Not all successful restaurant groups have celebrity chefs or a big name owner. Global Meat Company operates 10 brands in Japan and Los Angeles, most notably Manpuku and Izakaya Hachi. In Japan, brands like Nishiazabu Hutong, Nishiazabu Toto, and Kameido Hormone are also popular for yakiniku. The restaurant group doesn’t limit themselves to Japanese grill work; they also run Red Pepper trattoria, an Italian restaurant called Guitaliano, and seafood-fueled Pescaderia. Global Meat Company’s latest Izakaya Hachi location in Southern California resides in a Costa Mesa strip mall and specializes in bincho grill dishes, but does so much more in support of their “global meat” mission.

My friend Victor Tam is a regular at Izakaya Hachi Torrance and turned me on to their multi-stage Pork Shabu Shabu ($40). Thin-sliced Berkshire pork loin and belly arrives on a wood box with a plate of raw vegetables: Napa cabbage, spinach enoki mushrooms, and white fish cakes sporting pink spirals. Flash boil the fat-rimmed meat and veg in cloudy, fat-rich Kurobuta pork broth. Finish with a bamboo tray of springy ramen with broth clinging to each noodle. Izakaya Hachi calls this a “wholesome finish,” a stretch at best, but damn good.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.