Many restaurants in Japan specialize in one preparation, technique or an ingredient–think sushi bars, restaurants serving yakitori (skewered meats and vegetables cooked on charcoal grills), tempura, sukiyaki, curry, cutlets, blowfish and noodle joints, selling ramen, udon and soba.
A friend who grew up in Tokyo and Kyoto tells me that when she goes home, the first place her parents take her is to an eel restaurant because no eel in Los Angeles comes close to being that good. When in Rome…., right?
I head to Kaneyo on Sanjo Street, a restaurant specializing in Kanto style cooking where the deboned eel is grilled first without seasoning, steamed and grilled a second time with sauce.
Open for more than a hundred years, Kaneyo looks like an antique country inn with smoke stained, dark wood paneling and handmade tables. Tender and sweet, the meat falls apart as I pick it up with my chopsticks
