No. 59, Live Amaebi at Sushi Imari

At a tiny sushi counter in this boundless capital's southwest suburbs, nine of us sat silent and alert waiting for Koji Kimura to finish readying his lunchtime service. We whispered our drink orders to the restaurant’s lone server while listening...

When I first went to Sushi Nozawa near the end of 1987, I was mostly impressed with its rigor. The fish was good enough, the usual parade of tuna, yellowtail and mackerel, but there was a sign that read, “Today’s special: Trust me,” and the chef,...

Photo by Edwin Goei If you know about Kakurega, you’ve no doubt also heard its owners are a pair of former chefs from Newport Beach’s venerable Kitayama. It was primarily for this reason that I featured the Costa Mesa eatery in our food blog’s...

I've often likened sushi to art in these reviews. Most of the time, I wasn't being literal, but maybe I should've been. Sushi chefs—especially the modern kind who specialize in rolls—are closer to painters and sculptors than cooks or chefs. They...

Every piece of nigiri shaped by Morihiro Onodera’s hands reminds me to appreciate the humbler beauty beneath the shiny overlay. In matters of sushi, the sea treasures will always vie for the limelight: uni in the soft shades of Renoir’s oranges,...