PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Ranked number one in a recent \"Top 25 Restaurants\" article in Los Angeles Magazine, Beacon is the best thing to happen to the Culver City dining scene in years. For more than a decade, Chef Kazuto Matsusaka has worked in the kitchen of some of L.A.'s top restaurants (Spago, Chinois on Main), mastering the art of fusion cooking. Along with his wife Vicky Fan (she's the GM), the duo recently opened this small, minimally decorated cafe within the Helms Bakery complex, and it's been packed ever since. On most nights you'll see a stern-faced Kazuto in the open kitchen (he's actually a hilarious guy) while Vicky oversees the L-shaped dining room. The reasonably priced cuisine is simple yet superb, combining fresh California ingredients with traditional Asian cooking styles and a dash of Vicky's family recipes. If available, you must start with the outstanding Kaki Fry appetizer -- warm crispy oysters set in cool lettuce cups and topped with yuzu tartar sauce (a steal at $5.75) -- and the stir-fried mushroom salad, a heavenly mix of organic mushrooms, mixed greens, manchego cheese, and tangy yuzu dressing. Other fantastic dishes I devoured were the miso-marinated black cod with sesame-tossed green beans, the ever-so-tender grilled hangar steak spiced with wasabi relish, and a savory bowl of kakuni udon -- thick wheat-flour noodles flavored with a generous cut of braised pork belly, bamboo shoots, baby bok choy, and warm broth. For dessert, the green tea and white-chocolate cheesecake with fresh raspberry sauce is a must. Tip: On sunny days request a table at the back patio.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Los Angeles 2008, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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