8eight is a new pop-up from chef ryo-san who’s offering authentic sushi boxes for pick-up in west la. what got me excited about this particular chef is his pedigree, he trained at sushi sho in tokyo for six years and sushi sho hawaii for another year before moving to la. he’s currently working at brothers sushi santa monic and doing 8eight as a side-gig while he finds a space to open up his own restaurant.
if his promising takeout offerings are any indication his forthcoming sit-down restaurant (which will feature his version of sho-style) will be one to watch out for.
edomae style barachirashi - anago, maguro zuke, salmon, tai no kobujime, ebi, ikura, sakura denbu, kanpyo
another delicious box. rice was perfectly cooked so you can discern each grain, each piece of neta was skillfully prepared using kobujime and he even makes his own sakura denbu. the soft and fluffy castella-style tamago was definitely a highlight.
brings me back to the excellent barachirashi I had in hawaii.
ryo san’s first pop-up dinner at brothers sushi santa monic was a very strong showing, with a lot of sushi sho influence, not surprising considering the sushi sho lineage. excited to see how he evolves.
Looks great with lots of promise. Nice to see a bunch of Sho classic dishes well represented. I like the idea of komochi yariika like Sushi Sho’s ika no inrouzume. Komochi yariika is such a great ingredient and has been really nice in recent months.
excellent omakase pop-up from 8eight sushi inside brothers sushi santa monica. almost everything was an improvement over my first pop-up from the knife work, nigiri form, and otsumami.
highlights
madai - so much umami
kegani
kinmedai in bone broth
ankimo sho-style
shiro ebi
oma tuna
sayori
saba
kinmedai sho-style
ohagi sho-style
nodoguro
anago
tamago
