Believe it or not, since moving to LA nearly 4 full years ago, this was my first dineLA experience. Good thing it was awesome. I went to Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa in Marina del Rey, a place I had heard of many times before but never tried because of the price tag. Let me tell you-- totally worth it. The food is impeccable and the service is friendly and attentive, serving each next plate within the last 2 bites of the previous.
Detailed recap of my lunch:
Edamame appetizer-- nothing special. Boiled, chilled edamame. Can't really screw this one up.
Tuna sashimi in scallion and ponzu sauce-- delicious. Plentiful cuts of lean tuna without a single shred of that nasty white connective tissue crap in a wonderfully acidic, balancing sauce. Perfectly firm yet tender (?) texture and rich in flavor, attesting to the quality of the fish. Too much tuna is just red, mushy, and tasteless these days.
Sushi taster-- albacore, salmon, yellowtail, and scallop. For possibly the first time in my life, salmon was my least favorite of a lineup of sushi. This is because the others were amazing, not because the salmon was lackluster. This is one of those places where the chef doesn't recommend soy sauce if he's already put sauce on the sushi, and won't indulge requests for extra rice or salt. Could be pretentious, but he has a right to do so because the way the sushi is prepared is purposeful and effective. The albacore came with some scallion garnish and ponzu, salmon with toasted sesame seeds, yellowtail with a crisp, fresh lemon essence that was infused even through the rice, and the scallop, my favorite of the day, had a distinct serrano accent and some slightly salty sauce that highlighted the buttery, fresh, raw ocean circle.
Hand rolls-- not something I would usually get but these were pretty tasty and I'm glad I got to try them. Burrito-style sushi weirds me out but the toro roll was rich and fatty, though unspectacular. The blue crab roll was surprisingly light. I have a tendency to question any cooked meat presented sushi-style, but this was delicately marinated, tediously extracted from the shell, and pleasant to nom. Also, the fish:nori ratio was excellent.
My only, singular point of criticism is that their rice is a bit too loosely packed. They intentionally do this to create that 'melt-in-your-mouth' thing, but 'fall-between-my-chopsticks' is a little more of what happened, especially when the sushi was pre-sauced. Really, the top quality fish has already stolen the role of mouth-melting.
Then back to work, yay.
Today marks 3 full weeks of being employed and nearly 2 weeks of living at my new apartment in Playa del Rey. All is wonderful and I still can't get over how lucky I am that everything has fallen into place this way.
I don't know why these last few lines have a white highlight. Please ignore.
