Japanese Food on Sawtelle

Last Friday, Jack and I discovered Japanese food heaven here in Los Angeles on Sawtelle Blvd. near Olympic. We had wonderfully fresh, tasty, and relatively inexpensive sushi (albeit in a non-white tablecloth, slightly chaotic environment) at Hide sushi. I particularly enjoyed the albacore tuna nigiri, which came with a ginger and ponzu-sauce topping, and the sour-and-sweet ume shisho roll. While one must stick to the menu at Hide Sushi (no omakase), we will put it on our list for simple, good fish that satisfies the periodic sushi craving.

Before dinner, we traipsed through a Japanese market with a large variety of sushi-grade fish and prepared food, like 99-cent rice balls with plum paste, spam musabi (sushi race with spam), and huge combination plates for around $6. We noted the ramen shops we plan to try in the future, along with the japanese-style tapas place mentioned in the NYT food review last week, the Beard Papa cream puff store, the all-you-can-sing karaoke, and the Giant Robot store, which my brother Andrew, a robotophile, would enjoy. We also saw the Japanese-style curry restaurants, a shabu-shabu place, some fragrant Korean BBQ, and a Japanese-Italian fusion menu that looked intriguing. Besides the choice of food, I enjoyed the feel of the neighborhood: watching little dogs in jeans jackets walk by and walking by nurseries full of flowers and plants. We'll be back!