A Sho Stopper : Sushi bar or not, Japanese eatery is well worth a visit.

I’ve seen people wander into Restaurant Sho and then wander right back out when they realize it isn’t a sushi bar. Too bad for them.

True, this tiny, cheerful place exudes the relaxed camaraderie of a sushi bar, and the chefs holler out a lusty “Irasshai!” (welcome) in the sushi bar manner. But the similarities end there. Sho specializes in Japanese snacks, noodles and fried dishes.

A waitress shouts your order across the counter to the three chefs. You’ll get it as soon as it’s done--which means that if you order a number of dishes, they’ll arrive at all sorts of times.

The quickest thing to get is edamame, those salted boiled green soybeans you eat by popping them out of their pods. They go nicely with Japanese beer or sake, and they definitely whet the appetite.

Next, try an order of Japanese pot stickers, gyoza, considerably lighter than their Chinese counterparts because they’re stuffed with chicken instead of pork and deftly browned in a mere splash of oil.

Tonkatsu is a breaded pork cutlet cut into bite-sized strips. It’s skillfully done here, as are the croquettes--deep-fried mashed potato balls stuffed with ground beef and onions. The Japanese commonly eat both tonkatsu and croquettes with a sort of thick Worcestershire sauce, but I prefer them with a few drops of soy and a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes.

A good vegetable dish is nasu no mizoreni, lightly fried eggplant in a Japanese fish stock laced with grated radish and carrot. The most delicious seafood is sea bass no saikyoyaki, a buttery, flaky chunk of broiled fish marinated in white miso.

But what I like most at Sho is ramen, those skinny wheat noodles whose reputation has been besmirched for decades by microwave ovens and plastic cups. Sho’s ramen is eaten from enormous bowls, with the help of curved wooden spoons. Seasoned ramen eaters use wooden chopsticks to coax the noodles out of the broth, which is served boiling hot.

The dependable shio ramen is noodles submerged in a salty soy broth with a solitary slice of pork, a few strands of cooked egg and some cabbage. I’m especially fond of miso yasai ramen. The noodles come in a broth flavored with soybean paste, along with ground pork and fried vegetables. There are several other choices.

Oh, yes, there are even a few hand rolls, for sushi lovers who need to be let down easy.

BE THERE

Restaurant Sho, 10658 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake. Lunch, 12-3 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5:30-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Beer and wine only. Parking lot. American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Dinner for two, $18-$35. Suggested dishes: croquette, $4; tonkatsu, $5.50; gyoza, $3.50; sea bass no saikyoyaki, $5; miso yasai ramen, $5.25. Call (818) 508-3001.