HamaSaku
11043 Santa Monica Blvd.
L.A., CA
310-479-7636

Tucked in a corner of a nondescript mini-mall, HamaSaku is an unexpected find. A good deal of money obviously went into creating this sleek and sophisticated California-Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. If this review were a book blurb, HamaSaku would be touted as "in the tradition of Matsuhisa, Chaya Brasserie and Chinois." And it would probably be a bestseller.   

Curved arcs of slatted wood lower the ceiling in front of the sushi bar. Banquettes line the back wall and, at the entrance, water trickles over a granite slab (very like the fountain sculpture at Spago Beverly Hills). It's the contrast between the neon-bright mall and the surprise of HamaSaku's serene and elegant interior that gives the restaurant the feeling of a private club for well-heeled sushi fans.

On one visit, my guest arrived before I did. While she waited a few minutes, the host took exemplary care of her, offering her a drink, or a menu, or to be seated at the table -- any and all of the above. The point is she was made to feel welcome, rather than awkward. It's a telling detail that escapes even some of L.A.'s top restaurants.

Owner Toshi Kihara, in fact, has experience from working at Ma Maison and the original Spago. Super-agent Michael Ovitz is a backer and former longtime Spago maitre d' Bernard Erpicum is helping run things, so Kihara knows how to cater to the industry crowd. Good service is essential, and he's got that covered. The right kind of menu is a given, too: nothing too authentic, nothing too challenging.

Here the sushi chef would never scold or balk if someone asked for a California or Dynamite roll. They're both on the menu. You want spicy tuna? You'll get it spicy. What about the garlic sauce that is Matsuhisa's calling card? No problem. The kitchen can create that, too, as well as its own distinctive sauces. How about sashimi dressed with caramelized butter or raspberry sauce?

The California roll, by the way, is tasty enough that I begin to understand why it's so popular. The crab is sparkling fresh, the avocado perfectly ripe. Rainbow roll is a variation on this California classic: Each cut of the roll has a different kind of fish laid across the top, which makes it interesting to eat. Spicy tuna roll, though, is dosed with so much hot pepper it's difficult to taste the tuna. Nori-wrapped eel roll is glazed with a very sweet, dark soy. The gingery Chinese chicken salad should be a crowd pleaser, less sweet than most, strewn with finely chopped vegetables and crunchy bites of fried wonton skin.

Generally, the regular sushi is fine, though two pieces of well-marbled toro (fatty tuna belly) will set you back $15.

The more original dishes have their ups and downs. Yellowtail sashimi garnished with green beans and asparagus in a "caramelized butter sauce" is nondescript. What little flavor the yellowtail has is buried beneath the butter. Another special, halibut carpaccio with curry clam sauce, is delicate and lovely. Translucent pearly gray slices of halibut are draped over a mound of seaweed and embellished with beads of salmon roe. It's a wonderful tapestry of flavors.

Both chefs, Hisao Tsuzuranuki at the sushi bar and Hiro Fujita in the kitchen, are trained in French and Italian cooking. So we have a shiitake mushroom cap the width of a hand that's stuffed with a bland, slightly rubbery chicken mousse. Its success depends on whether you're a fan of chicken mousse or not. Or you might find a hollowed-out yellow tomato filled with tuna tataki, or tartare, looking like a garnish from a hotel buffet. And dessert may be a curious combination plate of raspberry sorbet, caramelized bananas and green tea tiramisu.

At HamaSaku, you can also have your meat and potatoes. There's a very nice beef tenderloin with good mashed potatoes and a sassy mustard sauce. Other choices include a perfectly grilled red snapper with shiitake risotto and shaved bonito sauce, and a rosy rack of lamb with miso almond sauce.

You can also have martinis, in this case a green tea sake version (like wine margaritas, the child of necessity, I suspect). It's dubbed "iblastini." Did I say trendy? Served ice cold, it's tinged the faintest shade of green, and tastes intriguing enough that I'd repeat the experience.

The chefs also have competing omakase: a sushi omakase appetizer or the dinner version, which starts at $50 per person (you tell the waiter how much you'd like to spend). After trying the sushi omakase a couple of times, which, aside from a terrific spicy tuna roll one night wrapped in an ingeniously cut sheet of cucumber, I would be just as happy ordering from the menu by myself. Next time, I'd skip the chunks of marinated albacore sashimi smothered in onions and shallots.

Dinner omakase, on the whole, is more interesting and usually includes a couple of dishes from the sushi bar anyway. I had a scallop sashimi salad with a bright red raspberry sauce, thoughtfully placed off to the side, and seared yellowtail sashimi dribbled with rust-colored mango and pineapple teriyaki sauce. (You have to like teriyaki.) The main course was sauteed black sea bass with mashed potato tempura that resembled deep-fried potato knish, a fusion idea that works. Black sea bass has a distinctly delicious flavor, complemented nicely by a moat of ginger tomato soy sauce.

Unlike Matsuhisa's Beverly Hills restaurant, HamaSaku is quiet enough for conversation. It's also discreet. That may be why I noticed more than one famous face emerge from the semiprivate room just off the sushi bar. The food may have its hits and misses, but if you stick with what are now the classics of the California-Japanese sushi bar, HamaSaku can't fail to please.



Hours: Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.- 10 p.m.; Sat., dinner only.