After having the fabulous battera sushi at i-naba, i’m craving some pressed mackerel. Any place I can get it that’s a little further north than torrance? Are honda-ya and morinoya my best options?
I too am curious about this style.
I got Morinoya on my to-do list, thanks to @J_L
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The pressed, vinegar-y taste of hikarimono with the density of rice is superb. A taste of old Japan. Definitely try it!
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I liked the one I had at Sushi Sushi a couple years ago quite a bit, but that was near the start of my sushi journey, so take it with a grain of salt.
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Check out their “grab and go” section of their menu:
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Wrong direction, Shibucho in OC makes a nice version wrapped in bamboo leaves (I think) to go . Been a few years since I’ve got one though. Far A.F…
has anybody had it at their sit down place?
I don’t know who has the best, but I enjoyed the battera I had at Fukuno in Gardena.
Had a really good dinner at Osawa in Pasadena. I prefer the more vinegared battera at inaba but this was still solid. The shiso leaf in the middle was interesting. Other highlights were the negitoro, live amaebi, live scallop, uni, and shima aji.
battera
tekka maki
negitoro
Santa Barbara uni
live Hokkaido scallop
shima aji
live Santa Barbara amaebi
head
Mediterranean hon maguro
kohada, saga japan
Alaskan sockeye salmon
tamago
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Nice report @PorkyBelly. 
Thanks for the intel, good to know.
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Secret is out
He’s cribbing us.
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Wise up John Q. Public. Get it here first! 
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Damn. There goes my secret spot.
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Mako Sushi - OOE Omakase
Many thanks to @JeetKuneBao and @aaqjr for the rec. Loved this place, super japanese, super traditional, reminded me of walking into a locals only place in the middle of an alley in tokyo. Lot of japanese regulars at the bar with the tv tuned to NHK. mako-san and the service was really friendly and the damn battera sushi was the best I’ve ever had. Great middle-tier place with excellent qpr, I’ll be back.
jellyfish
Light and refreshing.
yamakake - tuna, okra, mountain yam, quail egg, wasabi
Pretty tasty, but slimier than the bit of lettuce you forgot in the back of the fridge.
miso
maguro
otoro
ebi topped with ebi oboro
sake
tako
shima-aji
halibut
hamachi
anago
saba
kohada
ika
uni
tai
engawa
amaebi
oyster
seared toro
battera
Outstanding. I was watching mako-san making this and it looks like he uses oboro, shiso, and gari in the middle.
abalone
mirugai
ika gesso
torotaku
squid “ear”
tamago
fin
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Great pictures! Glad you made it.
I really need to stop making excuses that its to far from the west side and get back here. Just need to check the schedule at the Blue Whale and see what the Jazz line up looks like.
Among other things that’s a nice looking Tamago
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Looks great. I don’t think we can make it here on this trip but I’m curious how much omakase here runs. (Here being Mako.)
I would order ala carte at Mako.
The Battera here is one of my favorite bites of the year
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Eight piece omakase is $48.
I wrote up our lunch at Osawa on my blog. We each got the lunch sushi combination (miso soup + 8 pieces of nigiri + blue crab handroll for $29) and added on some extra pieces. The lunch combination is pretty good: it included chutoro, a few esoteric fish not usually seen in lunch combos–including two that were completely new to me (ojisan and hachibiki). That said, I don’t think the lunch combo is the best idea for people like us who live in a sushi wasteland in Minnesota. What I mean is that for not very much more money than we spent we could have had the same amount of nigiri but got only what we really wanted. For locals, however, it would be a pretty good deal for a quick lunch.
They were also pretty busy at lunch, filling up completely by 12.10. This also meant very little interaction with the sushi chef–it took some doing at the end to get the names of the ojisan and hachibiki out of him. I looked up the English names later. Hachibiki was easy enough to find (Pacific Bonnetmouth); ojisan not so much (I think it’s the Manybar or Five-Barred Goatfish). I’m sure it’s a much more relaxed affair at dinner.
Full writeup with pics here.
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