The dining room at n/naka feels like a portal to another dimension, a serene, minimal space where Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama carefully shape every aspect of your three-hour, 13-course dinner. It’s the appropriate setting for the Nakayamas’ interpretation of kaiseki, the multicourse Japanese style of dining that aims to employ various techniques and presentation to honor each ingredient. When Niki opened the restaurant in 2011, she helped pave the way for chefs to experiment with differing forms of tasting menus, introducing many diners to a world of high-end Japanese cuisine beyond sushi and ramen. With few distractions in the dining room, I’m hyper-focused on what’s in front of me: a square of watermelon spiked with sansho, tender Wagyu beef with wasabi crème, a piece of milky ika battered and fried like karaage. There are courses of sushi too, but the Nakayamas’ real strength lies in dishes that allow their more personal visions of cuisine to come through. A number of items are grown in the couple’s own yard, with the majority of the other ingredients coming from elsewhere in California; yes, those are slivers of avocado sandwiched between the tachiuo fish and a puddle of ponzu gelée. Dinner will transport you to Japan, with a few L.A. stops along the way. — J.H.

3455 OVERLAND AVE., LOS ANGELES, (310) 836-6252 l N-NAKA.COM