Agura Dining is so far north on La Cienega Boulevard that you can actually park on the street, right in front. And if you get there after 6 p.m., when the restaurant opens, you don't have to feed the meters.
In this part of town, that's a good selling point. But Agura has more to offer than parking. The food is Japanese/fusion, original and interesting, like the collagen terrine that I wrote about for Squid Ink. This may be the fanciest way that you will ever eat pig's feet.
Or sauteed foie gras (right) set on a slice of sweetened daikon root and topped with miso sauce. Or king crab wrapped in a crepe topped with a spoonful of tomato sauce that could just as well have been tossed with pasta.
Or a gorgeous presentation of Colorado lamb chops (below), the meat separated from the bones, set on a bed of couscous and topped with hair-fine, crisp shreds of sweet potato. The Japanese angle is the teriyaki flavor of the lamb.
But yakisoba confused me. The tightly packed dark portions of soba noodles looked like thin-sliced, soy sauce-marinated beef. The texture was crunchy, not soft.
Dynamite is very spicy, thanks to the highly-seasoned miso-ginger sauce that coats the mixture of shrimps, scallops and seabass. The seafood is packed into a scooped-out tomato that sits on a scallop shell held in place by more spicy stuff--wasabi mashed potatoes.
There is, of course, a sushi bar, and the sushi that I've seen has been straightforward. What sets the bar apart is the huge gold-flecked Buddha behind it, a figure that dominates the entire restaurant and seems worlds apart from the glittering chandelier in the center.
Owner Yasumasa Kawabata has another Agura in Kyushyu, Japan and opened this one last November, bringing over the Kyushu head chef Yuji Nawata. The name Agura refers to the crosslegged position of the Buddha.
Small rooms at the front allow diners to sit on the floor, and a dark lounge at the back is a good place to sip a sake or soju cocktail.
The building once housed a church, thus the soaring peaked ceiling. It still has a reverential feel, thanks to the Buddha. But the main object of contemplation now is the food.
Agura Dining, 514 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048. Tel: (310) 289-1940. Dinner only, daily from 6 p.m.
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