By Kayla Samimi
Staff Writer
While healthy and satisfying aren’t usually found in the same sentence, both adjectives can be used to describe the unique food at Rice.
Opened by owner Hiroyuki Igarashi in 2012, Rice is a gluten-free, vegan-friendly Japanese restaurant. All dishes are freshly made from scratch and the ingredients are organic to promote healthy eating.
“Our policy is no chemical preservatives, no artificial color, and no chemical seasoning when we select products,” Igarashi said. “The restaurant’s purpose is for everyone to enjoy the food, get healthy, and be happy.”
Prior to opening his own restaurant, Igarashi worked at several restaurants including Wahoo Japanese restaurant, East restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, and Katsuya, a restaurant in Los Angeles. At East restaurant, he worked as sushi chef until he was promoted to manager. Later, he managed Katsuya where he learned how to properly run a restaurant.
“Working at these restaurants, I learned that working as a team results in great success for a business,” Igarashi said.
The goal of Rice is to provide healthy, vegan, and macrobiotic food through its meat-free menu. Rice solely serves vegetables and sushi. Everything served is made in the healthiest way possible.
“Rice is an excellent sushi restaurant that has options for every type of customer including vegans,” Freshman Lauren Schlick said. “I like it because it has quality fish and healthy choices.”
Rice is a walk-in restaurant that usually requires no wait. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, employees are able to focus on a few people at a time to give them the most convenient and quick service possible.
“I was so surprised by how quickly my food came when I ordered at Rice,” Freshman Elena Olsen said. In other restaurants, it sometimes takes a whole hour, but at Rice it took only five minutes.”
Similar to their food, Rice is simply styled. The interior is entirely decorated with wood and the restaurant is suitable for about 20 customers at a time. While eating at the restaurant, the music ranges from Whitney Houston to Queen to Glee.
“Rice is such a cutely styled restaurant that is really nice to sit in especially since it has good music,” Freshman Grace Kendall said.
Rice is open for both lunch and dinner, seven days a week and is located at 820 Manhattan Ave. Suite 105 in Downtown Manhattan Beach.
“I went to Rice with a couple of my friends and we all thought the sushi was great,” Sophomore Yasmeen Mohammed said. “Who knew something could taste so good and be so healthy at the same time.”
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