Doma Arigata, Mr. Robata

Yeah, I know that's mangled, but I couldn't stop thinking it from the moment I saw the word robata, which is not a female robot, but, rather, a traditional Japanese fireplace or charcoal grill.

Some co-workers and I decided to try Elevate Lounge today. It was closed, so we went to the neighboring Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant. Even though it wasn't our intended destination, it was still a place worth visiting again.

Elevate and Takami are located on the twenty-first floor of a nondescript gray office building. Takami is a breath of fresh modern architectural air amidst the blandness and suits that are downtown. The decor smacks of typical West L.A./Hollywood-clean-lines-contemporary-cool. The lighting is dim and flattering. Long off-white lounge seating spans the length of the open-air restaurant walls, while deep brown booths, chairs, and tables reside in the inner sanctum.

Takami offers a number of interesting libations, including the Yuzu Berry (a yummy drink with an unknown liquor and fresh strawberries), Lychee Mojito (rum, lychee sake, mint, lychees, soda, and a sugar cane stick), and the Takami 10 (rum, apple sake, apple pucker, lemon juice, mint, and cucumbers), which I ordered and didn't really enjoy nearly as much as the sip I had of my friend's Yuzu Berry. The Lychee Mojito was a hit, too. A second of each was summoned to the table.

I was so busy stuffing my face that I forgot to document our first few dishes. (BTW, I've lost 19 pounds now and am just four pounds away from wedding weight, so I splurged on sushi without much guilt, not to mention RICE is exactly what my tummy needs after this past rough weekend!) We started with edamame, spicy yellowtail roll, spicy tuna roll, rainbow roll, spider roll, the Takami roll (spicy tuna, snow crab, asparagus, and albacore drizzled with apple ponzu sauce), and seared yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno.

To three of us, the last dish above tasted remarkably like albacore and not yellowtail. When we brought it up to our server, she swore it was yellowtail, and the manager came by to check on us. He also assured us it was yellowtail, just very thinly sliced. However, being the good manager he is, he gave us a fabulous huge dish of beautiful thick slices of yellowtail! (This convinced me more that our previous dish was, indeed, albacore, which I love, too, but these real slices of yellowtail were fresh and substantial and melted in my mouth, which I can't say I experienced with the dish above.) We also ordered spicy tuna on crispy rice -- yummy, yummy, crunchy goodness! Always reliable! Always a treat!

I'm psyched to find another place to hang downtown, and I'm looking forward to returning for lunch and trying again to go to Elevate Lounge for real.