Sushi

You just had to go there, huh Dustin?

I've been eating sushi for 27 years, started up in the '80's as an 8-year old with my folks who often would introduce me to new & terrifying cuisines. We'd hit our local sushi bar at the time, me in my cubscout uniform and I quickly became known as the Sushi Scout. I even dabbled a little behind the counter at one restaurant, a gift my folks got me for a birthday.

I learned to love sushi early on and my tastes have definitely grown over the years. When I first hated it and was disgusted upon seeing my Pop eat it, I now adore

UNI!!! and I'm often disappointed if my joint doesn't have it fresh. And it must be fresh. I've learned that we're fortunate enough here in L.A. to be home to the WORLD'S best sea urchin (uni). They raise it up in Santa Barbara and even the best sushi joint in NY (arguably Sushi Yasuda) gets theirs from Santa Barbara, not Japan. Uni just reminds me more than any other item that I'm definitely eating something from the sea. The way it disintegrates and kind of liquifies in the mouth upon each bite....man, I can't have enough.

I've never ordered a special from my local sushi bar but they do a shooter with uni, oyster, quail egg and I guess sake. Sounds awesome and I'll likely try it soon.

Aside from Uni, I love hamachi (yellowtail) and sake (salmon). I have to get that every time for sure. Sweet shrimp (and it's different from regular 'ol shrimp) with the fried heads are definitely a favorite too. And I do tend to like the nifty unusual rolls too.

Club Sushi down in Hermosa Beach offers an amazing 1/2 price happy hour including most sushi, 1/2 off beer, wine & sake & apps. I love going there because the sushi is good, not amazing, but certainly good, a good value and all the sushi chefs are Hispanic and I've never seen that anywhere else. My buddy Efrem, the head chef, even won 'Best Sushi Chef' in the South Bay one year and I came on in and had him autograph our issue. He loved it.

Oh, so down at Club Sushi, they make a yellowtail roll with jalapeno, cilantro and some lemon juice and it's truly amazing.

Originally Posted by jquirit

There was another sushi place in Old Town Pasadena that my friends and I were notorious at. The sushi chef there got to know us and came up with a special roll for us: the "911" roll. The story goes is that one night we were eating, predominantly, a lot of spicy tuna cut-rolls and we kept on telling him to make it hotter and hotter. By the end of the night he ran out of stuff to throw in to make it hot enough. Next week, we returned back to the place and he came prepared. He made us a special cut roll, and placed it infront of us. The spicy tuna center was an unnatural color of red.. think bright, BRIGHT red. On the outside was alternating pieces of grilled unagi and avocado. The roll was delicious, but FREAKING HOT. Come to find out, he went out during the week and bought a bottle of Dave's Insanity Sauce and decided to unleash it on us. Mwhahahaha. I miss that place, too.
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ankimo (rare, but Omino had it all the time)

Also, a well done chirashi is a thing to behold. Mmmmm..

Totally agree. Ankimo for those of you who don't know or haven't tried it...it's Monkfish Liver, over rice, usually with a strip of seawood or packed atop like what they do to Uni. So good. Not terribly livery, if you're worried about it. I also like Chirashi but didn't know it was called that!

Originally Posted by ahc4353

Havin takeout sushi for lunch.

Pay by the pound. I get like 4 lbs for 3 bucks!

That's freakin' crazy Al! I'll be right over.

Originally Posted by fxpose

I love sushi and sashimi. For me, the best way to experience sushi is the way of omakase.

If I go to a place I've never been and I've researched it on the net, I'll usually order Omakase and let the chef choose for me since I'll eat absolutely anything.

Originally Posted by csbrewfisher

When I lived in Sandy Ego (20+ years) we would take tubes of wasabi out on the charter fishing boats whenever we went out, which was often.

On the return to port, as the deck hands were cleaning the fish, we would ask them to slice some sashimi pieces for us, right off the live and kickin' fish. Add a little wasabi and mmmmmmmmmmm, the stuff was so fresh it would jump and quiver in the mouth from the live nerve reaction to chewing it.

Now THAT'S good eats. If you live near the coasts, try it some time!

Sounds AWESOME!