BBE Editor's Pick

Gonpachi

134 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills

Take one part Kill Bill, mix briskly with Seven Samurai, then sprinkle in a little Alice in Japanese Wonderland, and you'll begin to get a sense of Beverly Hills' elaborate Japanese restaurant: Gonpachi. Done up to resemble a traditional home, the place feels like a cultural escape -- and the Tokyo-style menu follows up on this promise. There's a wide array of nigiri on offer, but the restaurant's specialties are soba noodles and sumiyaki (charcoal grill) dishes. Buckwheat for the soba is actually milled on the premises, and the noodles are cut in view of the dining area, ensuring that your soba's trip from birth to belly is as short as humanly possible. And the yakiniku rice burger, which sandwiches delicately tender slices of grilled Wagyu beef between crispy rice cakes, will make you rethink your July 4th routine.

menu musts

Kamo seiro soba (soba noodles served cold, accompanied by sliced duck breast and green onions in a hot duck dipping stock)
Sumiyaki signature skewer combo with negima (chicken and grilled leek), tsukune (chicken and duck sausage), salmon, eringi maki (garlic-roasted eringi mushroom wrapped in bacon) and shishito pepper
Edamame with garlic soy
Pumpkin Zenzai (sticky rice balls in a chilled kabocha pumpkin custard sauce with vanilla bean ice cream, red bean paste, slivered almonds)
Sakegria (wine punch with Riesling, Sho Chiku Bai sake and Kissui vodka infused with fresh fruit)

sweet seats

To be truly Spirited Away, request a table on the garden patio near the Koi ponds and beautifully manicured Japanese gardens.

chew on this

Though you may be inclined to label the imaginatively designed Gonpachi as the Disneyland of Japanese restaurants, it's really anything but. Authenticity is everything here. Wooden beams reclaimed from 18th-century Japanese buildings were used in its construction, and a Japanese horticulturalist flies in twice a year to tend to the gardens.

hours

Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 AM-2:30 PM
Dinner: Sun.-Wed. 5 PM-10 PM, Thurs.-Sat. 5 PM-11 PM

price range

$8 (seiro soba, traditionally served chilled with soba dashi dipping sauce) to $36 (Japanese Wagyu beef with ponzu-dressed salad and sweet potato fries)

134 N. La Cienega Blvd. (between Wilshire Blvd. and Clifton Way), Beverly Hills, CA 90211; 310-659-8887 gonpachi.globaldiningca.com