Japanese food at Torimatsu in Gardena is true to the original
One of the best of the several insanely busy, totally iconic intersections to check out as a visitor to Tokyo is in Shinjuku, where several rail lines intersect and the streets are lit with the sort of glaring neon that make you feel as if you've fallen into a virtual reality version of “Blade Runner.”
In Shinjuku, you'll find Yakitori Street — a narrow alley that continues mazelike for several blocks, filled with some three dozen small yakitori stands, most of which seat no more than a dozen diners, at a counter dominated by a bincho charcoal grill. Beer and sake are always served. The food is cooked in front of you. The cost is so low as to be insignificant. It's a defining Tokyo experience.
You don't have to negotiate a narrow alleyway to dine at Torimatsu, which sits in a sprawling mall on Artesia Boulevard in Gardena, just before it turns into the 91 Freeway. There's a counter behind which the cooks do, indeed, work over blazing charcoal. But there's also a proper restaurant with proper restaurant seating here, that seems to be booked almost all the time. Show up on a Saturday night, without a reservation, and you may find that counter full of locals, happy to get the sound, the smell and the taste of Shinjuku.
There are enough small dishes to allow Torimatsu — the other branch of which is in the Shinbashi section of Tokyo (4-5-1 Shinbashi, MinatoKu, in case you're looking for it) — to qualify as a proper izakaya restaurant, a destination with many plates that go well with drinks. But mostly, it's the heart of the menu where you'll find the yakitori, listed under the à la carte heading. You'll also find a pair of preset multicourse meals — not a bad way to go if you don't want to have to pick and choose from the choice of 27 different yakitori sticks.
Not surprisingly, these choices make Torimatsu one of the best-known yakitori houses in the South Bay. This is partly because of the excellence of the yakitori (read: things on sticks) served here. And partly because of the diminutive size of the place — there are 13 seats at the counter, three small tables for two, and two larger tables for four, all of which adds up to seating for 27, making this a very small storefront in a Gardena mini-mall.
But then, if you've ever experienced yakitori, you know it's a cuisine of minimalism — small things served on skewers which have been roasted over a countertop hibachi. The menu lists 27 items that can be yakitoried. Some are obvious — negi-niku is chunks of chicken interspersed with slices of scallion, sasami is chicken breast,
motsu is chicken liver. Other items are a bit of a puzzlement — what exactly is bonbochi, described on the menu as “chicken tail”? Is it, as my father used to say, the part that goes over the fence last? And what is nankotsu, defined only as “soft bone”?
Whatever befuddlement you have can be simplified by doing what most people do, which is to order those pre-set meals — the seven-item Shinbashi Course, and the 10-item Torimatsu Course. In both cases, dishes show up like nuns, in pairs. Skewers of chicken wings with skewers of chicken meatballs; sticks of chicken with mushrooms and chicken with asparagus.
To flavor your bits and pieces, there are two elegant little wooden boxes on each table, one filled with dried pepper flakes, the other with a bosky smelling green powder. There's a small wooden paddle in each box to help you transport the condiments to your plate. Salt sits in what looks like a shot glass.
Meals begin with a thick, utterly wonderful chicken broth that tastes like the very distilled essence of chicken, boiled down to its molecular basis. There are little bowls of edamame, and a small salad of cucumber, lettuce and onion slices.
Should you need more, aside from getting additional skewers, there are sundry side orders — lightly grilled chicken breast with a wasabi-soy sauce, seaweed salad, broiled mackerel, grilled scallops, pickled oshinko vegetables, rice balls (both roasted and steamed).
I asked for green tea, and was told that green tea is served only in sushi bars, which was news to me.
Torimatsu is a Japanese restaurant that's made no concessions to America; this is a trip to Tokyo, in a mall that also features El Pollo Inka, Teriyaki Hawaii and Carl's Jr. In other words, America with convenient parking.