I took my mom out for dinner at Sushi Kaneyoshi last month as a Mother's Day gift to both of us. I'd been scheming to try this place for some time, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Reservations are notoriously hard to get. They're released on Tock on the first of each month at 3:00PM for seatings the following month, and if you're too disorganized to log on right on time (and perhaps compete with some motivated snipers), you just have to get lucky. I got lucky. I checked one random late night in May and found a Wednesday night opening five weeks in advance, the one available reservation on the calendar.
Sushi Kaneyoshi is an attractive omakase sushi bar hidden in the basement of an office building in Little Tokyo. You park in the building's garage (dinner is probably $$$$ on your highest-point card, but parking is cash only) and go down what feels like it must be the wrong elevator, then enter into an upscale anteroom before you're led into the restaurant itself, which is peaceful and lovely and spacious for a 12-seat sushi bar.
I have one complaint about Kaneyoshi, and it's that they made a big deal about being on time for a 7:00 seating, ushering in each party in order of arrival, then made us wait half an hour before our first bite. The prep was interesting to watch, though, and once things got going, it was quite a marvelous experience.
Our chef Yoshi actually hosted us once upon a time at Sushi Ginza Onodera. Kaneyoshi is his venture (he's the Yoshi of Kaneyoshi), and it was a privilege (lucky again) to sit on his side of the counter and get our sushi straight from him. He was super personable and took excellent care of us, as did the rest of the team. The only choice we had to make was what to drink with our omakase. My mom doesn't drink much, but I ordered a bottle of Fukucho Moon on the Water junmai ginjo sake and took part of it home. It was good, and we got to pick our own sake glasses.
The food was phenomenal. We started with tachiuo, or Japanese beltfish, tempura with a bit of dashi sauce and caviar. Then, there was an incredible piece of iwashimaki, a sardine roll with shiso and cucumber. Chawanmushi came with firefly squid, fava beans, sansho pepper, and yuzu. Kamasu, or Japanese barracuda, was lightly torched and served with a bright shiso sauce. Nodoguro, or ocean perch, was seared buttery and put in a bite-sized hand roll with crisp nori.
Next, there was a trio of cold delicacies: ankimo, sakekasu-marinated wakame, and miso-marinated oyster. All three were superb, but the ankimo was maybe the best I've ever had, lush and mild, even sweet. The last stop before the sushi train was a brilliant cool dish of mozuku seaweed with bear shrimp, kiwi, dashi, and vinegar.
I had high expectations for the sushi, and they were met and exceeded. Exquisite fish, perfect mounds of rice, and fresh cut ginger (though I would have eaten more of the ginger than I was served). The nigiri show started with shimaaji, then a melty piece of seared toro with sansho pepper. We got another taste of that amazing ankimo in a hand roll finished with cucumber. Then we had aji with ginger and scallion, followed by a soothing cooked oyster dish with dashi, seaweed, and rice, almost like an ochazuke.
Bright red katsuo came with a touch of scallion, and then there was a tempura hand roll made with delicate mehikari, a fish I'd never encountered before (it's called greeneyes in English, if that helps). Silver-skinned ebodai, or Japanese butterfish, was as good as it sounds, and then we had a splendid duo of bafun and purple Santa Barbara uni. Dinner wound down with anago brushed with sweet sauce, then a clear fish soup with fresh seaweed, and finally, a bouncy cube of tamago for dessert.
This was a fantastic meal, one that also managed to impress my mom--she can be harsh, and I could tell she was inclined to dislike the place when they made her wait that first half hour. It was expensive, too, but kind of at the going rate for premium omakase these days, and Sushi Kaneyoshi is at the top of the top tier of stateside sushi. I'd love to go back when I have an excuse and enough luck to nab another reservation. read more