holy shit i need this cat-sized futomaki
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My picks for a bang bang after SGO would be either the Japanese beef curry rice at Yazawa, or TacOmakase at Leo’s / Tire Shop. Sure beats Atelier Crenn > Pizza Orgasmica or Saison > Mission Burrito up here lol.
Back to the thread:
Great looking Edo Kiriko glass for sake. Must have been fun drinking unlimited free water out of them!
The green pickle is zasai, aka zacai for the regional Chinese rendition. Far less pungent but very delicious.
Don’t know about the akagai situation other than what has been discussed here, but if theirs is from Miyagi prefecture, it is one of the top regions for it in Japan. Quality varies even over there based on different places where I’ve had it in September and February.
I like how Kagua beer is “served in a wine glass” but not for the others. Wonder if it’s straight from the can or shaken, not stirred?
A shame the kohada was over marinated, and also not part of the main omakase.
How was the shari and its seasoning this visit?
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I slightly prefer Mori’s rice even though SGO’s rice and seasoning is exellent in their own right. It’s pleasantly vinegary with perhaps a touch of sweetness. There’s no issue with the rice being too toothsome or its seasoning overwhelming delicate white fish. Lastly, Yohei-san’s rice formation is superb with an ungodly amount of air packed in so each nigiri has a very apparent sigh when it’s placed in front of me.
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I have to ask. What do you get for the optional Kiwame (+$100 upcharge) or Kyokugen (+$150 upcharge)? Not sure I have capacity even if I had the deep pockets.
I believe that we don’t necessarily get extra courses. Kiwame just gives you more shellfish in place of what we have and Kyokugen gives you an abalone course or something to that effect.
Shellfish (and any many other fish that don’t “melt in your mouth”) are severely lacking from almost every omakase I’ve had in LA.
Plus a japanese lobster and special uni that’s been homeschooled and given weekly mani-pedis.
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The abalone w liver sauce is goooood…
Does it matter who the itamae is - i.e., should you ask for Yohei-san or not? Wondering if this is like a Maru-san / Shunji-san situation.
I’ve stayed away from SGO due to the price, but the pricing at Mori has crept up over time, so SGO is starting to not look too outrageous.
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If you’re already shelling out that much $$, might as well go with Yohei-san just to be safe?
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I remember when Urasawa was $250pp and people (including myself) thought it was outrageously expensive.
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Just curious. When was that? I remember Providence’s chef’s tasting was $175pp back in 2011.
2003
When Masa left, his former assistant, Hiro Urasawa, took over the space on the second floor of the Rodeo Collection. He hardly changed a thing. He didn’t lower the prices either: A meal at Urasawa runs $250 per person before drinks, tax and tip, making it easily the most expensive restaurant in Los Angeles, if not in California – more than Bastide, more than French Laundry in Napa Valley.
Nice @Sgee ! I’m putting that on Sushi School.
I know!
I wondered about that too. Thanks for the clarification @moonboy403. 
Dreamy! @PorkyBelly & @moonboy403! 
Thanks!
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I am ashamed to say I hadn’t been to SGO until this visit, but I agree with everything that @PorkyBelly and @moonboy403 said - this meal was excellent and rivals any sushi meal I’ve had in LA.
The venue itself definitely is the nicest of all the sushi yas I’ve been to in LA (never been to Urasawa - is that even a sushi ya?). Service was impeccable and really friendly and warm - they came by with an iPad and a picture of each of the fish for everybody in the room. The one little hiccup was that I thought I had heard that you would bring two bottles of wine per party (we had 5 in total) but when we got there, they told us we could only drink 1. So we drank one bottle, and I ordered shochu after that. Corkage is a steep $50 per bottle.
