Sushi 101 - What is Fresh Sushi?

As some of you may know from reading my posts, I am a sushi FIEND and aspiring sushi connoisseur. I have been a fan for a few years now, but my obsession was sealed by my trip to Japan last fall- ten days in Tokyo and Kyoto which included a visit to Daiwa at the Tsukiji fish market in the wee hours of the morning, the highlight of my sushi life (and even better than the $250-a-head omakase we had at a very fancy sushi place at the New Otani hotel in Tokyo, which I will write about at another time). As my Sasabune review shows, though, I have very little tolerance for bad sushi. I find it very depressing and sad that many sushi fans lavish praise on places (and therefore, lead me to go drop bank on these establishments) that have crappy, soft, unfresh, unyummy sushi that is way overpriced and way overrated. (When people say the sushi somewhere is awesome because it is buttery, soft, melts in your mouth, or similar descriptions, I get very suspicious that they are talking about such a place-- and very often, they are!)


A photo from my visit to Daiwa.

So, I am on a mission to spread the word on what makes sushi good, how you can tell when it's fresh and high quality or not, and where to go to find the best options in LA and wherever else I have occasion to eat my beloved sush. I don't have all the answers-- I am a student, not a master. But I hope that as I continue to learn and explore you can come along for the ride.

Part of the mission includes scouring Yelp to find promising options. Upon reading reviews of The Hump, a place in Santa Monica one of my Japanese sushi maven friends swears by and which I am filling my piggy bank for, I happened upon an incredibly knowledgeable review (excerpts of which are posted below) and immediately contacted the author to ask his permission to share it with all of you. His name is Michael, and by some strange coincidence he, too, is a lawyer. He became a fish expert when he used to work at the Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, California, where he cut, bought and sold fish professionally. He is also a fisherman.

A few weeks ago Michael and I got into an email conversation about fish that has continued to this day. Michael also went to Daiwa in the fish market in Tokyo in the early hours of the morning and agrees that it's the gold standard. He has also given me a tip-- tell sushi chefs at nice places you've been to Daiwa, and they give you a respectful nod (and extra attentive bites, perhaps?). Oh yeah, and he totally agrees with me about Sasabune- which was a relief since I thought I was the only nut who didn't like it. I hope to continue to ask his opinion, which is much more expert than mine, on sushi places I frequent and share his thoughts with all of you on an ongoing basis.

Educational Excerpts from Michael's Review of The Hump (from Yelp)

"So, I went to the Hump...Coincidentally, Brian, the owner, had just come back from Japan, bringing a huge purple chunk of Himalayan rock salt (Japanese chefs love weird salts) and would be sitting for dinner. We chatted briefly - because we were there by ourselves - and Melanie [the hostess] said that we would be sitting next to each other.Over the course of the evening, I discussed with Melanie and Brian the following:
1. Proper handling of fish is of paramount importance to fish
2. Fresh, unfortunately, does not equal properly handled
3. Live fish that is quickly killed is best
4. Fish that has not gone into rigor mortis is not firm, and thus gummy and rubbery
5. Tsukiji's Bluefin Tuna Auction (been there and it is an amazing thing to see)
6. Daiwa Sushi, considered by some to be one of the best places to eat sushi in Japan because it's IN Tsukiji, (and sushi in general in Japan) is not served with overly warm rice or loosely packed rice
7. There are a lot of mediocre sushi bars now
8. Most Bluefin Tuna is coming from Spain because they're harvesting spawning tuna in the Mediterranean Sea and pen raising them off the coast of Spain
9. The Hump pays for top quality, carefully handled fish
10. The Hump keeps a number of its fish live in tanks

While Brian disappeared for a bit, I was seated at the end of the bar. What followed next, I can only describe as a revelation. Most fish sold to sushi bars are sold dead. That's not news to most of the world. And all the talk of eating "live" sushi? It's straight BS unless the fish is still breathing (the Hump serves that here too - I saw a breathing okoze (sculpin) cleanly filleted for live sashimi).

