Some restaurants are places you drop into for dinner. Sushi Inaba is an experience you plan around.

The ultra-intimate sushi counter is tucked inside the Inaba restaurant space on Hawthorne Boulevard, reached through a separate entrance that adds to the feeling that you have discovered something hidden.

Dinner is reservation-only, with a current price of $280 per person. The meal runs through a chef-selected progression of more than 20 courses, with an emphasis on carefully sourced seafood, aging, curing and precise preparation. The restaurant currently schedules dine-in reservations Wednesday through Saturday at 7 p.m.

This is not the place for someone looking for California rolls and a quick dinner. It is aimed squarely at serious sushi fans and milestone occasions — anniversaries, birthdays or the kind of night when dinner itself is the event.

The price puts it firmly in splurge territory, but it may also be one of the most distinctive high-end dining experiences available without leaving Torrance.

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