Park in the structure adjacent to the 1960s-era Kajima building in Little Tokyo. A security guard will wave you toward an elevator that opens into a basement waiting room. At 7 p.m. sharp, the staff ushers diners to their counter seats in a windowless room lined with at least five shades of polished woods. In a city where omakase is arguably the favored form of fine dining, Sushi Kaneyoshi draws the hardest-to-please connoisseurs. They know Yoshiyuki Inoue will be serving the kinds of fish with seasons that last just two weeks, and that the rice receives equal consideration to the seafood. (I once asked, “Are there times when Yoshi-san flavors his shari differently, depending on the fish he's serving?” The reply that came from Inoue: “We do not change the flavor of the sushi rice. Instead, we prepare the fish in a way that complements the sushi rice.”) Dinners start with appetizers like tempura belt fish beaded with caviar and chawanmushi laced with meat from Hokkaido hairy crab. Then, with showmanship and artistry, Inoue and his assistants launch into a procession of Edomae-inspired nigiri. By the time Inoue looks you in the eye and nods as he places a square of fudgy tamago on your plate, you’re under the master’s spell. — B.A.

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