Dining -- Mary Furr

Nestled at the base of the tall building on Beach Boulevard and Adams

Avenue in Huntington Beach, and offering the most varied delicacies in

the area, is Todai Japanese Restaurant.

It’s a treasure house of freshness, as if the chefs had stepped out of

the kitchen door to pick the vegetables just for you.

You are shown to a booth or table in the dining room that surrounds

the round, raised self-serve area. You are then asked by an attentive

server for your drink order and shown to the steam buffet, which

stretches across the back of the room.

On to the carousel of salads and appetizers -- there is a mixed

seafood salad and a crunchy crab meat one, there are thin threadlike

gelatin strands of spicy seaweed, great long green beans and tiny fat

pods with peas that you pop into your mouth.

There are some spicy glass noodles and a whole section of California

rolls wrapped like gifts in sticky white rice. Several chefs in the

center are busily preparing 12 varieties of sushi, little squid and eel.

There also are mussels on the half shell, California rolls and somen

-- a small cup filled with noodles, ham and green onions -- to which the

diner adds liquid from a self-serve thermos.

Andrew Shimabukuro, who has been at the Huntington Beach-based

restaurant for six years, said there is no room for frozen food storage

so everything is delivered fresh daily. Oils and dressings have little do

to with the healthy preparations of Executive Chef Steven Choon.

The large kettles of rice -- Japanese and jasmine -- begin in the area

of hot selections.

Gyoza, Japanese pot stickers with a soft wonton skin, are fat and

filled with minced meat. Try the buffalo wings for hot spiciness.

Tempura batter covers long green beans crisp in their light coat and a

disc of sliced potato is deep fried quickly for a light crust over the

soft potato.

There is a platter of half-inch slices of firm but tender teriyaki

beef and one of whole earthly mushroom caps to go with it. The heavily

battered orange chicken, however, was barely warm as is true of several

of the meat selections -- a difficulty with thicker pieces of meat when

depending on steam tables to keep them hot without dying.

Now it’s a return to the round appetizer area for dessert where Head

Pastry Chef Patsy Martin Alverez has outdone herself.

Slightly frozen white squares of mousse streaked with pieces of orange

are excellent; rich dark chocolate has been poured to harden in tiny foil

cups, chocolate covers pieces of banana and a small round cream puff has

a fluffy strawberry filling. This is a dessert-aholic’s dream!

Todai is a restaurant where families gather for a special Sunday

brunch, where paintings of koi by Anne Harico cover the pale walls, where

floor-to-ceiling windows fill the room with sun and spotlight one of the

most extensive and healthiest cuisines in Huntington Beach.

WHAT: Todai Restaurant

WHERE: 17041 Beach Boulevard, Huntington Beach

PHONE: (714) 375-0390 Fax: (714) 750-0392

HOURS: Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., dinner 5-9 p.m. Daily.

OTHER: Credit cards accepted

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Shin-Sen Gumi, 18315 Brookhurst Street, Fountain

Valley, has opened for Japanese sushi. Tuna Town, 221 Main Street,

Huntington Beach, will open soon with a sushi bar and teppan yaki grill.

Champagne, French bakery and cafe, 215 Main St., Huntington Beach is now

open for breakfast lunch and dinner.

*MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments

or suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.