toshi sushi: brothas from another motha?

wedged between the say cheese store and a shoe repair shop on hyperion avenue in silverlake is an itty bitty sushi bar called toshi sushi, NOT to be mistaken for toshi sushi in little tokyo with its omakase deal. this toshi sushi has a tough looking brotha slicing up your fish and you better like what you eat or he will surely rip you a new orifice and expect a tip from it. KIDDING. miguel, the sushi chef, is actually rather NICE and chatty too, and was constantly seeking approval of his sushi making skills while i ate. must be cuz i'm asian, and therefore, an authority figure when it comes to sushi. whether or not you require a japanese man to serve up your sushi is an entirely different issue not to be covered by roaming belly because we all have our preferences and i'll leave it at that, ALTHOUGH, i must admit i was a bit skeptical when i saw him behind the sushi bar....

but we sat our asses down cuz the belly was hungry. first up was maguro. it didn't have that deep magenta color that i like, but the quality of the fish was fine. in general, their bar does not appear to house a lot of fish which makes sense because other than their happy hour (monday through friday from 5-7 for discounted rolls), it seems rather dead...like a fish out of water.

mixed sashimi salad. white fish, salmon, and tuna, on a bed of romaine lettuce with gubo, sesame seeds, and carrot strips drizzled with ponzu sauce. it was pretty hearty and fortunately, i had an eating partner to split it with or else my pants would have splitted.

their sexy pink roll which sounded too irresistable to say no to because we all know it's hard to say "no" to sexy thangs. i should know because it's usually hard to say "no" to me (i lie, i lie). it's basically a spicy tuna roll topped with a red line of sriracha sauce with salmon and avacado slices and sprinkles of sesame seeds. it was tasty but hardly sexy.

i then asked miguel to recommend a delicious roll as a follow up and to no one's suprise, he said his "miguel angel roll" was delicious and unbeatable. this roll turned out to be a spicy tuna roll topped with albacore tuna and grilled onions drizzled with ponzu sauce. everytime i tasted the grilled onions though, i kept thinking i'm missing some carne asada. it was tasty too.

we ended the meal with an appetizer, a spicy tuna on a crispy rice cracker which was ICK. everything was really bland so i don't know what happened there.

overall, as a sushi place it's AIGHT. the rolls are fun to eat so i would go there for some of that, but if you're looking for uber fresh fish that dances in your mouth, you probably need to go somewhere else. the price points were great as well and so is miguel. i would drop by again if i feel a sudden sushi crave while shopping at trader joes.

Toshi Sushi

2804 Hyperion Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 666-1019

price: $$

verdict: tasty, try it!