That is the $18 chirashi lunch at Soregashi, a modest little sushi bar my friend's Hiro and Lissa recommended. Â Lovely food - great prices. But I've been eating well everywhere in LA. Â The day before that lunch, Hiro, Lissa and I dropped in at Aburiyaraku, a very trendy Japanese restaurant on La Cienega, where we indulged in this luxurious combination of poached egg, sea urchin and salmon roe; if there's a more appealing spoonful of goo, I have yet to encounter it.
The restaurant also makes its own tofu,
arranges beautiful plates of sashimi
and if you're in the mood, will gladly serve you slices of raw wagyu liver
Another night we indulged in Korean food at Gwang Yang BBQ,  the most serene barbecue outpost I've encountered here. Ensconced in the luxury of a private room, the waiter (you summon him with a buzzer), covers your table with lovely panchan,  the little side dishes that are the introduction to every Korean meal.
You can move on to icy steak tartare laced with cool crisp slices of Asian pear
Robust meat-laced pancakes
and all manner of noodles before the waiter fires up the grill and starts cooking your meat. Â What you want to try here is the galbi; it has a delicacy I've not encountered before, the garlic and sugar muted so you can really taste the excellent beef.
For an entirely different experience of Asian food, you might stop in at the always packed Pine and Crane in Silverlake, line up at the counter to order and then attempt to find a seat in the spare, sunny dining room.
These pea shoots are a fine beginning.
A fairly irresistible Taiwanese omelet....
and very clean-tasting Dan Dan noodles.