Here, a raw deal's a good thing

In the current economic climate, all of us are feeling the pain and we're looking, hard-eyed, at the way we spend our money. Those $100 sushi meals at Mori Sushi or the breathtaking blowout at Urasawa may have to wait until the market gets its act together. But once you've acquired the taste for high-grade sushi, it's hard to go back to eating the mediocre stuff served up at countless sushi bars across the city.

That's why avid sushi fanciers are always on the lookout for someplace with a high quality-price ratio, where you can get superior raw fish for a reasonable price. And when these folks make such a find, they're often not so generous in sharing it -- especially with a restaurant critic. So when a reader wrote to tell me about 4-month-old BiMi, I listened up, mainly because she'd spent time in Japan and her take on other places matched up with mine.

Located in the Wilshire corridor between Barrington Avenue and Bundy Drive, BiMi is right across the street from a KFC and that lighting store ablaze with chandeliers as you whiz by at night. A sandwich board out front announces sushi and Asian tapas by "experienced" and, on the line below that, "Japanese chefs." For the timid, the menu is posted out front and prices are astonishingly low.

Though a few people were waiting for a table when we arrived, we had called ahead for a reservation and sailed right in to a spot along the chocolate-colored vinyl banquette, next to a long table of Japanese kids in hip-hop attire. There, the sake flowed, along with much laughter and comings and goings, creating a buoyant mood in the restaurant. At one point, a chef came over with a big bowl and sat down, chatting as he tossed the salad. His wife mothered that table and all the others, taking orders, bringing fresh plates, making sure everything was fine.

Cool surprises

BiMi is quite cool and contemporary. Some thought has gone into the design to break up the rectangular box of a room. A band of brick-shaped glass tiles in yellow and orange floats above the banquette and the chairs are stylish chrome and chocolate vinyl numbers. Lighting is soft and pleasant and the staff remarkably attentive and friendly.