i've fallen madly in love with iyasare . have you ever had a dining experience where your head nods up and down, bite after bite, and your mouth longingly goes "ooh" and "mmm" throughout an entire dinner? that was my experience at iyasare during my first visit and not too far from that, my second visit, too. on my first visit, i went with my friends sandy ( foodhoe ), christina ( east bay dish ), and ben ( focus:snap:eat ). our evening started with thin slices of gorgeously marbled ocean trout, plated beautifully with compressed asparagus, english peas, snow peas and sugar snaps underneath an avocado puree, topped with ikura. the ocean trout crudo ($16) set high expectations for the rest of dinner and iyasare delivered with the brightest of flying colors. each dish after the next continued to impress us, both visually and through taste. a few weeks go by and i'm back. this time i took my sister, her partner and my niece out for dinner, already knowing that they'd love the food. one bite of the ocean umami and i fell in love all over again. the dish screams out vibrant colors. the fresh, tender sashimi scallops sitting over nori-infused ponzu were topped with santa barbara sea urchin and salty soy-marinated ikura that bursts in my mouth, leaving a rich and pleasant ocean taste. this is not your typical japanese restaurant. chef shotarokamiohas redefined modern japanese cuisine using the flavors, textures and cooking techniques from the tohoku region, a rural area in northeastern japan where he grew up. after spending six years at ozumo and seven at yoshi's in oakland and san francisco,kamiolaunched iyasare on fourth street in berkeley. iyasare is focused on simple, yet inventive japanese-california dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients. simply put, the food is sublime and full of umami from beginning to end. you'll want to slow down and savor each tantalizing bite. here's a look at each dish during my last two visits, a few of which were ordered a