What is news is how poorly fish is treated once it's caught (like the news about how Chinese fish oftentimes does not pass USDA standards because it's filthy). Fish, like all living animals, goes into rigor mortis soon after it's dead. As time passes, the meat will relax and become softer. However, when the fish is well taken care of, and not handled like junk, the meat will stay firm for several days. Handle it like crap, and it will become soft very quickly. (At almost all sushi bars, you're most likely not getting fish that's so fresh it hasn't gone into rigor mortis. So, if you're wondering why a piece of fish is soft, it's because it's OLD.)

The Hump's fish is REALLY fresh. It's rigor mortis fresh. It's so fresh, that the texture of some of the fish, I can almost describe as "crunchy." I primarily had Shiromi. I started off with Tai and Hirame, then had Sujiara, Nodoguro, Managatsuo, Konbujime Ayu, Sanma, Tairagai and Uni. The Tai (with lemon juice and salt) was very good. It was rich and fatty; very rich for a summer fish. The Hirame (with ponzu, momiji oroshi and green onions) was an indicator of things to come. The flesh was firm, much more firm, sweet and substantial. The Sujiara (aka Kue, or Coral Grouper), had a rich, strong, flavor. The flavor got stronger as you chewed on it and it was so firm, it felt so much more substantial than your ordinary white fish sushi. Some people would consider the flesh "hard." But it really is a sign of true freshness. And the flavor was tremendous. The Nodoguro (a perch), also had firm texture, mild sweetness and excellent flavor. The Sanma was rich and oily and firm. (Get the picture?) The Tairagai was simply the best ever. So firm, sweet, and rich. It was amazing.

These fish were so firm and meaty, they were completely different than any place that I've had sushi in LA. I wish I tried more. Brian came back, asked for one of the chefs to use the rock salt he brought back for something. Well, the chef served him up some usuzukuri sujiara, with the salt shaved onto it. It looked fantastic. I thanked him for a great meal and great fresh fish. Brian's a warm and charming owner, who takes real pride in what the restaurant is doing. This shows everywhere. The staff is well trained and very attentive. The chefs care about the work they do and take great care.

So F serious sushi bars. F anyone who claims to know what "truly fresh fish" or who is a "expert on sushi" who hasn't gone fishing, can't fillet, doesn't know that freshly caught fish that hasn't gone into rigor mortis is going to be like chewing something with only slightly better texture than rubber. Stop the BS. Stop the trendiness. Eat really fresh sushi. Eat at the Hump. (It'll be #1 on my list if it's this good all the time.)"

Thanks, Michael! :-P

Sebo: Sidenote

Just a sidenote from me on sebo - while patch has been lucky enough to enjoy sushi in japan, I myself have (Sadly) only consumed it here in the good old u.s.of.a.....in NYC, Seattle, LA, and San Fran. And I will say that it was probably the nicest fish I've had ever. Definitely by FAR and away the best sushi I have had in San Francisco. So please, if you are in SF, go there, eat fish, be merry. And if you have a favorite sushi place in the bay area, comment and let us know!!!!

Em

Sebo: A Bastion of Unilicious Serenity

SEBO.

It was wonderful! We had such a great, fun time and the sushi was very good.

The physical place is serene and simply decorated, with green tea ice cream colored walls, lots of shiny wood and dramatic lights glowing behind white screens along the wall. The outside is very simple and understated. We came in and easily sat at the sushi bar, which is thoughtfully designed with the fish storage recessed so you can watch the preparation of the sushi up close and without obstruction. We asked one of the chef/owners, Dan, to serve up whatever he thought we might like until we cried uncle, and ordered a bottle of cloudy Kizakura sake. (A little sweet for my taste, but still refreshing.)

Dan served us up a couple of different sushi and sashimi combinations, including wild big eye tuna (ruby red, lean and delicious), sardine (looked like little Lexuses on our plate, so shiny and pretty!), blue banded sprat which was also lovely, amberjack, horse mackerel, super fresh sea urchin (a.k.a. uni), wild scallops that were tender and tasty, big fin reef squid that was a bit chewy, monkfish liver (a first for me!) and perfectly fine ikura (I am an ikura freak, as I told Dan...I'll put salmon roe on anything...but that is another tale for another time.) Noticeably quality pickled ginger and wasabi was served on the side. Dan also served each of us a delicious charred-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside piece of Neiman Ranch beef in a bowl on top of garden-fresh sliced golden tomatoes and perfectly ripe avocado, with a tiny bit of some kind of ponzue-esque balsamic drizzle on it. I liked that the little piece of beef was sliced up in the style of a piece of fatty sushi, like toro. It was really different and very delicious. Em couldn't stop raving about it.

