We're way past sushi

For those looking for uniquely Japanese Japanese food, or \o7washoku\f7, several new spots have popped up. Mizu 212's idiosyncratic cook-at-the-table approach is something mostly found only in \o7shabu-shabu \f7restaurants in Japan. Meaning "swish-swish," for the sound of a very thin slice of beef cooking in boiling water, this is a fun way to cook meat and vegetables and season them yourself, dipping them in ponzu and other sauces. At Daichan, a relatively new place in the Olympic Collection, the menu is sushi, but it's delivered in a way that would never fly at a traditional sushi bar: The individual pieces come around on a conveyor belt, called \o7kaiten-sushi\f7, and the customers pick and choose for themselves.

"I took my grandparents to Daichan. These are things they've never been exposed to. It's cool to introduce them to modern Japan," Shiomi says.

At Zip Fusion, also in the Olympic Collection, smiling hostess Jennifer Yoon brings over some mixed drinks made with soju -- a kind of Korean vodka distilled from rice, barley and sweet potato -- to kick off a night of what the Japanese would call \o7esunikku ryouri \f7 -- ethnic food. The potent drinks mix well with a specialty appetizer served at the bar: tuna, salmon and snapper sashimi with a dash of sesame vinaigrette and green onion served on a crispy rice tostada.

Zip's Korean-French fusion menu has proved popular; the Sawtelle restaurant is owner Jason Ha's third location in Southern California. On a recent night, the place was occupied mostly by young Japanese.

"The Japanese people are very adventurous and want to try new cuisines and to be cosmopolitan," Yoon says. "So they try to work in the French influence."

The area's heavy foot traffic is also increasingly in a hurry. The chain restaurant Curry House moved into the three-story Sawtelle Place mall a few years back and became an instant favorite with its fast-and-hot chicken \o7katsu\f7, curry plates and coffee jello desserts.

Sawtelle is changing, but fast and cheap still works as well as it ever did.

YOU don't know who Ray Fong is? C'mon: Ray Fong? If you didn't know who artist Ray Fong was, you would have been in the minority at the Feb. 17 opening at Giant Robot 2 -- Giant Robot's small gallery and retail space across the street from its original store full of eclectic Japanese and American pop culture books, videos and plastic toys. Giant Robot doesn't do a lot of advertising, but the word got out, and when the doors opened hundreds of people, including owners of other galleries around town, were on hand looking for bargains.