first time sushi near Lakewood

[ozbuc]

Hello to all fellow Chowhounders, heres my story, recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and have put myself on a low to no carb diet which eliminates most restaurants. The wife suggest sushi, I know not from sushi so I am looking for an education in sushi. I would love some opinions about places near Lakewood and also suggestions about menu items that would be low or no carb. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[mbh65]

Monster Sushi on Imperial & Santa Gertrudes

[justagthing]

Restaurant Koi in Seal Beach on PCH. But in order to rule out carbs, you need to do sashimi, not sushi. A nice way to go is to have a salad w/different cuts/types of fish. The dressing is usually a ginger based and is tasty and tangy. Also, at most sushi bars you can order salmon collar that is broiled, some offer other varieties of fish in this manner. Enjoy!

[CynD]

I'll second Koi, and the idea of a tataki salad is great. Taka is a very proficient sushi chef, imho.

[justagthing]

Shhhh!!!! I wasn't going to tell them to sit with him. I always asks him to make me something special, actually, I don't have to ask, he knows just to do it now. It is always beautiful as well as delicious.

[carlheinz]

Koi was the only Japanese restaurant I know of that had FRESH wasabi.
Real Fresh Wasabi. A different experience altogether.

[mlgb]

Kinokawa is close to Lakewood, 1611 E Wardlow (between Cherry and Orange). Call first, they have strange hours. [phone]

You might want to consider sashimi (sliced fish) instead of sushi, since the white rice wouldn't likely be part of a low carb diet.

The American Diabetes Assn has a lot of information on eating out on their website, www.diabetes.org

-----
Kinokawa Japanese
1611 E Wardlow Rd, Long Beach, CA 90807

[Oh Robin]

Tokyo Hibachi!

I've been going there for over twenty years and it's fabulous. Very fresh.

Highly recommend: octopus, mackerel, and toro when they have it on special. Great soft shell crabs too!

[Oh Robin]

link

-----
Tokyo Hibachi
4645 Candlewood St, Lakewood, CA 90712

[garvanza girl]

Hi there - as has already been suggested, what you'll want is sashimi, not sushi. White rice doesn't fit into any true low carb diet.

I'm pre-T2 and I can sympathize with your dining plight! By eating a controlled-carb diet, I've managed to keep healthy, but navigating restaurants can be challenging. However, it doesn't eliminate most restaurants - in fact, the only restaurants I find it eliminates are of the red-sauce Italian variety.

Since you're new to this way of eating, I thought I'd pass on my .02 worth of eating-out advice - here are my low-carb standbys:

Chicken: Most specifically, Zankou, but I'm not sure there is one in your neck of the woods. An acceptable South Bay alternative could be Char-O chicken.

Japanese: skip the rice, tempura, and teriyaki sauce, and you should do ok.

Indian: chicken tikka and saag paneer, skip the rice and naan. New Delhi Palace in Long Beach might be a place to try.

Mexican: skip the rice and beans and tortillas. Eat the meat out of your burrito or tacos and leave the wrapper behind. Enjoy the guacamole.

Middle Eastern/Mediterranean: kebabs and muttabal/baba ghanoush. Down your way, I've enjoyed this at Open Sesame in Belmont Shore.

Chinese/Thai: again, skip the rice, and avoid obviously sweet sauces (sweet and sour, orange chicken).

Thanks to the low-carb trend a couple years back, more and more restaurants are accommodating to this way of eating, although sometimes in a misguided way. I've found that higher-end places are the least accommodating, as chefs tend to not want to make substitutions to their recipes. Lower-end neighborhood places and ethnic eateries tend to be most accommodating, although you'll get a lot of astonished "No rice?!" reactions :)

Hope this is of help to you, and good luck with your new way of eating!

[justagthing]

Instead of skipping the rice altogether, you can opt for brown rice. Many more restaurants are offering this as an alternative nowadays, not as many as I wish, but there are, just ask.

[garvanza girl]

That's fantastic news for the non-diabetic population, but according to my endocrinologist, whole grains as well as refined should be avoided by those of us with blood sugar control issues.

[mlgb]

Adding to Garvanza girl's ideas

Sadly, no Zankou chicken in this neck of the woods, but we do have Charo, Baja Fresh, and our local Pollo Locos are very well managed.

If you like big flavors, Thai Corner restaurant in Lakewood, at Paramount just North of Carson (next to the 7-11) has a great "spicy chicken salad" that has grilled breast, lots of fresh herbs and doesn't come with rice. Believe or not they have a drive thru window.

[mlgb]

And of course, forgetting to post the link

-----
Thai Corner Restaurant
2615 Carson St, Lakewood, CA 90712

[ozbuc]

OK since it was close and it was recommended by Oh Robin who has agreed with me on other places like Dales Diner Tonight The Darling Wife and I went to Tokyo Hibachi. I had the yellowtail and the tako salad. The Tako salad was great but the yellowtail flat out had no flavor. Now I'm a big fan of things with big flavors so maybe my taste buds are jaded. The wife had a ginger beef sort of thing that tasted real good. Since there were enough of the menu items to intrigue me I probably will be back,just got to learn what to order. A note of thanks to Garvanza girl for her non Shashimi places

[garvanza girl]

You're welcome! Sounds like you found a place with some good choices.

[Oh Robin]

Sorry you weren't too impressed. Another fave of mine there (for a hot dish) is the spicy sauteed squid. Lots of red pepper and a creamy sauce. Mmmm...

[justagthing]

one other thought, you may want to try a yakitori place. in, gardena, i believe, you can try musha. in fountain valley, shen shen gumi and kappo honda.