sushi for dinner

Been wanting to try out some sushi restaurants in the area. Went out to dinner with a friend of mine to a little hole in the wall place we found off of http://www.yelp.com/ It had some good reviews so in we went. I kinda liked the place... kinda traditional Japanese with a bit of Americanization in it. Good twist of things... we sat at the sushi bar and ordered off the specials. I think so far, this is the best sush restaurant I've been to in southern CA.

















Recommeded monkfish liver (ankimo) to my friend who had never tried it before and was willing to try anything. It's compared to foie gras - rich creamy yet light flavor topped with ponzu sauce (citrus sauce), momiji oroshi (horseradish red pepper) and green onions. It's often called foie gras of the ocean and getting popular in the States. She really liked the shiso leaf too... I think the translation is perilla leaf but although incorrect can kinda be called Japanese basil.
















When I saw this, I had to try it. It just caught my eye and I really like quail eggs - alot. It's called a shrimp boat...butterfly shrimp stuffed with kanikama (crab), topped with masago (smelt eggs), quail egg and green onion. Dipped in soy sauce - this was the bomb! It was my fav dish tonight.















Then we ordered a sashimi plate - only to check out the plate. It's a flower shaped ice mold. Thought it was really cool. Although the concept is correct, the cutting and plating was not so good. That ice mold though, yeah that's what sold me. This was tuna, red snapper and octopus on a bed of shredded daikon, shiso leaf and lemon. They had another ice mold of a boat for a larger order of sashimi. That would have been way cool to see but too much food. Perhaps next time.

We ordered some other stuff too but these were the ones that impressed tonight.