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I am back from my first lunch at Ichiriki Sushi And Japanese Cuisine, located at 1220 Beryl Street in Redondo Beach. (UPDATE: Here is a google map to help you find Ichiriki.) Before I get into details, allow me to say this: It was a 10 out of 10, a perfect experience.

I'd never seen the restaurant until a month ago. "Ah, Sushi!," I cried when I saw it, and added it to the list of places to eat at soon. Today, my friend Marty came over and, after running some errands, we decided that lunch was in order. "How about sushi?," he asked. So we headed to Ichiriki, figuring that now was as good a time as any to investigate a new sushi bar.

From the moment we walked in, it was class. Immaculately clean, modern furniture, and a nice long sushi bar. We met our chef, who likes to be called Masa. He presented us with a long tea leaf with some ginger on it, and then a hot towel for cleaning up. We ordered, and fast as lightning came the sushi. I had eel and a crunchy shrimp roll. Truly magnificent, although the shrimp was a little better than the eel. Both were stupendous. Next came samples from the chef. First was albacore and poke, which was bite-sized pieces of albacore tuna in a Hawaiian poke sauce, which is sweet and a little nutty. Amazing. Then came burdock root, julienned and sweetened. Magnificent. I was thinking I was full at that point, but Masa gave us another order of Crunchy Shrimp. I didn't think I could do it, but down they went. After that I cut him off. But only because I didn't want to hurt myself.

I could go on, the cucumber salad was great, the edamame was great, and the company was great. Lastly, it turns out that our chef, Masa, is also the owner, who goes by another name, Peter Tachikawa. What a great guy, just full of good humor and graciousness.

Ichiriki, go there soon!