Jazzy Jozu

At Jozu, I always look forward to the complimentary taste of sake. Poured from an elegant carafe into tiny glasses, it’s rarely the same one twice. Owner Andy Nakano knows it’s never easy to get people to try something they don’t know, so he plies guests with tastes of his latest sake discoveries. It also makes guests feel welcome.

Jozu, which means “excellent” or “well done” in Japanese, is one of the most civilized restaurants around. Tables aren’t jammed together. Booths are roomy. Most of the time it’s quiet enough for conversation. The decor is a mix of woven French bistro chairs, handcrafted glass lamps and bamboo staves that cover the windows. There’s a bar at the back, where friends or couples sometimes stop in for dessert and a glass of Champagne, or simply one of the 10 or so sakes stocked at the bar. Nakano was onto the sake craze long before anybody else in town. Recently he sent his bar manager to a sake competition in Tokyo to learn more about the rice wine and to bring back some unusual sakes otherwise unavailable here.

Nakano opened Jozu four years ago with former Campanile chef Suzanne Tracht. After she left in October 1999 to develop her own restaurant, Hisashi Yoshiara, the chef and a co-owner of Cinnabar in Glendale, became executive chef. Nakano didn’t give his new chef much leeway at first. The menu remained about the same as Tracht had written it, and the food seemed uninspired. (It must be as hard for a talented chef to cook someone else’s food as it is for a jazz pianist to read a score note for note.) Only the occasional special gave a hint of what Yoshiara could do given the chance.

Now, after more than a year, he’s coming into his own. Yoshiara has subtly tweaked the remaining Jozu favorites and has added a number of his own dishes. Plus, every night a full-sheet insert lists the day’s specials as well as the four- or five-course omakase tasting menu, a bargain at $30 to $60 and definitely the way to go if you’re planning to spend the evening. It’s relaxing to just let the menu unfurl, each taste following the one before.

One night the omakase begins with seared ahi tuna with nagaimo (mountain yam), chunks of cucumber, ripe avocado and tomato. Usually nagaimo is grated to bring out its slimy texture. Cut like the cucumbers, which gives it the crispness of jicama, it doesn’t have as much of the slippery quality that’s so prized by the Japanese. The sauce combines the fire of wasabi and the mellow sweetness of miso. It’s a bold mixture of flavors.

The next dish is breathtaking: big chunks of charbroiled lobster just pulled from the shell, sitting on a gorgeous shiitake mushroom cap. A light yuzu vinaigrette enhances the flavors without covering them. It’s a soulful marriage of sea and earth.

Then comes warm salmon so lightly smoked over cherrywood from Japan that the fish is still custardy at the center. The secret is the long, slow smoking, which seems to bring out the essence of the salmon. A little aged balsamic vinaigrette--not too much--sets the flavor off even more.

These first three courses are a hard act to follow. But a dish of thick slices of charbroiled Colorado lamb loin smeared with an Asian pesto holds its own. The metallic taste of shiso, penetrating and blunt, in the pesto is modulated by a sweetly gentle garlic sauce.

We polish off the meal with a tall, fluffy wedge of cheesecake dotted with blueberries. It’s light and not at all cloying, and it’s quickly demolished by all at the table.

Aside from the omakase, Jozu’s list of specials holds some exciting dishes, too, such as a spicy lemongrass soup. Loaded with tiny clams, shrimp, scallops and lobster, this main course soup is heady with the scent of kaffir limes. The spark of fiery pepper gives it yet one more dimension.

During matsutake season, Yoshiara took a sheet of parchment paper and wrapped it around a piece of extremely fresh Hawaiian opakapaka fish and matsutake mushrooms. When the packet was opened, what an ethereal perfume wafted out! The fish was perfectly cooked, a fabulous combination with the delicate mushrooms. I also love the hamachi mille-feuille of crisp wonton skins piled up with hand-diced sashimi and a black sesame tuile. The puckery pickled plum sauce makes this dish.

As for the Jozu classics, the shrimp sui-mai are sumptuous, swathed in a lobster reduction that packs a sneaky punch. Steak lovers should be very happy with Jozu’s grilled rib-eye. Cut in slices, it’s rich and grainy and scented with Sichuan peppercorns. It also comes with horseradish mashed potatoes that take no prisoners. The air-dried duck, which hadn’t been particularly entrancing in the past, has been delicious lately. Beautifully cooked so that the flesh retains moisture, it now comes with a pretty egg roll, whole baby bok choy and a tamarind bean sauce. The tamarind is sour enough to complement the richness of the duck without being as sweet as a fruit sauce.

Yet not everything sings. Pork tenderloin was dry the night I tried it, no match for the wedges of deep orange kabocha squash on the same plate. Sonoma quail can sometimes be overcooked, too, but is saved by its tangerine glaze.

The many Chardonnays on the wine list could use pruning: These oak-heavy wines simply don’t go with Jozu’s food.

Desserts end the meal on a pleasant note. Chocolate souffle cake comes with a silken coffee anglaise. The remarkable dessert is the warm Asian pear tart--a puff of fragile, buttery pastry topped with a swirl of finely sliced Asian pears fresh from the oven, so that the ball of vanilla ice cream melts into the tart.

If you prefer something more unusual, Nakano might have a special organic sake dosed with plum extract. It has a lovely, fat, sweet rice taste and a perfume that’s something like mirabelle eau-de-vie. Touches like that make Jozu stand out from the crowd.

Jozu

8360 Melrose Ave.

Los Angeles

(323) 655-5600

Cuisine: California-Asian

Rating: ** 1/2

*

AMBIENCE: Smart California-Asian restaurant with display kitchen, roomy booths and handsome East-West decor. SERVICE: Gracious and professional. BEST DISHES: Lobster sui-mai, hamachi mille-feuille, charbroiled lobster and shiitake, spicy lemongrass soup, air-dried duck, grilled rib-eye, Asian pear tart. Appetizers, $6 to $13. Main courses, $16 to $25. Four-course omakase tasting menu, $30-$45; five-course, $50-$60. Corkage, $10. WINE PICKS: 1998 Luden Albrecht Riesling, Alsace; 1996 Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas, Rhone Valley. FACTS: Dinner daily. Valet parking.

*

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.