Sushi Nozawa

The rice is one of kind. It is usually overlooked in most sushi eater's description of a sushi experience. \t\n\t\nThe fish is great but they lose a point (or more) for a lack of ambience and the ample unfriendliness

I used to be a regular at Sassabone back at its old location. When we discovered a place that also did a ""Trust the Chef"" about 30 minutes closer to our home, my family decided to try Nozawa. Over the course of the past 2 years, Nozawa has easily surpassed Sassabone in food quality, service, decor & general vibe. \t\n\t\nThe fish is always perfect - fresh, melt in your mouth, not the least bit ""fishy"" or tough, as most sushi is when prepared in a mediocre way aka most everywhere else. The fish itself it so fresh and delicious that Nozawa doesn't need to drench it in spicy mayos or add crazy ingredients. If that's what you're looking for, go somewhere else. \t\n\t\nNozawa is about the fish, the homemade wasabi, and the ponsu sauce. Once you go Nozawa, you never go back. I can't eat other sushi now. I've been spoiled!

If one takes the time to notice, all Japanese fine art is essentially minimalistic. Be it poetry, music, calligraphy or food, the Japanese aesthetic involves a minimal structure, rigidly defined, where the subtlest deviation from the norm speaks tomes.The Art of Sushi is to approach impossibly high standards which can never be realized; a meal can be evaluated only by how close it comes to the theoretical perfection. Sushi is pickled rice, just sticky enough to barely hold itself together (if you are one to dip the rice in soy sauce, stop reading and buy at Von's), and sushi (rice) must be served immediately (yes, warm). As for rolls, the only rolls served traditionally at a BAR are tekka and kappa, unless the chef decides to serve you something to sample in a hand roll. That being said, Sushi Nozawa is church for eating raw fish. LA is a huge market for sashimi grade fish, tons of GREAT fish to choose from every day, but Nozawa-san gets to pick first. So if what you want is a roll filled with three kinds of seafood with five different pieces of fish wrapped around the outside, covered in sauce, DON'T EAT HERE. On the other hand, if you want to eat mindblowing fish in an environment designed not to distract your senses, this is the place to go. Jay Patterson