Morinoya

This new West LA izakaya's intimate and traditional, with mostly bare walls decorated with Japanese art so you can focus all of your attention on a menu thought up by the lauded guy behind Mitsuki. He's doing tastiness like whitefish carpaccio w/ balsamic and soy sauce; raw octopus marinated in wasabi; a hot pot w/ pork, spinach, tofu, and enoki mushrooms; and an albacore dish w/ mountain yam, fermented soybeans, and garlic over rice they called the "Mini Stamina Don", presumably after an un-fulfilling night with Cheadle.