Choice Choices at Chez Izumi

Japanese-French restaurants, the kind with just a counter and maybe a few tables, are among the most charming restaurants in Los Angeles. Like a sushi bar, you sit facing the chef; like an American roadside diner, you may witness the clatter and clutter of a busy working cook; like a French nouvelle restaurant, you get large plates of beautifully presented food, so pretty, the cliche goes, you hate to eat it.

There is a long, narrow restaurant space in a building on 1st Street, near Hollywood, that has held a succession of these restaurants. First, Lyon, then Chabuya, until recently, C’est Fan Fan. Now there’s a new chef working the space, Hiro Izumi. He last cooked at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, but at the newly opened Chez Izumi his cooking is more personal that anything that can be served in a hotel.

Most days, he offers two prix-fixe dinners, one that features fish, the other meat. His six courses include a plate of terrines and pates , soup, a fresh green salad, entree, a cheese plate, dessert and coffee. The choices change fairly often, but last Sunday night there were lamb chops with veal tongue in a wonderful reduction with lots of mint and black pepper. It looked good, it tasted good--what could be more charming?

* Chez Izumi, 3360 West 1st St., Los Angeles, (213) 386-6104. Prix-fixe dinners $24 - $25; lunches $8-$10. Reservations suggested.