[jjbrr]

Let's discuss sushi in this thread.

Favorite places? Recommendations? What would a typical meal consist of for you? Best sushi experience?

[awm]

My favorite is Hide Sushi in Los Angeles. Very fresh fish and a reasonable price of about $20 per person.

As for particular dishes, my favorite is Hirame (halibut sushi). I also like the Toro (fatty tuna) rolls and the Unagi (fresh water eel). I've had the octopus (pretty good) and the squid (not so good) too. I tend to prefer the simpler dishes rather than the complex specialty rolls, and Hide Sushi is good in this respect.

[hrothgar]

Favorite place on the West Coast is Kitsho in Cupertino
Favorite place on the East Coast is Uni in Boston
Favorite, none of the above, Bar Charlie in Vegas

Typical dinner runs $150 to $300 per person
(depends on sake)

Best dinner...

The night out with Kim and Deborah at Uni
Maybe the night out somewhere in Tokyo with Sony

[jjbrr]

I've literally spent hours perusing menus of sushi restaurants in vegas. Where is Bar Charlie? I haven't heard of it.

Edit: http://www.kevineats.com/2009/06/bar-charl...as-vegas-nv.htm
Interesting. Good looking stuff.

[hrothgar]

jjbrr, on Oct 15 2009, 12:29 AM, said:

I've literally spent hours perusing menus of sushi restaurants in vegas. Where is Bar Charlie? I haven't heard of it.

The Palazzo

In any case, a typical meal is a long, leisurely omakase with a friend or two...
No clue what I'll be eating until its sitting in front of me

[Phil]

Sushi --> over-rated.

Unlike Adam I've had some bad experiences at the all you can eat places. Most are dumps, and they hawk you when you peel off the fish and leave the rice.

If I want to eat bait, I'll go down to the docks.

[Jlall]

There's a Nobu in Dallas, I'm going in a couple of weeks. Although it's not really a typical sushi place. If you go I recommend the yellowtail with jalepeno and the black cod with miso. It is more of a trendy place with a creative menu. There are Nobu's in other cities but you live in Dallas that's why I mention it.

Another "trendy" type place I know is in LA called Katsuya. Interesting rolls etc. Most places in LA that are like that imo suck, but Katsuya is very good. Katsuya is a very "LA" type place though so if you are an east coast type person you might hate it.

All that said, I much prefer more traditional places that are about the fish rather than the cool stuff. I like nigiri rather than rolls, or even sashimi.

The best places I've been have been in NY. I highly recommend Kuruma Zushi. We went and did the Omakase at the sushi bar and it was amazing. It is not fancy and the ambience is not amazing, but it is the best quality fish I have ever had. Admittedly this was also the most expensive meal I've ever had, but if you are a big sushi person it's worth it once.

I've been to Masa in NY, it's not as good and thus overpriced.

Blue Ribbon in NYC is very good, one of my favorites. It is less traditional than Kuruma but still excellent fish quality.

I think I went with you once to Mishima, I lived near it and it is not that expensive compared to the other restaurants but it's really good. Again not the right type of place to go if you want fancy and trendy rolls, but if you just want good fish this is the place.

In Boston I went with Richard to the place he recommended, Uni, and it was excellent. Do the Omakase.

In Seattle I went to a place, can't remember the name, but that shows you how good it was. I was really disappointed because I had been told Seattle has better fish than NY and thus has better sushi. I need good reccommendations for if I go back.

In general if you go to a high end place always do the Omakase. The chefs know what you want better than you do. If there's anything you particularly like or hate then you can tell them and they can tailor their selections to you.

Try lots of stuff early on and figure out what you like. For me my basics are freshwater eel, tuna/toro, and yellowtail. If I'm not doing Omakase I will always order stuff that includes that. I almost always just go for nigiri. Also, Scallops. Scallops are amazing if done well. Also if you can get something topped with quail egg it's always worth it.

In rolls I generally like stuff with avocado. So not surprisingly my favorite kind of standard roll is a dragon roll. If you're gonna get rolls at a nice place, get something that looks fun imo. They can really do lots of stuff, so pretty much every roll you get should be something different (if you're like me and are not into rolls that much to begin with).

Also, people hate on salmon for being boring but it's pretty good and always solid.

Weirdest thing I used to order was a peanut and avocado roll at my local place. Sounds weird and has no fish in it but it's really awesome.

Edit: Also in Vegas all of my friends are like OMG NAKED FISH! It is like a standard poker player place. Apparantly half the price of nobu, and similar quality. Never been there but def gonna check it out at some point.

[fred]

jjbrr, on Oct 14 2009, 09:29 PM, said:

I've literally spent hours perusing menus of sushi restaurants in vegas.

