nozomi knows sushi

if you want a dead fish dangled in front of your face like a flaccid penis, i suggest you come to nozomi in torrance where the fish is fresh and the sushi chef is feisty.

do make reservations at the sushi bar, ask for yasu san, and be prepared for a nice raw omakase journey where soy sauce is totally unnecessary. say whut??

jelly fish

seared mackerel

one of the best bites of the night, the koshodai, also known as sweetlips. crispy in texture and dusted lightly with sea salt. i could have eaten this FOREVER. 

koshodai aka sweetlips

the phallic looking geoduck, once thinly sliced is quite sweet and crispy.

geoduck

bonito

ika with uni aka sea urchin riding piggy back on squid. look at how the uni is hanging on for dear life. delicious.

ika and uni

then you jump right into a bowl of silky steamed egg with bits of shrimp and shiitake mushrooms buried in it. kind of like a treasure hunt except it's in a bowl and you don't have to dig too deep.

chawanmushi

yellowback seabream with sesame sauce

pike mackerel

spanish mackerel

baby amberjack

blue fin tuna

my hubs is not a fan of uni (i know right?? weirdo. kidding. just means more for me). i dropped both in my mouf like a boss.

uni

toro

scottish salmon with sea kelp

not normally a fan of ikura because i ate some rank ones in the past, but these were entirely yummy. little sea pearls indeed.

ikura aka salmon eggs

the last bite was anago and a sweetened tamago. i learned a sweeten tamago signified the end of the meal. what a yummy way to say "pay the check and get out!"   

anago and tamago aka salt-water eel and japanese omelette

yasu san told us to come back once a month since the seasonal fish are always changing. i totally would except for this catch...my wallet has been empty as of late. 

Nozomi
1757 W Carson St.
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 320-5511
http://www.sushinozomi.com

price: $$$
verdict  omg, i love it! 

swimming with the sugarFISH

bitterMONKEY, sourPUSS, sugarFISH? i think sushi master kazunori nozawa and his team of sushi enthusiasts picked a winner with the name sugarFISH. nommmm...and this sugarFISH is not your average swedish fish either. more than anything else, it is like sexy, grown-up sushi candy for your tastebuds, seriously.

this past friday, i was invited to a media tasting at the newly opened SUGARFISH by sushi nozawa in downtown l.a. we were warmly greeted by emanuele massimini, one of the partners in the steadily growing SUGARFISH empire. the dinner was a treat for my mouth and my ears as all sorts of nozawa secrets were leaked out, none that can be told to you unfortunately unless you want to end up sleeping with the errr....sugarfishes.....

our meal promptly began with the theNozawa menu ($35- $38) which is comprised of ten items. the organic edamame, the quintessential starter for most sushi meals, were al dente salted pods. what a great way to busy the hands and the mouth as we waited.

next up was the big eye tuna sashimi which lounged in a shallow pool of tangy ponzu sauce.

the trio of albacore, salmon, and snapper sushi were delectable as they laid on delicate mounds of fluffy, warm rice. the quality of the fish were duly noted as i popped them in my mouth, slowly savory them one bite at a time.

very quickly, the toro hand rolls and the crab hand rolls were presented to us. the fragrant nori sheets reminded me of korean laver which instantly tickled my nose in the most delightful way. as soon as these hand rolls were brought to our table we were urged to consume them since the softened nori would ruin the taste and texture of the hand roll itself. (below is a pic of the crab hand roll).

the large scallop sushi was the "daily special" of the night. sweet, tender, and plump, just the way scallops were meant to be appreciated.

the toro sushi was unctuous in a most delightful way. the buttery, fatty fish intermingled with the tart rice perfectly. a wonderful bite for any sushi lover.

the halibut fin sashimi ($7.50) was a textural surprise. the strips of sashimi rested in a light ponzu sauce and were slightly crunchy and limey to the tongue. if you get the chance to order this, i urge that you do. it is a nice departure from the typical dishes one finds at a sushi restaurant and to up the exclusivity factor, it is not always available either.

look at this beautiful, translucent strip of fishy flesh.

one of my favorite sushi items of the night was the halibut sushi. the yuzu ponzu sauce was tart, tangy, and delivered a subtle prick of heat to my tongue. this particular sushi definitely left me craving for more.

i ended my tasting as i do with all sushi dinners by popping two pieces of uni into my mouth. the delicate, creamy, sea tofu was the perfect way to cleanse my palate at the end of a yummy sushi meal.

thank you emanuele for your invitation. sugarFISH is an absolutely chic and tasty addition to dtla and for sure this visit will not be my last. the value and quality i find here is hard to beat!

SUGARFISH
600 W. 7th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 627-3000

www.sugarfishsushi.com

verdict: tasty, try it!

bear grylls would not approve

you don't have to be like bear grylls from man vs. wild who can eat a live fish straight out of the river to prove that you enjoy sushi. in fact, isn't it nicer to be able to sit at the sushi bar as you enjoy your choice of the freshest dead fish available? then you can sling down a cup of sake or two or perhaps pop a few edamame pearls in your mouth as you enjoy your sushi eating experience. i definitely don't do sushi bear grylls style, though i do enjoy fresh sushi. i especially love a dark, fresh piece of magenta colored maguro or the creamy ocean taste of my beloved uni. but not everybody enjoys the raw taste of sushi so if you don't, but would love a sushi-esque experience, come here to sushi kai in glendale...you poser :)

the inside of sushi kai is absolutely red and cavernous. modern aluminum backed chairs are the thrones for your eating experience. as i walked in with my eating partner in crime, i noticed that we were the ONLY asians present, other than the wait staff and sushi chefs. interesting.

