Kan Izakaya @ Torrance

I'll have to blame my lactose-free regimen cause I'm in a nutrient-deprived haze at the moment. All I can think of now is cheese and how much I miss it. Last night I went to an all-you-can-eat Italian food and wine fest held by Wine Expo. I consumed a good share of reds and whites and turned a nice shade of pink in the process but when the food came out, well, you can only imagine how depressing it was to scrape off melted cheese from a brick oven pizza.

Last month, I visited one of Torrance's 10,000 gastropubs, Kan Izakaya. I'll have to admit that the most of the dishes failed to reel me in, but the interesting thing about this place is that they offer an array of regional ingredients like this one, Handa Somen of Tokushima prefecture:

In a drunken stupor, I tried getting the sushi chef (we were seated at the counter) to explain why this noodle was called somen when it obviously looked more like udon. I realize sometimes it's best to keep quiet and just enjoy a good thing while its in front of you. *My favorite of the night.

The buta kakuni also had an interesting twist to it. See the two dark blocks on the side? Yep, that's konyaku, a.k.a., Devil's Tongue. So it was part braised pork belly and part oden of sorts. Overall, a tad dry.


Potato salada in a foil. Ran out of plates, perhaps?

I'm drawing a blank on this one but it was a tasty appetizer of masago (smelt roe) and other chopped animals of the sea scooped onto a crisp potato chip. Hmm, okay maybe they did have plates.

Finally we decided trying the seafood pizza. It was the most westernized dish I could find on the menu. (Hey, why not?) Topped with bits of oysters, green onions, bonito flakes and shredded seaweed though without sauce nor cheese, it was like being in a desert with a lot of hot-looking people but no swimming pool. (Hah, what great metaphors I think of when I'm delirious!)

A definite plus for Kan is that they're open til about 1 am. Talk to the sushi chefs and they'll tell you about their nocturnal sleep schedule. They're actually a friendly bunch, especially when Rameniac is there to bond with them about regional ramen. Then it becomes a rave and rant fest. ...That's when you know you're in for a long night.

Kan Izakaya
2755A Pacific Coast Hwy., Torrance
(310) 530-7888

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Lactose Intolerance Log:

I've started documenting my experiment with going 38 days without dairy while taking a powder called Lactagen which supposedly guarantees to cure my lactose-induced agony once and for all. Here it is. (Warning: Log contains explicit details of abdominal discomfort.)

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• Remember the Japanese government official who proposed having a Sushi Police? Well that may not happen seeing that he recently hung himself.