The rice was great for me - a bit chewy but then flaky at the very end - they use a mix of akazu and komezu
Most of my meal mirrored that of the above, with a few differences, but I’m including all the pics for completeness (pardon the repetitiveness)
All in all, this place lived up to the hype! I had read online that one reason for the price point is that they source fish from Japan, whereas most American sushiyas source from worldwide (including locally), which is why you can get the tiger prawn and ark shell clam
Vantage point from where we were sitting
Chawan mushi with caviar and Hokkaido uni very nice start - the salinity from the caviar with the slight brininess and sweetness of the uni went really well with the egg custard
Couple kinds of seaweed, ginger, and kochi (flathead) sashimi
They mentioned that historically soy sauce was really expensive so diners would use sake sauce, which is what is on the left
Tsubagai (conch) sashimi crunchy and sweet
Mizu tako from Hokkaido - super tender and among the best Octopus we’ve ever had
Katsuo
Seared tairagai
Hamo (conger eel) tempura quite good for us actually, though the batter was a tad thick
Kegani (hairy crab) really bright and sweet - IMO much better than what I ate at Shunji in December
Ankimo Wow, this is up there with what we ate in Japan! Fluffy, fragrant,sweet, rich, and just the right level of earthiness,
Yuwan yaki - grilled sea bream this was the only miss of the otsumami
Pickles and “take shyoga” - bamboo ginger
Kinmedai kobujime many times, this is seared, but they marinated it in kelp
Wild salmon
Kohada Got ours in the normal course of the omakase 
I personally didn’t find this one over marinated but it wasn’t a highlight
Ran out of wine so ordered a glass of imo shochu on the rocks
Akami zuke
Ebodai (butterfish) had this before - tasted like the description
Miso soup a nice interlude
Japanese eggplant
Bafun uni from Hokkaido
Kuruma ebi !!!
Murasaki uni from Miyagi prefecture
Nodoguro the best nodoguro I’ve had in a while
Otoro
Shima aji
Anago
Tamago
ALC - akagai Strong salinity and and brininess with the right chewiness
ALC Ni hamaguri
ALC kasugodai One of the best pieces of the night
ALC chefs choice - tekka maki a particularly good version especially with the pickles
Dessert
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For comparison: Kinjo and Sushi Yoshizumi charge $40 corkage per bottle, both are one Michelin star. I can’t remember what it is for Californios but it was $50 a year or so ago (2 Michelin stars). $50 for West Hollywood seems about right, although interesting they only allow one bottle.
The beaded seaweed is umi budo (sea grapes), a lot of it comes from Okinawa but could also be from somewhere else (in the picture with kochi sashimi).
The “sake soy sauce” is very likely irizake 煎り酒 and is very rarely seen (but can be super delicious). It is made by boiling umeboshi in sake, adding konbu and bonito flakes (and straining afterwards). There is also a step of igniting the surface of the sake on fire at some point to burn off excess alcohol, and adding some yakishio. The recipe could vary between chefs, I only listed one example. It’s one of the best dips you can use for pristine high quality wild Japanese premium white fish (e.g. makogarei, hoshigarei, or top notch hirame e.g. from Aomori prefecture). Whoever came up with this probably figured out soy sauce overpowered delicate white fish. Could have been Hanaya Yohei or one of his competitors. Ancient wisdom for the ages. In theory you could also marinate good bluefin akami in irizake…I’ll have to find opportunity to see if I could ever try that in the future.
The green pickle is Japanese version of the Chinese/Sichuan pickled mustard plant stem Zha Cai (zāsai in Japanese), less pungent and more in the vein of Japanese tsukemono flavors. Good stuff, rare to see it at a high end omakase place in California (and maybe the US).
It appears they applied some OG legit Edomae techniques on the wild salmon (Copper River Alaskan King)? It looks like the traditional / old school method of maguro zuke which was previously explained here
Thanks so much for your report and great photos! Much appreciated.
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Glad you enjoyed it!
What’s wrong with it?
It’s not just that they source nearly everything from Japan, but the quality is very high, they get mostly wild product and they get highly seasonal items. There’s a great local sushiya in Brookyn (Uotora) where about 60-80% of the fish is sourced from Japan, but many are farmed and the overall quality is not at the level of SGO. Also, ark shell clam is still as far as I know illegal to import into the US, so interesting that SGO LA consistently has it. They must have an LA importer willing to take risks. Don’t see this regularly in NYC.
Kue marinated in irizake?
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