America’s 9 Best Omakase Restaurants That Are Not Sushi

"While Tempura Endo—Los Angeles’ only tempura omakase restaurant—does offer tables, the place to sit is at one of the restaurant’s eight counter spots where chef Satoshi Masuda elevates fried food to a new level. A wafer-thin shell enrobes singular seasonal ingredients from small silver wakasagi to saury that are quickly fried in cotton seed oil. The sign of a true tempura shokunin (craftsman) is for a chef to serve a bite atop rice paper yet not leave a drop of oil, and that’s precisely the case here. Spanning roughly 15 courses, this is one of the city’s most special Japanese restaurants." - Kat Odell