The most appropriate dish for an izakaya like Musha is one charred at a tableside grill. And the most interesting of those is the dried stingray. The translucent triangles of flesh initially eat like a too-tough jerky inexplicably plucked from the sea. But give the pieces some grilling and a dunk in the accompanying aioli and the stingray becomes not just palatable, but almost addictive. Still, takotama is Musha’s signature, a casserole of a dish carved out of a mound of egg, soba noodles, octopus and leeks and served in a soupy bonito broth. Like Musha itself, it’s a dish unique and pleasing, but also somehow deceptively familiar.

MUSHA 1725 W CARSON ST STE B | TORRANCE 90501 | 310.787.7344 | FOOD FOR TWO $25-40 | BEER, WINE, SAKE

Tags: bar, dinner, izakaya, japanese, Torrance