Now skewer this!

START with the pork belly, three pieces, each about an inch square; thread them on a skewer, sprinkle lightly with salt and grill quickly over a hot flame. Eat them as soon as they come off the fire: The outside is browned and delicately crisp, the inside chewy and juicy. The pork flavor is deep and profound, with an almost subliminal hint of wood smoke.

At Shin-Sen-Gumi restaurant in Gardena, grilled food means so much more than steaks and burgers. It is the essence of Japanese cooking: a basic food treated simply, yet the result is way beyond anything that either ingredient or technique would seem to promise individually.

The amazing thing is that making them is so easy you can do it on your own backyard barbecue. In fact, compared with hamburgers (with their flare-ups), grilled pork belly is a breeze.

Welcome to the world of yakitori, where equipped with only a grill and some bamboo skewers, you can create a feast. You need no special techniques or complicated sauces, and all of the ingredients can be found quite easily at your nearest Asian grocery.

This summer, instead of repeating the same endless cycle of chicken breasts and steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs, why not try grilling on the wild side?

Traditionally, yakitori specifically refers to grilled chicken parts (\o7yaki \f7means skewers and \o7tori \f7means chicken). And most yakitori restaurants do serve an encyclopedic assortment of poultry parts, including not just thighs and breasts, but also gizzards and crisped cartilage. Modern usage, though, broadens the definition to include a wide variety of grilled foods.

One of the best and most popular yakitori restaurants in Southern California is Shin-Sen-Gumi, located in a strip mall on Western Avenue just north of the 405 freeway. It's a little place, basically just a bar and a long banquette, like an old-school sushi spot.

Because it's so small, there's often a line waiting outside, a mix of Japanese businessmen from the nearby auto companies, young hipsters who look straight out of "Tokyo Pop" and the occasional foodie.

Sit at the bar if you can. That's the best place to appreciate the energy of the young kitchen staff. Almost all of them seem to be under 25, and they're clad in black T-shirts that look like they came from one of the Japanese rock bands providing the restaurant's soundtrack.

--

Enthusiastic welcome