Sushi Ginza Onodera Opening in West Hollywood, Feb 2016

How was SGO’s (Honolulu) sake list if you looked at it? On Yelp there’s one picture of Dassai Beyond and maybe a bottle of Dassai 39 from Instagram, can’t find a proper menu or screenshot of it.

I think I had Denshu’s Tokubetsu Junmai. Sorry KK, I don’t remember the price or the rest of the sake menu, and I didn’t take a picture of it. I’m very young when it comes to the world of nihonshu, so I’m not the best person to ask.

No worries Mark, and thanks! I’ve only started getting really interested in sake a few months ago and paying attention to what restaurants are offering (and their pricing). Almost tried a similar Denshu at Iroriya last week, but ended up with the Shimeharisiru “Jun” Junmai Ginjo.

Is there any news on when this will open, if at all?

1 Like

SGO’s website has undergone a recent renovation, finally confirming the Los Angeles opening first-hand (https://onodera-group.com/en/). However, while the “Menu” section says Spring 2016 for LA, the Location section says summer. Given that it’s already April and the opening date has been pushed back twice, I probably would expect summer.

Can’t wait…

1 Like

Looks like it’ll be a little way’s off still: Luxury Sushi Specialist Lands on West Hollywood's Hottest Corner - Eater LA

1 Like

Shibumi DTLA is going nowhere fast, either… (sigh)

Shibumi should be much sooner than Onodera. Stay tuned.

Yeah I got the word today from management also. Thanks!

I’m waiting for @J_L, @matthewkang for the first reviews.

Most excited about Onodera, praying interior design will be the classic hinoki low counter style like this…

It’s open! Eagerly awaiting report from FTC’ers

Btw for anyone with upcoming vacay plans to Honolulu, this is probably the most significant U.S sushi opening of 2016. I’d venture to say, the most significant sushi opening outside of Japan in 2016.

2 Likes

A few reviews on Yelp (yes, I know) claim that the NY branch uses brown rice. Is this actually the case, or a mistaken impression due to something like vinegar coloration? My experience with haigi mai at Hamasaku was that it was slightly distracting; I have my doubts whether you could make full-on brown rice work for sushi.

Additionally, regarding the menu: Eater claims that it’s a $300/$400 selection, similar to the one available in New York. Do we have an actual source for this? There is no menu posted yet for Los Angeles on the official website. The price point seems a little high, even given the location.

reading the Yelp reviews, it appears only 1 person knows WTF they’re talking about

In addition, their sushi rice is not white but slightly brown because they mix two red vinegars (one lighter & the other thicker) to make the sushi rice which I enjoyed a lot.

Best pic I can find in 1 minute of the underlying rice color:

ProTip yelp reviewers: if you’re going to go out on a limb and proclaim brown rice at a sushi joint, you better back that up with pictures.

Thanks for the clarification - glad I had the right idea about what the misunderstanding was :slight_smile:

Thanks @Sgee.

$300 - $400+ Omakase (no drinks). Definitely for the FTC Ballers Club. :wink: I will be living vicariously through whoever goes.

2 Likes

I was at Sushi Ginza Onodera Honolulu and Sushi Sho Honolulu last month. I’m going to Sushi Ginza Onodera Los Angeles next week, and I will report back. The LA branch’s design is a bit different than the other locations’, and the price point in NY and LA is certainly higher. We’ll see; I really enjoyed my meals in Hawaii and they set a high bar. I hope it’s the same.

Recently, their grilled nodoguro was one of the best bites of fish I’ve had all year. The abalone with liver sauce and Oma tuna were incredible, and ingredients were very premium - kanburi, kegani, mirugai, Seki aji, fresh sujiko, Shizuoka wasabi, etc.

By the way, that piece of sumi-ika (“ink squid,” cuttelfish) has a special bamboo charcoal salt (“take-sumi shio”), which is kind of a visual play, with the charcoal salt as the “ink,” so to speak. The rice is very good, as is the teate. I’ll wait until my LA meal to post the menus for comparison.

6 Likes

@BradFord looking forward to your report!

Btw, great posts on Sushi Sho, how did it compare to your meal at Onodera? I wasn’t able to secure reservations on short notice while I was in Tokyo last year, dying to try it.

Went last week. I was the only diner there. My initial thoughts

1 Like

Nice :clap: