The Sushi Thread

[ImprovinNewbie]

everything sushi is my neighborhood of eating.

one difference from joker is a like spicy mayo on the side and in large quantities on my rolls and ponsue sauce on my nigiri. great thread! if you're in boston Jaes is the best for sushi i think and now i can't help it... going to get sushi.

[El Diablo]

pj,

Sushi Groove South is my favorite and most regular sushi joint in SF. It is a nice place, but not extravagant. Kind of a chill SF vibe, a little on the dark side, a little bit romantic, DJ spinning, etc. They have great fish and a lot of tasty rolls, but most of the rolls are not super complicated.

Blowfish Sushi is another place I go to a fair amount. This is more of a party atmosphere. Blaring music on weekends and crazy anime on the TVs. Hot bar scene too. They also have incredible fish. They have some more intricate rolls, really delicious.

Sakana is a no-frills cheaper place that is excellent. Nice and clean, but definitely not the high-end ambience of the two above. The real focus here is on the fish rather than rolls. Usually I'll just focus on some nigiri and some sashimi here, maybe we get one spider roll.

Ace Wasabi and Tokyo GoGo. These are Marina and Mission versions of the same place. Very good, both a little sceney. But excellent. Ace is often too crowded to deal with. Tokyo GoGo is pretty easy to get into. Tokyo GoGo does these special sashimi trio plates which sound good but are not really that great imo. I'd stick with all the great sashimi, nigiri, and rolls.

Ebisu is a more traditional place out near the park, 9th and Irving or something. Very good stuff, again more focus on the fish as opposed to tons of complicated rolls, but everything is very good here.

Kyo-Ya. This is a really expensive place South of Market in the Palace hotel. Great stuff, but super pricey. Lots of Japanese businessmen go here.

Ozumo. This is a sorta pricey place South of Market near the Ferry Building. It has a pretty cool bar and a great happy hour w/ sushi and drink specials. They also focus more on having lots of hot food as well. Highly recommended, but a little on the expensive side.

Mas Sake. This is a party atmosphere sushi place on Lombard. Way too loud and the service is so-so, but there are alwyas lots of cute chicks there. They do an all-you-can-eat sushi night here which actually features really good fish. I find the place a little annoying though.

Nama. This is my neighborhood sushi place. Unfortunately, I think it kinda sucks. The fish is not as good as the other places listed. They are great at frying sh*t up, though. Great tempura and great unhealthy rolls with fried up tempura and spicy sauces. They have multiple sections of various permutations of special spicy/crunchy/tempura rolls. That's all I eat when I go here, not really sushi.

OK, that's the ones that come to mind off the top of my head. I've probably been to at least 10 more sushi places in SF, likely more.

When going with one other person, we usually get 4 orders of nigiri and 3 rolls. Standard would be one order shiro maguro (albacore tuna, prob my favorite and often almost as good as the way pricier toro), one sake (salmon), one hamachi, and one unagi (eel) or maguro (tuna) or whatever else. For rolls, usually one fried roll like a spider roll. One spicy roll like a dynamite roll or spicy tuna. And one other roll, often something a little unique. Usually start w/ miso soup and seaweed salad, sometimes some edamame. Sometimes replace some of the rolls or nigiri w/ some sashimi. Sometimes we'll get a couple more nigiri and rolls. Tea, beer, and/or sake, depending on the mood. At Sushi Groove South, this runs $35-45 depending on what we have to drink and whether or not we have dessert. Sushi is really an incredible bargain compared to other nice meals out.

[J.A.Sucker]

Diablo,

Kaygetsu in Menlo Park is the best sushi in the Bay Area. Trust me. Unfortunately, it's been discovered and now you need reservations 2 weeks+ in advance. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Sushi Groove South is fun and good, though.

[Oranzith]

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Diablo,

Kaygetsu in Menlo Park is the best sushi in the Bay Area. Trust me. Unfortunately, it's been discovered and now you need reservations 2 weeks+ in advance. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Sushi Groove South is fun and good, though.

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Kaygetsu is less than a mile from the house. The owner ran a restaurant on El Camino a few years ago, and started this new restaurant at Sharon. It is too expensive for the quality, and frankly, his chef's cuts of fish are sub-par. The quality of fish no doubt is top tier, but being a sushi chef is its own art, and frankly their cuts alter the texture of the fish IMO for the worse.

Akane in Los Altos, try them in the same week and get back to us. Divine? Have some of their toro

[BWebb]

El D,

That list is awesome and will come in very handy. I have been to Mas Sake but not to eat. It was a weekend night, very crowded but an absolute ton of hot chicks throughout. Ace Wasabi has been recommended to me but I haven't been there yet. I have been to two places in Cow Hollow (Skipjack Sushi on Union and Osome on Filmore). Both places were okay but nothing spectacular. Your list will keep me busy over the next few weeks. I'll throw a trip report together afterwards.

[KJS]

The best sushi tip I ever got was from the older hostess at Maneki, Seattle's oldest and (IMO) best sushi restaurant. She pointed out that most people dip their sushi in soy rice side down and put it in their mouth fish side up. That means the first taste experience is that of soy and rice, by no means the superstars of sushi eating.

One addition re: AYCE. In my experience, the reason to go is only convenience. I can go to a more quality place sushi restaurant and order, say $20 worth of food, and be full. So, for me, almost all sushi is AYCE, because I don't like to eat much more than the cost of an AYCE place, even when I go to a menu-oriented sushi place. I would venture a guess that this is true for a lot of people. But if I am in more of a hurry I will try them.

KJS

[Six_of_One]

I'm a sushi snob, so keep that in mind when reading this...

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All you can eat/buffet-style vs. a la carte


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I don't think there exists on earth an AYCE sushi place that's worth going to. I've tried a few, but end up just eating California Rolls because it's pretty hard to screw up fake crab meat and avacado. Definitely stay away from the spicy tuna rolls at a place like this, as it tends to be low grade/not fresh fish, made spicy so you can't tell the difference.

A la carte is the only way to go.

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Nigiri vs. cut rolls


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I'm not a big fan of cut rolls...if you're at a place that serves a lot of fancy cut rolls, it's almost a guarantee that the nigiri won't be any good. They're trying to appeal to the people who mostly eat sushi because it's popular, not because they actually like the taste of raw fish. If I'm at one of those places, then I will eat cut rolls, because usually they'll taste decent with all the fancy sauces and stuff...not really sushi, though, IMO.

Nigiri is the way to go, though hand rolls can also be very good...I love a good blue crab hand roll, for example.

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Wasabi & soy sauce


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I agree that the low sodium soy sauce is better. As for Wasabi, you're really not supposed to add it to the soy sauce...I think it really takes away from the flavor of whatever you're eating. Of course, at many sushi places, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

A couple other things I should mention:

At a good place, Omakase (chef's choice) is the way to go...you'll be sure to get all the best stuff that way. Also, if you want to get the best treatment you generally have to become a regular somewhere...most sushi chefs tend to give preferential treatment to their regulars.

To the OP, there are a lot of great places in LA you should try, though it would require a change from your normal routine (they typically don't serve California Rolls, Spicy Tuna rolls, etc.). Sushi Zo, Sasabune, Echigo, Nozawa, Sushi Gen...the pinnacle is Urasawa, though not everyone is willing to drop that kind of cash on dinner.

[Los Feliz Slim]

My favorite places for sushi in Los Angeles:

1. Saito's Sushi - In a sketchy strip mall at the corner of Fountain and Sunset in Silverlake/Los Feliz. It's a tiny hole in the wall with two employees, but has the freshest, simplest sushi in a neighborhood atmosphere. This is not a place to go for your fancy rolls with all manner of stuff in them. Favorite dishes: albacore salad, spanish mackeral sushi, snapper sushi, spicy tuna hand roll, toro sushi.

2. Sushi Nozawa on Ventura in Studio City (I think). Also knows as the "Sushi Nazi". When you sit at the bar, don't ask for a menu or you'll be told to go sit at a table (where you also shouldn't ask for a menu, but you won't get booted). Instead, just take what he gives you and be glad. Also, Nozawa is a proponent of the commandment "SUSHI ONE BITE". This means you put the whole piece of sushi into your mouth at once. He's adamant about this. Also a pretty simple affair like Saito's. Strangely, not open on weekends. Favorite dishes: whatever he gives you.

3. Katsu-ya (3 locations). I list this only because I'm often forced to go with my wife, who is physically addicted to the baked crab roll. This is a distinct departure from my top #2, in that Katsu-ya is famous for it's more creative dishes like the baked crab roll, tuna with jalapeno on crispy rice, etc. You need to make reservations a couple of weeks in advance and will probably still wait for your table. I called last Tuesday to get a table for two Saturday night and they laughed at me. I'm bitching because it's such a scene, but the food is delicious.

On the sake discussion, hot sake tastes like medicine water to me. I go with cold unfiltered sake and I'm very happy with it.

[oneeye13]

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I go with cold unfiltered sake and I'm very happy with it.

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i like this too

[octopi]

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Drinks

For dinner I like alcohol, usually hot sake or Sapporo.

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What? No tea?

Also; thoughts on appetizers? Sometimes I like some edamame, and sometimes my gentleman courter gets sunomono, but usually you have to save room for maximum sushi intake.