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Tiny Ozu, named after a miniscule island in the Hiroshima region of Japan, can be defined by what it isn't: The restaurant serves no dairy products, no meat, no refined sugar, no sushi, no shellfish, no soft drinks, and no hard booze. What they do, however, they do very, very well. Vegan entrées like Asian-oriented grains, noodles, and flavorful vegetables, such as shredded carrots inside a translucent dumpling wrapper, are prefaced by spring rolls stuffed with basil, julienned cucumber, and soft tofu, with a peanut dipping sauce on the side. Cooked fish, like buttery sea bass or wild or farmed salmon, also makes the Ozu list. Kabocha, tender steamed Hokkaido pumpkin, fragrant with sesame seeds, is particularly simple and good. Also fine are coconut curries, Korean nabe pots—heated stone bowls filled with vegetables, rice, or soup—and, in a welcome twist, decidedly un-Asian pastas like kabocha gnocchi. And Upper West Siders love Ozu: Denizens filter in Noah's Ark style, two by two, to perch on low-backed wooden chairs, chopsticks poised over steaming bowls of brown soba noodles, in this austere little box of a restaurant with about a dozen tables for two. — Kara Newman

Ozu has kosher certification, though it's practically an afterthought in this vegan eatery.

Kabocha, $5; vegetable dumplings, $6; basil roll, $6; salmon with steamed greens, $15