RESTAURANT ROUNDUP:

The Hamamori Restaurant-Lounge, a gourmet sushi restaurant featuring modern and traditional Japanese cuisine, opened Tuesday at South Coast Plaza.

The restaurant features an oceanic-inspired design, a full-service bar with a large selection of sakes, and an intimate sushi bar with a 150-year-old wood counter.

The menu, based on the stylings of master chef James Hamamori, consists of tasting plates that include sushi, sashimi, rolls and other hot and cold items such as scallops with lemon, yuzu salt and caviar; seared yellowtail with kanzuri (chili paste), and garlic ponzu and chervil.

Lunch dishes range from $6 to $28. Most dinner items go for $6 to $39, with a few items going as high as $80.

Hamamori resides on the third level of the Bear Street side of South Coast Plaza, next to the Bridge of Gardens. The restaurant opens at 11:30 a.m. daily and closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call (714) 850-0880 for more information.

Restaurant to recognize winery at special dinner

The Five Crowns restaurant in Corona del Mar plans to present a special dinner in January to spotlight the Grgich Hills Winery in Napa Valley.

The dinner, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 8, features a menu with four courses each, accompanied by a different Grgich Hills wine. Following a round of hors d’oeuvres, diners can enjoy an appetizer of seared scallops and smoked salmon with white corn chowder, free-form short-rib ravioli in a double tomato coulis, smoked cocoa-crusted venison loin in a Cabernet sauvignon reduction and rosemary oil, and Robiola cheesecake in a cardamom crust with a farmer’s market fruit garnish.

Carolyn Vineyard, a wine educator for Grgich Hills, is expected to speak at the event.

Call the restaurant at (949) 760-0331 for more information.

— Michael Miller