One Stop Pleases All

In the early ‘90s, when teriyaki combo plates were still synonymous with Japanese cuisine in American restaurants, Yasuhiro and Noriko Fukada introduced the Westside to the idea of Japanese noodle meals with their Japan-based noodle franchise, Mishima. At first, Mishima catered basically to young Japanese transplants who missed the comforting, earthy taste of the traditional buckwheat noodles (soba) and the pleasure of loudly (though politely) slurping thick wheat-based udon noodles from a bowl of soup.

But it didn’t take long for the rest of the Westside’s diners to discover Mishima’s satisfying, inexpensive noodle meals. And the Fukadas unexpectedly discovered a clientele primed to explore the true flavors of Japanese cuisine--totally without teriyaki.

In 1994 the Fukadas designed their own new restaurant, Taiko, a stunning contemporary Asian-styled space in the Brentwood Gardens mall. Here they had the freedom to expand the menu beyond Mishima’s and cultivate a style somewhere between completely traditional Japanese and something with a little California influence. Where Mishima tended to emphasize udon, Taiko made (reportedly much healthier) soba noodles from whole-grain buckwheat fresh every day at the restaurant.

Having had phenomenal success with Taiko, which seems to be jammed day and night, the Fukadas then opened Taiko Beach Cities eight months ago. The new restaurant, located in an El Segundo multiple-screen theater, manages to avoid seeming formulaic like its neighbors, which tend to be up-market chains such as P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Wolfgang Puck Cafe and Houston’s. Because it’s within shouting distance of Manhattan Beach Studios, the restaurant can often be crowded with young production assistants and walkie-talkie-toting assistant directors from “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice.”

Spare brushed-aluminum construction and wraparound glass give the small rooms an open feel. There’s tinted pale green on the white tablecloths, which suffuses the neutral-toned space with a wan green tone that conjures a serene blend of Martha Stewart and Bauhaus.

Taiko’s kitchen is aiming to please almost every taste. Once seated, you’re greeted with a barrage of menus: one for tempura (from which you may order by the piece), another for sushi, a main menu listing the various noodle dishes, a list of rice donburi bowls, plus appetizers and entrees and another page of changing daily specials that includes wine suggestions.

Leaning Toward Cal-Japanese Fusion

It is with the specials that Taiko shows distinct leanings toward a Cal-Japanese fusion style. An appetizer of freshly made potato chips (still sizzling from the fryer) comes topped with a small rectangle of smoked salmon. Interspersed with lightly flavored creamy basil sauce, these fanciful canapes are topped with feathery shreds of sweet Maui onion.

Here are some more. Slices of Japanese-harvested scallop carpaccio float among swirls of lemon juice and olive oil with a garnish of edible pansies. Wild mushroom tobanyaki is an opulent union of meaty, fresh shiitakes, floppy pleurotes, angel-hair-fine enokis and a substantial portion of costly matsutake mushrooms, all lightly bathed in tangy ponzu-sake broth.

Eating this way is wonderfully indulgent. But be careful. You can run up a substantial tab in less time than you think.

If you’re not splurging, you can order the modestly priced traditional Japanese noodles, served either cold or in hot broth with your choice of myriad toppings and garnishes. Alas, the udon here is nothing to write home about--limp and characterless, though not offensive. The soba, however, is quite fine. Another modestly priced alternative is the rice donburi bowls, which have a choice of 10 toppings, including chicken scrambled with organic eggs and grilled eel (unagi).

Entree prices are modest, too, and the entrees come with rice, miso soup and salad. Black cod gindara, marinated in sake lees with ginger, is full of voluptuous flavor. It comes whimsically mounted on little bricks of braised organic tofu and garnished with fried eggplant and zucchini.

Taiko Beach Cities has also installed a small sushi bar. Yellowtail and scallops flown in from Japan sell briskly here, and the sushi chefs cut aji no tataki from whole mackerel--you can get the bones deep-fried, if you like. But the restaurant doesn’t forget it’s catering to Californians and serves maki that would surely raise eyebrows among sushi purists in Japan. The “crunchy roll” lives up to its billing; it’s a wrap with the rice outside, filled with tempura shrimp and asparagus, then deep-fried to give the rice the advertised crunch. The “caterpillar roll” alternates stripes of avocado and eel.

For dessert, many varieties of the chewy rice-flour treat mochi are offered, some stuffed with ice cream, some floating in syrup or red bean sauce. If you’re not a mochi fancier, you may prefer tempura ice cream, a sort of baked Alaska made from a ball of good vanilla ice cream wrapped in paper-thin slices of pound cake deep-fried tempura-style; it emerges firm and icy. What could be more fun?

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* Taiko Beach Cities, 2041 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 190, El Segundo. (310) 647-3100, (310) 647-3101. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; dinner from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays, from noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 10 p.m. Sundays. Beer, wine and sake. Parking lot. All major cards. Appetizers and light dishes, $3 to 13.50; entrees, $12 to $16; noodles, $5.25 to $13; donburi, $8 to $14.

* What to Get: Japan scallop carpaccio, black cod gindara, soba, wild mushroom tobanyaki, tempura ice cream.