The sushi restaurant of choice for me and a lot of other bridge (and poker) players in Las Vegas is called "Naked Fish". It is located in the suburbs, maybe 10 miles west of the strip.

Hope I am not the only one who is trying to save the bluefin tuna by not ordering anything containing bluefin at sushi restaurants anymore

Fred Gtielman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Jlall]

Phil, on Oct 14 2009, 05:05 PM, said:

Sushi --> over-rated.

Unlike Adam I've had some bad experiences at the all you can eat places. Most are dumps, and they hawk you when you peel off the fish and leave the rice.

If I want to eat bait, I'll go down to the docks.

I did all you can eat once in Vegas but I don't remember it (BLACKOUT). I do remember $1 a piece happy hour at some place in DC and it was AWFUL. So I tend to agree with your feelings on those kinda paces.

OVERRATED THOUGH?! WAT?

[Jlall]

fred, on Oct 14 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

jjbrr, on Oct 14 2009, 09:29 PM, said:

I've literally spent hours perusing menus of sushi restaurants in vegas.

The sushi restaurant of choice for me and a lot of other bridge (and poker) players in Las Vegas is called "Naked Fish". It is located in the suburbs, maybe 10 miles west of the strip.

Hah, I got my edit in before you posted I swear Anyways we have the same friends so not a surprise

[jdonn]

My favorite sushi experience by far was, at the NABC in Vegas last year, going with a few people including Justin and watching him consume.... I won't state the number of shots even though I know it, but suffice to say what I would have thought was enough sake to kill a man. He was very entertaining, and he didn't even pass out until he got back to his room. He had even pre-gamed a little at the bar before going out.

[Jlall]

jdonn, on Oct 14 2009, 05:10 PM, said:

My favorite sushi experience by far was, at the NABC in Vegas last year, going with a few people including Justin and watching him consume.... I won't state the number of shots even though I know it, but suffice to say what I would have thought was enough sake to kill a man. He was very entertaining, and he didn't even pass out until he got back to his room. He had even pre-gamed a little at the bar before going out.

This was only jdonns favorite experience because we were celebrating his national win! I promise.

[jdonn]

Jlall, on Oct 14 2009, 05:11 PM, said:

jdonn, on Oct 14 2009, 05:10 PM, said:

My favorite sushi experience by far was, at the NABC in Vegas last year, going with a few people including Justin and watching him consume.... I won't state the number of shots even though I know it, but suffice to say what I would have thought was enough sake to kill a man. He was very entertaining, and he didn't even pass out until he got back to his room. He had even pre-gamed a little at the bar before going out.

This was only jdonns favorite experience because we were celebrating his national win! I promise.

Actually it had more to do with me controlling your credit card after about the 10th shot. I mean literally it was so bad that Sam Katz and I had like 2 extra shots each at the end just so you couldn't have them because we were starting to worry.

[jjbrr]

fred, on Oct 14 2009, 05:08 PM, said:

jjbrr, on Oct 14 2009, 09:29 PM, said:

I've literally spent hours perusing menus of sushi restaurants in vegas.

The sushi restaurant of choice for me and a lot of other bridge (and poker) players in Las Vegas is called "Naked Fish". It is located in the suburbs, maybe 10 miles west of the strip.

Hope I am not the only one who is trying to save the bluefin tuna by not ordering anything containing bluefin at sushi restaurants anymore

Fred Gtielman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

I'm going to Vegas in January. My friends put me in charge of picking the sushi dinner, hence the menu perusal. Naked Fish was my first choice, given they don't object, and I'm glad you give it the thumbs up as well. Really looking forward to it.

[jjbrr]

also LOL at the all you can eat place in vegas that night.

The food might not have been great but the company was.

[Rain]

http://www.yelp.com/...shi-bar-sudbury

Mass.

There's a nearer pretty good sushi place to us, but we will drive here a few times a year. Didn't go for ~ 1 year or so because they scolded us when we were late lol. But a few weeks ago we couldn't resist it anymore, overcame the fear, and drove to sudbury for the sushi.

[awm]

Hide is not all-you-can-eat. It's just relatively cheap. The all-you-can-eat places I've tried are mediocre at best.

[Elianna]

I second the Hide recommendation (no big surprise, huh? I should state that _I_ was there first)

They have the best Inari I've ever had (sweet rice wrapped in tofu).

[MattieShoe]

Sansei in Maui

The sushi is excellent and, well... It's in MAUI.

[jjbrr]

Elianna, on Oct 14 2009, 11:50 PM, said:

I second the Hide recommendation (no big surprise, huh?  I should state that _I_ was there first)

They have the best Inari I've ever had (sweet rice wrapped in tofu).

I had no idea anything could be wrapped in tofu. Wiki makes it sound pretty darn good.