On my first visit to Mori Sushi (in 2007), I had just come to appreciate the wonders of Sushi Zo, and came away from Mori Sushi impressed, but put off by the cost. Still, I felt that Chef Morihiro Onodera delivered some great Sushi and a great dining experience overall. But this was before my culinary journey to Japan, and my visit to Urasawa in [...]
Years ago in the culinary world, the hot new buzz word was "fusion." I heard it at school, I read about it in magazines, with restaurants serving "fusion cuisine" with a mix between 2 or 3 different styles. While the term itself wasn't offensive at the time, over the years "fusion" + any cuisine has come to take on subtle undertones of disdain [...]
While Summer usually marks a chance for me to visit my friends in San Diego, for some reason, I've never thought about getting recommendations for truly great, Chow-worthy destinations while visiting. Maybe it's because I'm so happy just to see my friends after an extended period of time that I'm focused more on getting down there and hanging [...]
Sushi is probably one of my all-time, favorite types of food. And after having "graduated" from Nobu / Matsuhisa to Sasabune, Nozawa and Shibucho, and then to Sushi Zo, Mori Sushi, Urasawa and Sushi Mizutani, I was surprised when I realized that I hadn't been back to Sushi Zo since my last Japan Trip in 2008. Before I left for Japan, Sushi Zo was [...]
Continuing with my Japan Trip, on Night 2 I was lucky enough to get reservations for Sushi Mizutani. Going to Japan and being a major Sushi Hound, I had to try out "great Sushi" in Tokyo as a comparison for everything I've had before outside of Japan.I found Sushi Mizutani thanks to Silverjay's mention of the Japanese Customer-driven Food Review [...]
In Los Angeles, no other (truly) high-quality Sushi restaurant has received as much vitriol and praise as Sushi Sasabune. I'm not sure what has caused this division: Perhaps its the loss of intimacy and charm when Sasabune moved and expanded to its current cavernous location; perhaps its the counter-reaction by purists (who decry the loss of [...]
I had first heard about Urasawa thanks to Chowhound and the *stunningly beautiful* Review and Pictorial by Dan Paik / rvd72 (if you haven't seen / read it, you need to :). I was blown away by what I read and saw and from that point on (with additional prodding from russkar, J.L., SauceSupreme and many others), it was my mission to try Urasawa at [...]
I still remember reading Das Ubergeek's ebullient review of a new Sushi Restaurant in Orange County back in February 2008. And when Das Ubergeek speaks it must be something noteworthy. :) Then I glanced at their website which looked like some crazy Fusion Sushi restaurant and I hesitated. Flash-forward to mid-June, and I finally remembered Maki [...]
Before I knew Shibutani-san and Shibucho, my only source for fresh Sushi in the Newport Beach / Costa Mesa area was in a tiny, stylish little restaurant near the waters along Pacific Coast Highway, known as Abe, named after Chef-Owner Takashi Abe (pronounced "Ah-Beh"). Whenever I was in the area, we would try to stop by and have an Omakase course [...]
