Sushi Heaven

A trip to Los Angeles isn't complete without a visit to our favorite secret sushi bar. Do feel free to be jealous. They started us each with a cucumber and octopus salad before taking our orders. Our first dish was a sashimi salad: assorted fish tossed in ponzu, masago, and green onions. Everything is sitting on a bed of green and purple seaweed as well as the usual shredded daikon. I love the seaweed here; it's so refreshing to have three different vegetables to eat with the meal.

Sashimi plate: salmon, yellowtail, tuna o-toro, and Spanish mackerel. We ordered the large sashimi plate and were presented with two identical plates of what's pictured above.

Ankimo: fish liver in ponzu with masago and green onions. This is often described as the foie gras of the sea. It looks a little like tofu, and has a silky pate-like texture.

Giant clam nigiri: crunchy, sweet, with barely a hint of saltwater. I love this stuff a lot, and no one else has ever matched the quality here.

Live scallops, killed to order and served between small slices of lemon. This wasn't my favorite dish of the evening, but one must not pass up the chance to eat seafood this fresh. After this we took a photo break and enjoyed a few extra pieces of yellowtail, o-toro, and uni nigiri. Then it was time to take a break and decide how to wind down the meal.

I usually finish a sushi bar meal with a handroll just to make sure I'm full. I also like the feeling of ending the meal with something that's cooked all the way through. My handroll was a bit small. Everyone else in our party got huge mountain-like rolls brimming with meat and vegetables. Totally unfair. Oh well, this one was big enough, even though I regret getting salmon skin instead of softshell crab. Besides, I thought we were finished, but we weren't.

I have yet to have grasshoppers served to me at any other restaurant, Japanese or otherwise. These taste like teriyaki or beef jerky, depending on who you ask. Crispy shell, sweet interior. All the people I know who've been brave enough to try it like it (some more than others).

We asked for a grilled fish and were presented with something we'd never seen before: an arabesque greenling. Near as we can tell, it's sorf of like a very small lingcod. But not really. As full as I was, I enjoyed this because I like fish with firm white meat.

The meal ended with complimentary fish soup: daikon, carrots, green onions, and a few chunks of whatever fish ends up in your particular bowl. I got salmon; others had different white fish.