WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR SUSHI BOAT BOULEVARD EATERY DELIVERS.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Years ago, there was a restaurant in Van Nuys that delivered food ordered by its counter-seated customers on a miniature train that tooled around the counter on a track, blowing its whistle and generally entrancing the youngest of its clientele.

The food was simple, mostly burgers and the like, and the counterman was dressed in a locomotive driver's outfit, playing the part to the hilt.

Today's version is the latest in sushi theatrics, a canal along the oval counter that holds little boats carrying various sushi items.

Kaiten Sushi in Encino features boats that are chained together and keep circling around in front of you. Little ice packs underneath each plate on the boats are obviously there to try and keep the sushi cold. Clear plastic wrap is used to protect each sushi dish from the elements.

But the lights above the large oval canal and counter arrangement are bright and emit heat.

Consequently, the plastic-wrapped dishes do not stay cold for long. A noticeable example: An otherwise fine little sunomono salad ($1.95) of cucumber and seaweed had lost its crunch due to the warming process one evening.

Plates removed from the passing boats by seated diners are counted when its time to pay up, similar to the practice of the Chinese dim sum and the Spanish tapas.

Here, plates of different sizes, shapes and patterns represent different prices.

For example, a three-piece dish of California roll is served on a little rectangular plate with a prescribed pattern. These plates of sushi are ticketed at $1.95.

Other rectangular plates with different patterns are used to hold shrimp or albacore sushi ($2.35 for two pieces), octopus or salmon sushi ($2.65 for two pieces) and yellowtail or tuna sushi ($2.95 for two pieces).

A nicely made rainbow roll cut into four pieces goes onto a specially shaped plate used for $3.95 items, and a circular plate carries a number of hand roll options priced at $3.35.

Generally, the sushi ordered directly from the sushi chef at Kaiten is fresher-tasting and more appealing than the items on the boats.

A house special roll with tempura shrimp, imitation crab, asparagus and burdock root is a tasty treat at $3.35 as a hand roll or $3.95 as a cut roll.

If you ask for soybean paper instead of nori (seaweed) as a roll wrapper, Kaiten charges $1 extra.

Smallish entree plates of teriyaki, tempura, sashimi and other dishes range from $6.95 to $9.50. They include soup, salad and rice and provide an inexpensive, light meal, but are not particularly outstanding. In fact, a cooked Japanese mackerel plate called saba shio ($6.95) resulted in a slightly salty piece of fish lacking in flavor and being a tad too dry for my liking.

Once the initial novelty of the boats wears off, Kaiten is really just another new sushi bar on Ventura Boulevard. And we all know that on this thoroughfare, there is no dearth of competition.

The prices may be a little lower here than some, but they cannot meet the real bargain half-price sushi outlets, and understandably so.

The sushi canal contraption, complete with Lucite protective plates and motorized parade of sushi-carrying boats, must have cost a small fortune to construct.

And cheap sushi won't pay off that cost with any speed at all.

No matter how fast those little boats move.

The facts

--The restaurant: Kaiten Sushi.

--Where: 17302 Ventura Blvd., Encino.

--When: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily.

--Recommended items: Made-to-order familiar sushi and the house special roll.

--How much: Regular sushi items range from $2 to $4, special rolls and salads from $2 to $8, entrees (with soup, salad and rice) from $7 to $14, ice cream $2 and $3 each.

--Wine list: Usual sake and beer options.

--Reservations: Mostly counter seating, first-come, first-served.

--Our rating: Two stars for food; three stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3) Owner Tak Mizoo, left, and head chef Yasu Yamada stand behind the floating boat sushi bar at Kaiten Sushi. Top, the restaurant features shrimp sushi while the house special is shrimp tempura roll, above.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer