A subject dear to my heart.

My typical Sushi order starts with some light white fish such as sea bass/flounder/snapper, move to a piece each of maguro and toro, then on to oily silver skinned fishes such as aji (horse mackarel), shima aji (skip jack), kohada (gizzard shad), then either a shell fish like Miruugai (giant clam/geoduck clam) or abalone or sweet shrimp/spot prawn or ankimo depending on availability, then uni. If I'm still hungry, I get a Ika Shiso roll and finally finish with an order of tamago.

If its cold out, I'll have a bowl of miso soup afterwards. I don't understand how people enjoy miso soup before eating sushi.

My dream sushi destination in the US is Urasawa. Has anybody been?

http://www.kevineats.com/2009/08/ura...hills-ca-5.htm


My dream sushi destination abroad is probably some place like Mizutani.


A little off topic but if I had the ingredients right now, I would make myself some soft scrambled eggs and top it with hairy crab roe, uni, and osetra caviar.

Sadly, this is the reason a ton of people don't get into sushi. I do cheapo sushi when I can but I simply can't bring myself to go to a nice sushi place because it's too expensive. I wish i could drop 100 on casual dinners out, but I can't.

Most of my sushi experiences have been at beni-hana style teppanyaki places and ru'sans. I've really liked pretty much everything I've had at these places, although I'm sure it's not considered to be as good in quality as these primo-places. Any tips on getting good sushi at a cheap price?

Sushi is considered kind of a luxury in Japan. People honestly don't go out for Sushi very often and typically reserve it for special occasions.

That said, there are a few things you can do in the US to get good sushi at lower prices.

Go to a good place but order the fishes that are not imported like salmon. Order stuff like octopus, squid, surf clam. These will typically be some of your cheaper nigiri options.

Fill up on something ahead of time. You're mostly going to sushi for the taste so fill up on something ahead of time.

Go in groups with even number of people. Some sushi places only serve nigiri in pairs instead of single pieces.

But yeah even then its hard to have good sushi at less than $30 a person.

Its pretty hard to get it that fresh in the US but yes in general you want your uni to look like a tongue, where you can see the small buds on it very clearly. It should not be a runny mess.

Your best source for uni in the US should probably be Santa Barbara Uni. It'll be sweeter, fresher, and cheaper than Hokkaido uni too.

Kuruma Zushi in Manhattan is the best sushi I've ever had. Just get the omakase and let the chef handle it. This place is totally about quality fish and not about fancy rolls. In fact I prefer sashimi to sushi here so I can save room for more of the fish lol. It is also the most expensive sushi place I've ever been to, so be prepared for that.

On the other side of the spectrum my sister from LA loves Katsuya, and that place is totally about trendy rolls more than being about the fish. Not really my style, but if that's what you're into it's good. Not overly pricey for a good sushi place.

I heard Kuruma is Masa level expensive and sometimes even more?

Whats the omakase cost if you don't mind? like $300+ right?

OP made me super jealous. The only sushi joints around me (AFAIK, MPLS sushi heads suggestions are welcome!) are the trendy/hip kinds. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the difference between "good" and "bad" sushi (i.e. how spending $200 on sushi will change my $30 AYCE experience, or the lower end per roll places as well).

My favorite sushi is Unagi, for rolls anything with avocado and shrimp tempura is a winner. I very much enjoy a lot of texture variety in singular rolls, so anything tempura with a soft wrap usually works for me.

I'll have to try out a higher end joint and drop a few hundred sometime to see if I'm really missing out by going to cheaper places/hitting happy hour specials/All you can eat places.

my fav dish is octopus sunomono (light touch of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, lemon)

spanish mackerel was probably the most memorable nigiri i've ever had, but that might just be variance. most interesting was scallop because of how different it tastes raw... very sea salty!

have stayed away from uni specifically because of 2p2 complaints in the EDF thread

+1, sometimes i make the mistake of going really hungry and just have to try to find the cheapest rolls to fill up

This seems like very strange advice.

I can't remember the last time I went to get sushi and left hungry.

this page looks good http://eugeneciurana.com/musings/sus...ing-HOWTO.html

well the man asked for advice on how to get affordable but very good sushi.

Given that a good not even high end sushi restaurant is going to charge about $4 to $5 on average for a single piece of nigiri, I'm not sure how he is able to not leave hungry if he is dining on a budget?

i don't really disagree with your 'eat beforehand comment', but in my experience good sushi places don't charge that much.

How have you guys learned about which sushi places are good/bad. Is it mostly internet reviews, word of mouth, or trial and error?

Internet reviews seem all over the place (sushi isn't quite as universal as a cheeseburger in terms of whom will like it), and few of my friends frequent sushi joints

amoeba - I'm an idiot, I didn't catch that this was in response to eating on a budget.

That said, I'm not sure that there is really an answer to how to eat good sushi on a budget (besides just eating less of it). Save up your money and splurge on a great experience.

Yeti, in my experience $4 to $5 a piece is actually on the cheapish end for very good sushi. Although in Cali, the quality of the "average" places is so much better than similar average places in NYC, and they're cheaper, too. Even the ****ty places in NYC are like $3 to $4 per piece.

Well I am averaging the cheaper fishes with the more pricy ones. But yeah if you are just sticking to pretty common fishes, its not that much, true.

But even with tuna it could vary. Like there is a big price difference between bigeye and bluefin.

yeah we're talking about 'good' sushi though, not 'very good'. although there's a possibility i was falsely classing some average places as good in my mind.

that ino sushi place i linked was very good indeed. i got omakase, ate maybe 25 pieces, had about 3 beers, and some clam+miso soup. $100 + tip.

but yeah when talking about NYC all bets are off i guess.

<3

A good tip is to first find out what kind of sushi afficionado you are. Do you like exotic fishes? do you like most of your sushi to be traditional? Do you order mostly nigiri/sashimi or rolls when you go?

because awesome to one person might be very different to another.

But if you are really in to traditional sushi with no frills then what I would do is look at their menu. See if they have any exotic fishes that you haven't had or that you don't see at other places. Typically it takes a dedicated clientelle to support the restaurant continuing to source these ingredients and if the restaurant is willing to take the effort to acquire these exotic ingredients then their pedestrian selections are typically higher quality as well.

By the way Yeti, I echo your sentiments from earlier, Ankimo is one of my favorite things to eat.

Its like a lighter cleaner oceany foie.

When done correctly (not oversteamed and no veins) Ankimo is just beautiful and its not that expensive either.

mostly word of mouth, also trial and error. If you live in a city that has a high ethnic concentration, then you can kind of tell by the patrons in the sushi shop if it is worth going to (or coming back).

Ask around alot, go to Japanese grocery stores, there are usually quite a few extremely quality places near by.

There is a new sushi house in ATL that just opened called Sushi House Hayakawa. Being that I am the one that mentioned Sasabune (highly regarded) and I could tell this place would be fantastic before I even got the food.

http://www.atlantasushibar.com/

Again, one of the more pricey places in ATL, almost as much as an LA sushi bar, but unreal good.

exactly! I haven't been to this place but just looking at the menu I know its going to be good. Only serious sushi places will have the guts, pun in tended, to serve Ika Shiokara (fermented squid guts). Now doesn't mean you have to eat this while you're there but the fact that they have it is an indication of the type of sushi restaurant it is. (By the way, I'm not a huge fan of the stuff. it tastes a bit like natto).

By the way, as an aside, ATL is a really good food city. Excellent Korean food, probably 3rd or 2nd best in the US for Korean food and also a lot of solid inventive New American/French places as well.

Their omakase Chirashi is so good...I have trouble ordering between that and the traditional omakase...

Hayakawa is amazing, and a hilarious guy.

i like sushi go 55 - last time i ate tehre we did omakase and after we stopped the sushi chef it ended up ebing about $170/head (we ate a good amount, were pretty stuffed) including some drinks

i like sasabune but think it has gone downhill

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-zo-los-angeles

sushi zo is the best sushi i've had in los angeles - omakase unreal (it's all omakase no menu), service impeccable

The best sushi in Los Angeles is Urasawa and it is not even close. The only place that is on a comparable level is Masa in NYC. Anyone who says different, just don't know!

They fly their fish in from Japan severall times a week.

I have been there twice now. It runs about $350 per person with no drinks included yet.

http://www.kevineats.com/2006/11/ura...y-hills-ca.htm

Here is a link to a guy's page who does a blog that goes to a lot of bomb restaurants, so you can see some details pics of a typical meal there. FWIW, it is also his fav restaurant in the country that he has been to.

haven't had urasawa, heard it's awesome

you should try sushi zo i linked above