furofuki daikon …) to save room for what’s coming up next. If you’re walking in on a Saturday night, you’ll be seated at a regular table where you can order sushi, bento box and chirashi. But the lucky ones seated at the bar will order shabu-shabu, a Japanese fondue with Kurobuta pork, rib-eye or Wagyu. Shabu-shabu? So nice you say twice.