" The next time you’re meeting a friend for an affordable dinner, keep Kagura in mind. This Japanese spot (with other locations in Torrance and Gardena) specializes in crispy, tender tonkatsu. You can order the deep-fried cutlets by themselves, or as a dinner set with rice, sashimi, miso soup, and pickled veggies for around $25. The star of the show here is their signature millefeuille katsu, made with fatty slices of pork folded and layered on top of one another, then deep-fried to the color of Meryl Streep’s trophy case: brilliantly golden. The El Segundo branch has a fun sake bar up front, but grab a booth table in the back for a quieter, semi-private experience. " - garrett snyder