Word: sushi
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Alarmist starts as a modified Robin Hood where "the den" is a circa 1954 sushi restaurant, and the merry men have been compressed into several burglar alarm salespeople bent on income redistribution. Anyone familiar with Los Angeles will realize the timeliness of their "rob the rich" scam in which Heinrich Grigoris (Greg Tucci) boosts the sales of his alarms by staging robberies in the neighborhoods of potential clients. The twist in Grigoris' scheme is Tommy, the new salesman played with adorable, bumbling style by David Arquette. A natural at the hook, the Tommy's moral sensibilities are deeply troubled...
...took her away" alternate with weirdly sophisticated monologues on security and trust. The plot aims to depict paranoid modernity but misses, venturing off into the surreal as it ticks through comedy, romance, tragedy and documentary. The aesthetic attempts to depict low-class L.A. kitsch (the 1954 sushi joint, Tommy's family home in the outer 'burbs), but lacks many key touches. Especially lacking is the cool, retro music soundtrack one would associate with such a picture--the orchestral back up tunes whine of missed-opportunity. What is strangest is that in spite of all of this, The Alarmist turns...
...seaweed packet turns out to be sea urchin. Mixed rolls were similarly elegant: Boston maki ($4.50) arrived in neat rolls filled with salmon, avocado and lettuce, Spicy Tuna ($5) walked a perfect tightrope between cucumber, tuna and subtly tangy spicy sauce. Cafe Japonaise has a chef who has turned sushi-making into a science and one can understand why he wants his clientele to get as much out of it as possible. It is obviously a sushi restaurant that wishes to transcend the fluorescent-lit clatter and bustle of its Boston counterparts...
...nowhere to be found. Instead, Ella Fitzgerald croons from the stereo and marbled black tables are lit by suspended pearlate lamps. A richly-patterned curtain is elegantly draped to frame the window and an enormous fish tank full of exotic fish is sunk into the wall above the sushi...
...obviously taken its toll on the restaurant, however. It is nearly empty (admittedly Sunday nights are never the most bustling) and the lights are turned up just a tad too bright. In fact, Cafe Japonaise just re-opened two weeks before our visit, offering only its delectable sushi rather than the full Japanese menu that was available prior to its closing. The restaurant's chef is on a mission to create an entirely new menu, however, which will include both sushi and a more international, French-Japanese fusion cuisine fit for the new millennium. She plans to move...