Nice @beefnoguy.
The Kenbisi seems really interesting. I would like to try your personal favorite, and would definitely order a fun roll and grilled foods to go with it. Not sure if my companions will like it, but maybe if it’s warm. 
Or maybe they’ll go with beer and I can do a flight of the other three. I might be reading it wrong, but it looks like they’re available by the glass.
Thanks!
No - the quality was not very high. Someone the most rancid tasting ikura I can recall being served in LA for decades. Many stringy pieces. Overly sauced pieces. Average rice. Non-crisp nori.
Ohhh. That’s bad. Very bad.
Sooo…
I think we’re going with Hayama or Kiriko or Sasabune, most likely Hayama. The 2 latter don’t have menus online. I don’t mind if it’s just me, but (is this a westside sushi-ya thing?). Kiriko seems like it’s creeping up to Shunji territory price-wise and for that I’d rather go to Shunji territory. I’ll go check them out on my own sometime to get a feel for the sich’. @frommtron might be right and my nephew could become a regular. It’s the perfect after work locale for him. Sasabune? It’s been a long time and I can’t remember what I thought. But I just saw some really sad looking pics of the ikura and uni online, so. Again, I’ll go by myself soon to check it out. @aaqjr knows a lot about the seafood biz, so I can check-off the freshness box at Hayama. Plus s/he used the word “fun”. We’re all about some fun.
This was a bit harder than I thought. There doesn’t seem to be many cool spots in between Shunji et al and a Kazunori, which I seriously started considering until someone told me they like to get you in and out fast. That’s not conducive to chatting and catching up. I wish we had more places like Sushi of Gari. They had a couple of detractors but it looked really interesting to me. I was bummed when they folded.
Anyway, thanks for the help y’all!
I’ve never thought of Bar Hayama as a sushi joint. To me, it’s more of a watering hole that serves sushi.
Ahhh… I see. But, like I said, there isn’t a lot to offer in terms of what I’m looking for. If there is they’re hiding it with the no menu thing. Plus, I’m digging Hayama’s sake menu, so…
I think you’ll like Kiriko but maybe go another time. Btw they do have a good selection of cooked items.
I hesitate to recommend Nakao by the Brentwood country mart. The price point is what you are looking for. All the itamae are older Japanese men. They do skew more too rolls and sauces but if you know how to shmooze a sushi chef you can have a different experience. These are not pristine temple of sushi knife work. But great QPR. If I’m honest it’s they place i find myself at most often
I’d ask you to still keep Asuka in the running, based on all the responses so far…
That’s funny! I was just typing that I let that rec slip thru the cracks. I’ll check it out. We still have about 5-6 days to decide. Thanks for the reminder.
I was seriously considering Takao. Not sure if he’s been yet. But I nixed that one because he’s going from Brentwood to the gym on Sepulveda / SM Blvd. I was thinking the other locales were closer? Folks can correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not familiar with the locales precisely.
I’m a pretty good itamae schmoozer. But I gotta’ tell you, I’m kinda’ looking forward to the infamously grumpy itamae I keep hearing about. I’ve mostly encountered the sweethearts, which is the best, but…
Btw… pretty good thread revive. This should help out a lot of peeps looking in the area.
No worries. I’m spell correcting my post as we speak. 
Ahhh… Nagoa not Takao… or Nakao. 
Retiring? I’ve gotta’ go sit with this guy. I’m sure to receive that classically, old-school experience I’ve been craving, lol.
On second thought. How grumpy are they? My husband and his nephew might not find it so charming. They’ll be fine with silent, not chatty guy. But openly hostile? It could get ugly. 
Have I ever mentioned that I prefer going to sushi-ya by myself! I don’t have to think anybody’s preferences, wallets, nothing! Just me and my itamae. But shhh… don’t tell anybody.
Lol he’s not too grumpy. It’s def a locals place
our fave is shunji but echigo is very good and less $$ - can’t see that it was mentioned.
Fourth’ing Tsujita.
I was on the fence about where to go, but we had been wanting to check out KazuNori, so. My hesitation for the meetup there was the line, how fast they churn customers and if it would be conducive to a good conversation. Well, we loved it. If it was in a convenient location for me it is so the kind of place I would eat lunch at or stop by after work on a regular basis. My nephew said he’s putting it in his after gym rotation.
No food pictures, because hand rolls are a pain in the a_ _ to photograph and I wanted to focus on my companions.
From the Set Menu:
A la Carte:
I loved the really crisp nori and the deliciously startling, very warm rice. The one weak link - surprisingly or maybe not - was the crab roll. It reminded me of tuna salad. I like tuna salad, but. Another little surprise burst of flavor was the tasty little strip of salty, briny, heat from the spicy mentaiko in the refreshing, jicama-like yamaimo roll. 
But really, everything was tasty!
$136 w/16% Svc Chg incl. Who knows if that was the tip or what, but I get tired of trying to figure it out. That seemed sufficient for a fast-casual.
We’re going to try and make this a once a month thing, so I plan on ticking-off other recs on this thread.
Thank Y’all!
Glad you liked it @TheCookie. Yah it says “service charge” but at the same time it also says “No Tipping.” So that pretty much covers it.
