J. Tokyo is the right price for anybody's budget

There it was. It's the most important thing to a restaurant junkie. I had no choice. I drove past the sign and the words captured my body and mind. I forgot about everything and pulled into the shopping center like an X-wing caught in a tractor beam. The grand opening sign beckoned like an ex-girlfriend and I succumbed willingly to the pressure.

It wasn't really the grand opening. J. Tokyo Seafood & Steak Restaurant had been open for a couple of weeks. Still, it was the first time I'd seen the grand opening sign, so I parked my car, donned my beanie and went incognito into the restaurant.

Walking into the greeting room, I felt like I was getting in over my head. The decor was nice — upscale nice. I'm in a beanie and jeans, looking like a broke college student on his way to a third world country. Regardless, the hosts welcomed me. I asked for a spot at the sushi bar.

They walked me into the room. I was surprised that the restaurant only had one sushi chef. But then I walked into the other room and noticed it was mostly Teppan tables. Still, one sushi chef for a huge restaurant must be hard on the chef. I was the only guy at the sushi bar, and the place was mostly empty. "What if it was packed?" I thought to myself, "He would be stressed!"

So there I sat, sampling my favorite fishes. The tuna was fresh, not frozen. I attempted to save some cash by ordering hand rolls. The spicy scallop hand roll was tasty. It was $4.

The chef felt my financial pain and packed the roll with more rice than usual. Then he filled the roll with sliced cucumber, radish sprouts and diced scallops.

I ordered a salmon skin hand roll and chatted with the young chef. He said he was waiting for the restaurant to get busy, because it was so new. And the holidays had been slowing things down.

He handed me the salmon skin hand roll. It was a generous one. The salmon skin was baked in an electric oven and then diced into thin strips. The result is a crispy contrast to the diced cucumbers, carrots, sprouts and rice that accompany it. I washed it down with some green tea, chatted with the chef and then went into the bathroom. On my way to the bathrooms, I noticed that they had private rooms available. The ones where you get to take off your shoes and sit on the floor. The place was strangely empty but it was just after Thanksgiving, early on a Sunday night. I opened the bathroom door.

The final test was complete — a sparkling clean bathroom. I chatted more with the chef, paid the bill and walked outside. My craving was satisfied. The grand opening binge was over. Although my wallet didn't agree, I just couldn't drive by the sign.

J. Tokyo Seafood & Steak Restaurant 16300 Beach Blvd. Westminster, CA 92683 (714) 596-0886.

Sean Orfila is a journalism major at CSU Long Beach. He writes about food and culture on his Web log at www.goeatrice.blogspot.com.