littlefork's Jason Travi Favors Torihei in Torrance

Los Angeles is home to a lot of restaurants, and among them are hidden gems some Angelenos just aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food luminaries to share with us their under the radar recommendations for Dining Confidential.

After making waves early on with the launch of (now shuttered) Fraiche in Culver City, followed by Riva (which turned into a second Fraiche and recently shuttered) in Santa Monica, chef Jason Travi clocked out of the Los Angeles dining scene for several years, only recently resurfacing at littlefork in Hollywood. Here now Travi on one of his favorite Japanese staples in Torrance:

"Like most Japanese restaurants Torihei is in a stripmall/shopping center. It's located 5 minutes from my house in Torrance so it's easy to go quick with my wife and kids or to meet friends for a quick drink and skewers. We tend to go on Sundays with my in-laws and all the kids, they are always busy so if you are with a large party call ahead. The izakaya dishes and yakitori are our favorites, especially the cumber salad with momotaro and any of the weird chicken skewers (cartilage, heart etc). My only complaint would be for a better choice of Japanese beer, but you can't have it all and the food at Torihei is worth the wait."