How Much Do we Love You Japonica?

        The old, much-loved Japonica, abandoned now a few doors down on University Place, had the charm of intimacy and clutter. With lanterns and autumn leaves or spring's cherry blossoms, tables pressed together, and no reservations taken, fans huddled on the street, grateful to be crammed three at a table easily meant for one. Installed now in larger quarters on a corner of 12th Street, it seems somewhat austere, overly beige, strangely roomy. There's even a tatami room where six or more can shed shoes to dangle feet in a well -- but still see and be seen through a partially shaded window, so pals can spot you and crawl in to gossip.
   
        The neighborhood loves Japonica for the grace and efficiency of Akiko Kida in her kimono, for the menu's poetry ("Imperceptible/It withers in the world/This flower-like human heart"), and for sushi. The whole-grains set is grateful for sushi made with brown rice. The cooked yellowtail inside-out roll, cooked fluke fin, and hot sushi are a gift to those who won't eat raw fish. Fans seem to be nuts, too, about the excessively plump "Japonica Invention" (tuna with avocado, flying-fish roe, and a blizzard of white rice), which costs $17 and can't possibly fit into any human mouth I've ever met.
   
        For me, dinner should start with asparagus (not on the menu), avocado salad, or austere custardlike bean curd with fresh grated ginger, fried bonito, and scallion. Two might share nabeyaki udon for one (shrimp tempura float in a huge pot of fragrant broth with noodles, chicken, and a whole poached egg) or yosenabe (literally, "a gathering of everything," again in broth). The hot pot for one is enough for two or three. I'd be equally content with the miso-perfumed house-special soup (pork, mushroom, bean curd, and seaweed) or soba (buckwheat noodles in clear soup with grated yam and spinach, plus tempura on the side), followed by yellowtail throat (hamachi kama) or the "royal Japonica" salmon (broiled or steamed, with salmon row and shiso leaf) and vegetables Japonica, still steaming and sizzling on the iron platter.

        Spend a lot or a little here, depending on whether its soup or sushi you crave.
   
        If your sweet tooth won't settle for red-bean, green-tea, or ginger ice cream, Dean & DeLuca's new espresso café is just a block away on 11th Street, a twelve-calorie dash downtown.

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