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Covina
RESTAURANTS
Hayakawa / 3*
750 TERRADO PLAZA, COVINA; 626/332-8288
Hayakawa sits in the Terrado Plaza mini-mall, just a short distance north
of the San Bernardino Freeway. It has that generic sushi-bar look—which
is to say it's neat as a pin, with tables for those who want to sit at
tables and a sushi bar for those who like their food participatory. But
behind the bar chef Kazu Hayakawa does his masterful work, creating sushi
at a slow, steady pace, the way the best sushi chefs always do. At first
glance, this may appear to be a fairly standard issue Japanese restaurant,
with beef and chicken teriyaki and vegetable and shrimp tempura for those
who think raw fish is a curious and potentially deadly aberration. But
a quick glance at both the a la carte menu and the daily special menu
gives
the sense that something else is going on here. Along with old favorites
like tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and whitefish are more rarefied sushi dishes
like kohada, red clam, toro, and kampachi. Then there are simple pleasures
of deep-fried sort-shell crab in a spicy garlic sauce, snow crab in a
spicy cream sauce, broiled black cod with miso, and monkfish pate
topped with freshwater caviar. You might want to simply order the omakase,
the chef's choice, which begins at $45 and works its way up from there.
At Hayakawa, it's sure to be good. $$; AE, MC, V; no checks; lunch Tues-Fri,
dinner Tues-Sun; beer and wine; reservations required; east side of Citrus
Ave north of the 10 Fwy.
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