The Sushi Thread

[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.

[El Diablo]

Sucker,

Have you been to Sushi Ran in Sausalito? If so, how would you compare the two places? Sushi Ran is pretty damn good.

[El Diablo]

All,

Hot sake? No. Gross.

[n.s.]

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I also think the low-sodium presents a smoother soy sauce than the overpowering saltiness of the regular red-top version, which kills a lot of flavor, especially from milder sushi like imitation crab.

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One thing that I tend to when eating nigiri is to turn the fish sideways and try to dip just the fish in the soy sauce, not the rice. The rice side will absorb the sauce too quickly, so by dipping the fish side the piece won't taste too salty. There's something I find really off-putting about low sodium soy sauce.

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For dinner I like alcohol, usually hot sake or Sapporo

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Not to be a snob (although this is 2p2, right?), but usually only low-quality sake is served hot - serving drinks hot or chilled usually masks some of the taste (think about why good scotch is never served chilled). You might want to try a more expensive sake that is served at room temp or a little cold. A good "starter" type of sake is nigori - it's unfiltered and looks milky, and it's always served cold. It's sweeter (and something of a girly drink for those in the know), but it's pretty tasty. My current favorite type is junmai, which has a dryer and more complex taste, but can sometimes be pretty expensive. (junmai and nigori are types, not brands - think porter or ipa).

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lastly, get some money, go to a NICE sushi bar and literally just let the chef make you things for a night.

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Yes, do this - it's awesome. It's called Omikase - you basically pay a fixed price and the chef makes you interesting things all night, usually based on what's fresh and good that day. The times I've done it it was a mix of different things - some of it was traditional nigiri and maki rolls, but also a bunch of other good stuff like seaweed salad or tako yaki (octopus balls).

For those in the seattle area, there's an awesome place in West Seattle called Mashiko. Their omikase is like ~$40 / person and was really, really awesome.

[Tron]

Some reviews of Los Angeles area sushi places I already posted in OOT:

Katana, Sushi Sushi, Zip Fusion, Boss, and Matsuhisa
Koi

Obviously Koi isn't the most legitimate sushi restaurant, but the sushi was actually pretty good, the non-sushi offerings were very good, and it was filled with some of the most ridiculously attractive girls I'd ever seen. Holla!

[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.

[J.A.Sucker]

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Sucker,

Have you been to Sushi Ran in Sausalito? If so, how would you compare the two places? Sushi Ran is pretty damn good

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Haven't been to Sushi Ran, but I'm willing to take Kaygetsu up against anywhere blind. It truly is divine. I'll tell you what - sometime soon you come down my way for sushi and then we get cigars and drink Zacapa 23 year rum at the Cuban joint. If you think the other place is better, then I'll come up there and we'll do it up.

[MaxxDaddy]

PJ, I pretty much agree with you on all the points you made. There's a Todai in NYC, and whenever I'm in the mood for all-you-can-eat sushi, I head there.

In terms of eating at local Japanese restaurants, I tend to have two or three rolls along with two or three pieces of nigiri. On the nigiri side, I generally get a piece of unagi and a piece of salmon. Can't get enough of either of those. At least for my palate, salmon + wasabi and soy sauce = heaven.

It seems to me that while rolls are generally the way to go when ordering sushi, sometimes there's just so much going on inside that you can't fully appreciate the flavors of the individual players. When reading the menu sometimes, I can't help but feeling that they just try to stuff as much fish and other things into rolls as possible so as to have the "super deluxe" roll that of course has the premium price tag associated with it; the "more is better" mentality.

As far as appetizers go, I'm a big gyoza and shumai fan. These are probably the popular choices along with edamame. Can anyone recommend particularly good sake to go with dinner? I'm much more of a beer person myself, but I'm always looking to try something new.

[FUJItheFISH]

joker

since i was a kid my favorite has been the conveyor belt sushi joints. in japanese they are called "kuru kuru (koo roo koo roo)" sushi. kuru kuru basically means around-around. i enjoy these places because it is great for competition in seeing who can stack their plates the highest.

stuffing myself silly with sushi is one of my favorite hobbies. i can also enjoy eating sushi in small portions as well but i prefer eating lots whether it is AYCE or just a la carte.

[RichC.]

I'll add this, having lived in Japan for a little over a year, sushi is merely OK in the states for the most part. Even the sushi-go-rounds (Daichan, or on a conveyor belt) are great there.

I still have managed to find a couple of places in my area that serve very good sushi, but nothing beats getting it in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and many of the smaller villages even. So yeah, I guess in a way, I am a snob about sushi, but not really.

~Rich