Hi @bulavinaka,
Wow, totally sold out of their Smoked Fish case? 
Crazy. Must be because kids are out of school and everyone’s celebrating? 
I forgot to ask why the case was completely empty (just wanted out of the place) but it seems kind of suspect that the whole case was empty except for serving boards with nothing on them. Just wierd - don’t ever recall seeing this.
Maybe the refrigeration wasn’t working properly and they didn’t want to ruin their fish. Or poison their customers. Either which.
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Could be - nice thinking.
Or “poisson” them, for that matter.
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Not sure what I was thinking, going to Gjusta for lunch on a day when I told myself I was taking a break from carbs … I also wasn’t in the mood for a big plate of meat, and I don’t eat fish, so I went with a three salad sampler. Spinach with goat cheese and pine nuts; baby squashes (what do you call those?) with shallots and a few other things; and eggplant with miso, raisins and peppers. All with distinct flavors and textures, and all really good.
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How much was the 3 salad sampler btw? that looks good!
$12 I think? It’s the large salad option, and then you can choose up three different ones.
Couple of items from Gjusta to report. First was the lasagna, which I’d never tried there before. It was quite delicious, with pork, beef, cheddar and green beans of all things. The meat was chunky instead of ground, almost like a stew. And the soft green beans melded perfectly with the cheese and sauce.
The other was the porchetta butcher, which proved a solid choice for plane food as before. One thing I’ve noticed is the thickness of the pork varies quite a bit between sandwiches. This was on the thicker side, but I think I prefer it sliced more thinly.
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Deli case. Totally worth a try if they have it. Some of the best lasagna I’ve had in some time.
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I found myself randomly in Santa Monica the other day on a weekday and decided to swing by Gjusta (finally). Happy to report that the smoked fish plate met my high expectations based on this thread, with the highlight being the smoked kanpachi - of course, at $52/pound, it better damn well be tasty! Large fish plate togo at $30 only came with 1 thing of schmear or whatever, so ask for more. The provided amount of bread was enough, and while it didn’t seem like a lot of food at the beginning definitely filled me up by the end (it was shared).
I thought the smoked fish plate was significantly more successful than their other offerings - I had the matcha pound cake and baklava croissant, and sampled some quiche. They weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there are better uses for those calories.
That neighborhood though…
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Kanpachi is on my top shelf as well. Other than their bread, the baked goods have lost my interest. I try not to even look in that part of the cases when walking in (but I still do just in case something interesting shows).
That neighborhood is pretty “eclectic” to say the least.
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I only do savory at Gjusta now—learned the hard way that their sweets case is 75/25 miss to hit. The good news is the savory stuff is pretty incredible.
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Hi @Ns1,
So glad you finally made it out to Gjusta and that you enjoyed the smoked fish plate! I love their Smoked Kanpachi as well. 
Was it the cold-smoked or hot-smoked version? That’s one of the nice things with Gjusta’s smoked seafood case: There are so many variations and different offerings there, changing every few days.
Yah, the pastries section isn’t their highlight - definitely consider some of their amazing Sandwiches next time, or full plates (like their Rotisserie Chicken plate). Breakfast (savory) is great as well.
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I agree with you and @bulavinaka. But once we know which ones are great, they are absolutely worth ordering though. Not the pastries, but the sweets like the legendary Carrot Cake, Pumpernickel Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Paris Brest.
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Can’t remember if you’re an italian sub fan. If so, the italian sandwich there is a definite don’t-miss. Just had it recently, and it really is (still) fantastic.
Haven’t had many pastries there, but the croissant I had was sufficient bleh (bordering on unpleasant) that I tend to stay away from those.
Indeed.
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