Izakaya is the New Sushi

According to Izakaya Ku's menu, the mackerel dish would be seared tableside. But I didn't expect the waiter to show up with a hand-held flamethrower. I admit inching away in my seat a little when it whooshed on as though it were an acetylene...

I can't say I'm surprised. The spot previously occupied by Haru Izakaya — the Korean izakaya I reviewed for OC Weekly and chronicled when it folded — is being reworked into a sushi joint. ] Full Moon Sushi, it will be called. Of course, if you...

While the pandemic has, sadly, put the sushi master-customer interaction on pause at restaurants across L.A. and beyond, many sushi bars have put a ton of thought and effort into takeout, creating Instagram-friendly boxes that travel surprisingly...

Izakaya Ku, the winner of our award for Best Japanese Restaurant last year (and topped more lists than I care to count), has closed. There was a note taped to the door that simply said “IZAKAYA KU RESTAURANT is CLOSED. We thank you for your...

No place else is as quintessentially OC as Huntington Beach. And no nightlife is quite like the kind going down on Main Street. Along the beer-soaked drag, Friday-night revelers, full of alcohol, merriment and greasy food, spill out from the bars....