New sushi outlet has its act together

DINING OUT

Japanese restaurants like Onoya Japanese on Warner and Springdale

avenues in Huntington Beach always seem so organized, with the sushi

chef chopping away, a server ready to seat you and the owner busy in

the kitchen. And it all runs like clockwork.

That’s the way it is at the four-month-old Onoya, with its sushi

bar and chic black and white interior of tables that line each side

of the narrow store front.

Manager Isaac Lee is ready with a menu from which I select the

mixed tempura (lunch $7.95) of shrimp and vegetables -- the lightest

and best I’ve had in a while. The tail-on shrimp were fat and fresh,

the carrot, yams and sweet potato shining through the tempura coat.

They’re deep fried in soy oil and the taste is pure.

Included is hot miso soup in a lacquer bowl to pick up, sip and

inhale its steamy aroma -- the best way to enjoy it. There is no

coffee, but ceramic tumblers of hot tea are kept filled.

Great bargains at Onoya are Bento boxes ($6.50) portioned lacquer

trays filled with rice, salad and your choice of entree. The No. 1, a

thick slice of grill-marked salmon doused with a very good teriyaki

sauce, four California rolls, rice and salad with a spicy dressing.

There were thin slices of ginger and a dab of green wasabi to use for

additional seasoning.

The California rolls are excellent. Seasoned rice is rolled with

nori (dark green “paper” that is usually thought to be sea weed, but

is actually algae) around a center of minced shrimp and vegetables.

Similar is the No. 2 bento tray ($6.95), with either a pork or

chicken cutlet. The crisply coated pork with teriyaki sauce varies in

quality, with some slices tougher than others.

The deep ceramic chicken bowl ($4.95), almost a meal in one, is

filled with white rice topped with pieces of chicken teriyaki,

broccoli, carrots, baby corn and cauliflower. The teriyaki seeps down

to flavor the whole bowl.

An appetizer we added was stalks of asparagus ($4.95), stripped

and sauteed in pepper butter -- well flavored, but rather skimpy for

the price.

Desserts vary from a simple ginger ice cream ($2.95) to a more

elaborate banana tempura ($4.95), which is wonderful. Four pieces of

banana each wrapped in crisp tempura are deep fried and placed in a

bath of strawberry coulis. With two spoons you can either share or

duel over this temptation.

Owner Hee Bin Kwon from Korea and Japan was trained at the

Internal Sushi Academy in Buena Park. He divides his time between the

kitchen at lunch and the sushi bar in the evenings. Though small,

Onoya offers very fresh food embellished with some great sauces.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. Reach her at

(562) 493-5062 or hbindy@latimes.com.