This undersung sushi place near Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the real deal, with a Japanese-from-Japan chef and great pottery lining the walls. Among those who do sing of Kiyokawa, the lyrics are typically about omakase, the chef’s choice menu. Here’s a little trick, though: chirashi sushi. Chirashi is Japanese for confetti, and in chirashi sushi, fish is laid like confetti over sushi rice. I like it because sometimes the rice is pretty filling and you can ignore it if you like (though Kiyokawa’s rice is pretty tasty all by itself) and the assortment of fish is kind of like omakase: you certainly get a greater variety of fish than you might on a combination plate. Ask chef Satoshi Kiyokawa to show you his sharkskin grater for wasabi.
