DINING OUT:Octopus is a slice of Japan

Some kids have mentors that take them to ballgames, help with their homework, or simply guide them through the obstacles of life. I have a food mentor. As soon as I got teeth, I was chewing on a gyro and learning that raw fish comes on a roll of rice.

My mentor is my cousin Anita, who lives in Oregon now and works for Harry and David. So when she’s not sending me Moose Munch, she is here visiting her old hometown and teaching me a thing or two about food. Last week, I knew the perfect place to take my mentor for lunch was Octopus Japanese Restaurant.

Japanese cuisine focuses on fresh, natural foods, often uncooked, and accompanied by dipping sauces meant to enhance the flavors. Sushi does not define this cuisine, which relies on the presentation of foods to first excite the eyes, then to satisfy the palate.

To the Japanese, the best way to cook fish is to not cook it, but you will always find other cooked meats and some smoked and cured fish not appropriate for raw consumption, such as salmon or any freshwater fish.

Sushi chefs are true artists who pride themselves on their cutting skills and the presentation of the food itself. The most important element you look for in any Japanese restaurant is cleanliness. Octopus Japanese Restaurant in Burbank adheres to this tradition of fresh, exciting foods.

At lunch on Friday, we found Octopus a bit crowded, but after a moment, we were escorted past the sushi bar to a comfortable booth and given a bowl of edamame, fresh soybean pods with the beans inside. To eat these, open the case and pinch until the beans pop out the side. Eat the crunchy beans and discard the pods.

The menu lists various appetizers, salads and combinations perfect for the new connoisseur. Cooked items include seared garlic tuna with linguine Alfredo and steak teriyaki. The real fun lies in the separate sheet of paper with the lists of sushi, sushi rolls and sashimi.

At lunch, we were given a 50%-off list that made our choices even more enticing. Sushi comes in pairs, so penciling in a “1” under quantity means you will receive two pieces of that particular sushi. Sushi rolls typically come in 6 to 8 pieces.

We started with an order of tuna sashimi, the traditional starter. Sashimi is fresh, raw fish served chilled and sliced. We received several slices of the deep red, delicate tuna. With the sashimi comes shredded daikon, a mild, white radish to refresh your palate, and a pale green mound of wasabi, a type of horseradish. Mix a small amount of the soy sauce with the wasabi to create a dipping sauce (not soup). Sashimi should be picked up with the chopsticks and an edge dipped into the wasabi-soy sauce mix.

The Japanese do not serve their meals in courses, so before we were on our second slices of sashimi, the rest of our order arrived. Sushi depends on rice. The rice at Octopus had a delicate vinegar-and-sweet flavor, and was starchy enough to hold any sushi together. Unlike sashimi, sushi can be eaten with the fingers, but in one bite. I do not always adhere to that rule, especially when eating the smelt eggs sushi that fills your mouth with tiny salmon eggs that are not quite as salty as caviar, but close.

We enjoyed several types of sushi, including albacore or “white tuna,” which had a rich flavor and soft texture, the slightly chewy abalone and the octopus, with its burgundy tentacles and subtle flavor.

For the rolled sushi, we loved the crunch of the spicy tuna tempura wrapped in nori (seaweed) and sliced into bite-sized rounds. The spicy tuna and mushroom deep-fried monkey balls has a heat that surprises you. I loved it, but Anita thought the spices were too much.

In between bites, the slices of pickled ginger refreshed our palates. The sake also helped. This sweet rice wine is brought to the table in a small porcelain bottle (tokkuri) and poured into tiny cups (sakazuki). Green tea and Japanese beer are also considered beverages that enhance the flavors.