Dining Out

Mary Furr

A “Treasure Island” of healthy, fresh and exotic Japanese food is one

we discovered in a tiny storefront in the Ralphs Plaza Center, at

Brookhurst Boulevard and Hamilton Avenue. Forgotten is the busy traffic,

the only decision is whether to order the daily special on the blackboard

outside or select from the menu as you take a seat at one of the nine

tables inside.

Service begins with a ceramic tumbler of green tea and steaming miso

soup, a delicious and warming clear bean paste broth with cubes of tofu

and vegetable leaves, which comes with entrees and specials. Server Jun,

son of chef owner Takasha Iida, also brought a tiny appetizer of

thread-thin cabbage innovative topped with crushed sesame seeds.

The menu offers a la carte choices or combinations, such as the lunch

special ($5.95) I chose. It was served in a red and black lacquer “bento”

tray with four compartments, each holding a medium-sized treat. In one

area, several cold chicken slices in a creamy sesame sauce beside fresh

slivered celery. Another held shumai, a round dumpling filled with bits

of vegetable and shrimp. A third held gyoza, rather like a pot-sticker,

crisply fried with paper-thin skin.

Takarajima uses a pure rice bran oil in its tempura preparation, the

fried selections, such as the mashed potato croquette with its crinkly

coat. Also in a small section of the tray are edamame, fresh soy beans

like tiny peas that you eat by squeezing the pods and popping the beans

in your mouth.

With the combinations ($6.50 to $9.50), you select your entree and two

or three additional items. We became our own chef with a thick slice of

salmon miso-teriyaki ($7.50) char-marked with a mildly sweet flavor.

Japanese cuisine emphasizes fresh seasonal foods with light sauces rather

than heavy gravy.

Shrimp tempura ($6.50) has four excellent tail-on firm shrimp, easy to

swirl around in the thin dark dipping sauce. Also included are

tempura-coated carrots, green beans and a round crisp slice of lotus root

-- really unusual and perfect with dip.

Unexpectedly at Takarajima, we had a “Jumbo Hamburg Steak” (Japanese

style) ($8.50) with a vegetable curry sauce. The large patty was thick

coarse-grained beef with a thin sauce with potato cubes and carrots --

more steak-like than the usual hamburger -- hefty and satisfying.

There are the usual scoops of green tea and red bean ice creams ($2)

-- always good for dessert. Occasionally on the menu there is cheesecake

that is homemade by daughter Nozomi. The cookie crust has a filling that

is about a half-inch high, but quite rich and dense. It’s different from

the usual lighter and taller fillings of other restaurants.

Owner Takashi Iida, from a suburb of Tokyo, had visited the United

States as part of his import-export business and fell in love with

California. Eventually he returned to make Orange County his home and

open Takarajima -- a real island of tranquillity with a menu full of

treasures to tempt the adventurous diner.

Takarajima, 9921 Hamilton Ave., Huntington Beach. (714) 963-0750, fax

(714) 963-0764. Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.

Dinner: 5:30 to 9 p.m., until 10 p.m. Saturday and 4:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Credit cards.