we originally opted to sit at the sushi bar, but the strong stench of sterile, super cleaning products that had emitted from the restrooms nearby drove me to a quiet table at the other side of the dining area. the thought of gagging as i ate did not sit well with me...go figure.

a quick study of the menu indicated to me that they specialized in creative rolls and fish dishes that don't require you to taste the rawness of fish...in fact, the sashimi/regular sushi choices were actually quite slim. NO WONDER we were the only asians there!

so i let me friend order because he's not too big on the raw sushi taste anyways so the sushi kai menu was right up his alley. we started off with the 911 roll which was a spicy tuna roll topped with slices of avacado. i thought this roll was tasty and the presentation was so dang cute! look at the itty bitty crabs that adorned the dish. now, if you ask me if i can taste the tuna, i would say no.

the hawaiian roll came up next which was spicy tuna, crab, pepper seared tuna in a garlic sesame sauce. again, i thought the roll was tasty, but if you wanted that fresh sushi taste, the overwhelming garlic sauce did a great job of masking it.

the albacore salad. again, the sushi chef laid a heavy hand on the dressing so all you tasted was a citrusy miso-esque dressing. the albacore was also sliced into little chunks which made me feel like i was picking up pieces of cheerios. this dish could have been skipped.

i requested the albacore citrus ceviche which was also a fail. the yuzu citrus marinade was so overpowering that my tastebuds couldn't distinguish whether the meat i had in my mouth came from a fish or a toad. look, great way to serve up bad cuts of fish by masking the quality with the sauces (not to claim that they are, but i'm just sayin'), but surely you don't think you're a bone fide sushi restaurant if MOST of your dishes are seeped in potent sauces or creams that masks the lovely raw fish taste. at this point, i was pretty done with their fish offerings.

my friend wanted to order their hamachi kama (yellowtail collar) but sushi kai had run out of this specialty for the night. instead, they brought us complimentary apology appetizers such as their fire balls which were rolled up, cooked salmon with a panko crust. jenny craig would not approve, nor my tastebuds. great, now i have my muffin top AND my tongue revolting against me.

they also brought out a martini glass sampling of their pop shrimp festival which tasted like a love child conceived by a sexy shrimp and the panda express orange chicken. my penchant for fried sweet things were wooed by this shrimp festival. i likey!

the meal finally ended with the biggest lump of tempura ice cream on the face of the earth. thin slices of sponge cake were wrapped around a big ball of green tea ice cream, then coated with light batter and fried. heavenly it was not. the thick crust just made it harder to get to the ice cream.

this ball of green tea ice cream was better protected than even a bullet proof vest wearing cop! look at the crazy thick tempura shell.

when it was time to bid sushi kai a loud "adios!" my friend left saying he wouldn't mind coming back to try more rolls...i left thinking, omg, i didn't eat any sushi tonight :( since each roll ran between $11-$15, i think for the next time, i will save my duckets and duck into a real sushi restaurant instead. OR, i can go down to the l.a. river and take a bite out of one of those fishes swimming there a la bear grylls style.

Sushi Kai
143 S Maryland Ave
Glendale, CA 91209
(818) 243-7393

price: $$
verdict: it's aight

yo yoshida!

do you have friends that rarely, and i mean rarely, like a pig with wings flying over a fence while drinking a stella, want to eat outside of their neighborhood? like you meet me near my house to eat or i see you later? ah, i have a friend like that and she lived in the sgv and any time she was asked to go closer to the westside for eats, she would break out in hives. now she lives in orange county which means if i want to see her, i would have to get a passport and go there. yes friend, i'm talking about you.

when she use to live out in san gabriel, i would meet her for sushi at yoshida. yoshida was actually one of the first places i yelped that worked out great. the sushi is pretty awesome, fresh, and tasty especially out there all surrounded by chinese food.

the last time we went, we ordered a medly of things because her husband joined us as well as another good friend of ours. we started off with a pair of deep fried, panko encrusted crab cake boobies. they were yummy, but seriously, how do you ever eff up deep fried eats anyways? i really liked the chunks of crab meat in it and it was a good way to bring oil and grease to an otherwise "technically" healthy meal.

i HAD to order the spicy tuna handroll and at yoshida, you can choose the heat level. i decided to stick with 6 because i cry a little when i eat hot cheetos so anything higher than a 6 may make my butt hurt. turns out the heat wasn't too bad at all. must have been my vietnamese roots that made me tougher than i thought.

uni, maguro, and abacore with ponzu sauce. must have staples for me at any sushi joint. the fish were pretty fresh.

unagi rolls. the belly conquering one eel at a time.

japanese scallop roll. very sweet and fresh. i'd take these sweet thangs over chocolate any day.

and the yoshida roll, an overstuffed fish fatass in a nori jumpsuit. seriously, i appreciate all the different fish they stick in there but it's way too big for the average mouth, even for a big yappy mouth like mine.

my section of the yoshida roll always ends up looking like this after a bite. i don't know, sushi wasn't meant to look like this right? all broken up, depressed, like it lost its mortgage on one game of craps? each time it's ordered, i always wonder why we do it.

so now that she's moved to the oc with her husband so they can live in their dream house, i'm not sure i will even have any reason to go to yoshida anymore since i live so close to other great sushi eats. the one thing yoshida has which i have not yet tried is their fresh uni in its spiky natural cover. but is it really worth it to drive to san marino for that? do you know where i can get that fresh sushi without diving for it? my belly would like to know.

Yoshida
2026 Huntington Dr
San Marino, CA 91108
(626) 281-9292

price: $$$
verdict: tasty, try it!