The sushi was very good. It was not the best sushi I've ever had, but it was up there and very respectable. It passed the have again test: I would definitely go back. Standouts were the uni and the monkfish liver (a.k.a. ankimo, as my native Tokyoite friend Mari recognized it when I was telling her about the meal). The uni was from Hokkaido and Dan told us they get it maybe a dozen times a year, and it is really special. It was smaller and browner than any uni I've ever eaten. However, the texture was perfect, like eating a creamy feather, and the flavor was really intense and wonderful. It was probably the best uni I have ever had, and I have had some serious uni in my time! And apparently uni is not even in top season right now. Lucky us. I ordered another piece at the end of the meal, it was so good, even when I was nearing my stomach capacity limit. Em was an uni virgin until last night (chicka-woh-woh) and now has set a high bar for other uni to hit, which gratifies me greatly. She was fascinated by its flavor, which is so unique the only thing I can compare it to, when it's good, is canteloupe and oysters have a musky baby. When it's bad, uni is BAD: unpalatable, mushy, and tastes like vaguely sweet, slimy dirt. This one was perfect and put me in a state of urchin-induced bliss.

The ankimo looked like a liver from high school bio class, which I found simultaneously exciting and sketchy. I made Em eat her piece first, even though I am not usually intimidated by eating viscera. Dan sliced it up really thinly, placed it gently on the little pad of rice, and wrapped it with a strip of nori (the seaweed wrap on sushi). It was sooo good. It was incredibly creamy, melt-in-your-mouthy, and had a really meaty, light flavor. Loved it. Sort of like a foie gras's Japanese cousin.

We finished up with a big bottle of Orion beer and a small bowl of cherries they gave us. (And later, hit up Citizen Cake for a rocky road cupcake to split later over a very nice Taz 2004 Zin, whose remainder glass I am now sipping on post-hike. That's how we roll!)

Dan made the experience for us, we both agreed. He was so charming and witty, and he gave us lots of great information about the various dishes we ate. He was just super nice and lovely. If you go, he is the one who looks a lot like Paul Rudd-- just add some hipster black square-frame glasses, beautiful Japanese countryside arm tattoos, and impressive knife-yielding skills. He got into sushi when he became friends with sushi chefs while working in fish wholesale on the East Coast. He also is a culinary school and Cornell grad. He was very welcoming and knowledgeable. Clearly, he and his business partner, Michael, have worked really hard on making Sebo work-- and it has definitely paid off.

Overall, Sebo was a delightful experience. I would definitely recommend checking it out. The icing on the cake: the bill was very, very reasonable for all the nice things we ate.

Food: (3.5)
Experience: (4)
Overall: (3.75)

For an explanation of our ratings system, CLICK HERE!

Reviews:
Yelp Review
SF Chron Review

:-P

Gracias, Emilia.

Thanks Emilia! I'm excited to make my real-life blog debut. This lawyer definitely eats. I am also a huge connoisseur of cocktails, wine and beer, so I will be piping up on those aspects of our gastronomic adventures. Eating fabulous meals with fabulous people is what I live for. Seriously. I'll have it with the wine pairings. I'm picky on quality but I'll try anything once. Most exciting food experience of late? It was last fall- staying up all night and heading to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo at 5:00 A.M. to check out the wares and dodge speeding carts full of styrofoam boxes of fish headed out to be eaten by the world.



The real purpose of the visit though? To wait in a long line (yes, a line at the crack of dawn!) to sit next to fishermen with big rubber boots in a tiny, crowded sushi bar, eating gem-like omakase and drinking cold Japanese beer. They ladled the miso soup out of a huge bucket in the back.



I'll never forget the ikura. Here's looking at you, Ikura...we'll always have Tokyo!

:-p YUM!