Fuck me. This place is seared in my brain as one of the best sushi experiences I've had in a while. It might be because I went on a super casual Wednesday for lunch, so it wasn't crowded at all and the weather in SF was absolutely perfect, so I was in an unusually good mood. I had read about this place based on the review in The Infatuation (they almost never steer me wrong) and it was luckily a 7 min walk from my hotel. Perfect! The place is a bit hard to find - it has literally no sign on the outside. It's right on the corner of Bush Street and this cute alley way that has an Irish pub in it. I got there right when it opened and got an excellent seat at the sushi bar. The decor was simple but still upscale with full floor to ceiling windows and the sun shining right through.
I was a bit nervous at first when I noticed that all the sushi chefs were not Japanese but as soon as they started talking to me about sushi, I knew they were legit. Soon this guy sits next to me at the bar and he clearly knew the chef and I found out he was a sushi chef at another restaurant and it was just his off day. He started shooting the shit with the chef here and it was like nothing I had ever heard before. The intense passion they had for the culture and food was very inspiring and it was literally all they talked about for 1 1/2 hours. Their knowledge and love for sushi had me very enamored with both of them and made me kind of sad to not have a job that I felt that strongly about (although they both claimed to be making no money). The chef here told me that making salmon avocado roll is his worst nightmare, so you can imagine the level of food here. It's all stripped down, basic, authentic sushi. No California rolls or Philly rolls in sight. I was dying to get the omakase but I restrained myself. Instead I got uni sushi to start ($12 for 2 pieces) and the sashimi/tempura lunch ($19). I saw the uni come out of the box and the chef told me it was Santa Barbara uni - amazing!! This is the kind of stuff I live for and since it was from right down the coast, it just seemed fresher than ever. The sashimi/tempura lunch comes with a very small but elegant sashimi starter - basic cuts of yellowtail, salmon, tuna, and white tuna. They were all melt in your mouth high quality fish. Incredible.
The tempura came out next and it's a VERY large serving of veggies and shrimp. The tempura batter was a bit on the thick side but nothing too terrible. While it was a very good and filling tempura meal, I couldn't help but wish that I had stuck to just fish instead. Everything the chef was making for other people looked mind blowing. I watched him serve up all sorts of unique types of fish to his friend, using the blow torch and other tools to really do it up. I ended up striking up a nice conversation with the guy sitting next to me and asked what he liked best (he had about 10 pieces of sushi). He had said that the monkfish liver was really good and I was a bit skeptical, so the chef kindly gave me a free tasting. It was creamy and quite smooth - I can absolutely see why they call it froie gras of the sea - totally spot on description of what it was. I was torn between getting scallop or sweet shrimp sushi but the chef swayed me on to barracuda. I couldn't remember if I had it or not before but it was a really lovely smooth mild fish. It was gorgeous in presentation and I loved that I tried a few different things that I normally wouldn't get. I could have literally sat there for 3 more hours talking to that guy and trying different types of fish and been happy as a clam.
By the time I left, I was full and happy. I don't know if it was the sun or the intense passion that the 2 chefs (ok, it can border on being a bit snobby but I was ok with it) had but it was all around such a joyful meal for me. My only big regret is not going full on sushi/sashimi and not splurging more (even if it meant paying out of pocket for it). This will definitely be my go-to sushi place whenever I am in town again. Trust me, sit at the bar and do the omakase. Your mouth and soul will thank you for it. Tip: Don't mix this up with Akiko Sushi which is around the corner from it. I don't know what it's like there but definitely make sure to make a reservation at the right place. Total bill: $50 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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