la.foodblogging

[photo of Hiro Urasawa from Gayot.com's review of Urasawa, by Louis Charles]

I kept some notes from a somewhat recent discussion on chowhound that I found extremely interesting. (I’m afraid I neglected to note which posters made which points, so I’m sorry I cannot give full credit where due.)

Here are a few general things you might not know about your sushi experience.

When you go to an extra fine sushi house, you are paying a premium for a number of reasons, the primary one being due to the pecking order of sushi chefs in this town.

The quality of the fish that most sushi bars purchase at International Marine is not the same. Chef Nozawa apparently shows up at 6am and Chef Nobi (from Sasabune) around the same time.

Everyone else shows up later.

There is only a small amount of superior quality fish available these days and these high ranking guys get the lion’s share.

Hiro Urasawa shows up around 9am and picks up his already fish. (Hand-picked apparently earlier in the morning, but I’m unsure by whom.)

Basically, there are a handful of other sushi bars across Los Angeles who pay the premium prices for the very best fish available, which is extremely limited.

Most of the 7-800 LA sushi bars just order and have their fish delivered and do not choose it themselves.

From a slightly paraphrased post by russkar on chowhound:

There are other sushi bars who buy Premium Fish but the selection is so small only a few sushi bars get them. Some of the others that come to mind are Kiriko, Mori Sushi, Hiko, Asanebo, Wa, Sushi Gen.

I’ve been in my share of arguments over the years with some of the Chefs over a particular ‘high quality’ fish.

…[recently] a 800 lb Blue Fin tuna came in IMP and was scooped up by MASA, NY. I also buy from LA FISH and True World. Huge demand and little product creates serious competition.

Okay, so that’s just the fish. Then we come to what they can do with it.

You probably already know that sushi chefs go through years and years of training and apprenticeships in order to master their craft. If, like me, you’ve ever attempted to make sashimi at home, you probably ended up with a hacked up pile of fish. Obviously the manner in which it is trimmed and sliced, and then attractively arranged on the plate, genuinely makes it tastier, or at least more appealing.

Some chefs in Japan, and also here in LA, take their art to the next level. Morihiro Onodera hand crafts the gorgeous ceramic plates on which he serves his sublime sushi. (He also makes his own tender tofu and polishes his own rice, for crying out loud!) The glazed clay platters at R 23 are also hand made. For his elaborate Kaiseki sushi, Kyoto-style dining experience, Hiro Urasawa to give one example out of 32 courses, he hand carves a personal block of ice on which to serve probably the finest toro you will ever taste in this town. I believe this to be true.

If you think you know sushi, you might like to take a class at the Sushi Academy.

It will change your view on sushi and make you more aware on what to look for when purchasing fish for your own consumption.

So, which is your favourite place for sushi in Los Angeles and why?
Please provide links and addresses, if you can!

While I recently enjoyed a fine meal at R 23, my hands down favourite place in LA is Mori Sushi.

Urasawa (no link available) remains unsampled by me - for now!

Post Scriptum:

According to a recent post on chowhound by exilekiss:

The menu [at Mori Sushi] states that [Morihiro Onodera] gets his own special blend of sushi rice made exclusively for him.

Mori Sushi
11500 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, California, 90064
(310) 479-3939

Sushi Zo
9824 National Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 842-3977

Sushi Sasabune
12400 Wilshire Blvd. #150
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 820-3596

By MaxMillion (see more of her posts). Max Million is the nom de 'net of Pauline Adamek. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pauline has lived in Los Angeles for the past thirteen years and finds it agrees with her. She has been reviewing films and filing celebrity-based interview articles since 1991, and has filed stories from various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. She completed a family cookbook and has also written novels for 8-12 year olds. She is the creator and host of ArtsBeatLA.