I love that question.
[quote=“beefnoguy, post:251, topic:5042”]
The one you had at Sushi Sushi has no signs of sauce/broth, and the fish is grilled (vs simmered).
[/quote]Hi @beefnoguy -
It was actually braised not grilled and retained the flavors of the braising liquid. But unlike your picture, it wasn’t served in the liquid, which would have been wonderful. Also as I wrote, it was overcooked (probably why it looks grilled).
I do still love grilled hamachi collar though 
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I can’t really blame Sushi Sushi. They were clear about not specializing in cooked dishes. Next time I will not waste money and just stick to the sushi and their other creations. I go to that P.O. a few times a week. This will definitely be a regular spot for me.
[quote=“beefnoguy, post:251, topic:5042”]
This dish also facilitates the consumption of good sake (non expensive kind) and does very well with properly warmed sake in addition.
[/quote]I would so love to go on a sake pairing with you. Some day one of us should take all your sake posts and compile them into one thread 
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Thanks!
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[quote=“JeetKuneBao, post:254, topic:5042”]
Just want to say I love this thread.
[/quote]Me too 
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Hah! It was way less than 20 years ago.
[quote=“BradFord, post:246, topic:5042”]
Where is next?
[/quote]I’m editing my pictures. I’ll give you a hint. You mentioned it in this post 
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Combination of many things…
The Jiro documentary.
Early exposure to Japanese food. My mom used to take me to Yaohan Market in Torrance.
After a long hard weekend working at our small weekend only family business, going to the original Todai in Santa Monica was a treat. (And I loved taking naps going to/leaving!). I really have to thank my Mom for exposing me to a variety of foods, because without developing this taste I probably could care less which in turn I wouldn’t bother seeking out higher end Sushi.
Sushi to me is such a perfect food. I really respect Sushi chefs who spend their life perfecting this. The attention to detail. The obsession. The passion. The simplicity.
I also appreciate that sushi can also be a everyday lunch or something Grandma makes for her grandkids. A gesture of love and care. Eating those futomaki’s at Sawtelle Tempura House in the shadow of pictures of grandchildren, a sweet and kind Japanese Grandpa/Grandma operation, it lacks the attention from other Sawtelle restaurants, but it is a beautiful and unique experience. To paraphrase a Yelper’s review it looked like something her Grandma made.
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Sushi Sushi’s menu does list torotaku under “rolls”. At other places that don’t, if their nori, sushi rice, toro, and takuan are good, by all means try asking for one.
Other rolls that I enjoy in addition to toro taku:
kanpyo (cooked, from dried gourd) - the hallmark vegetarian item in Edomae sushi. It’s super difficult to find a good rendition that has a good light crunch, but yet not overly seasoned/marinated from cooking. Many times you get versions that are precooked and thus handled poorly, resulting in extremes (cold, sweet and/or a bit salty, and worst of all soft or tasting like overly marinated braised sweet shitake). It’s fun to re-watch that Iron Chef Battle: Sushi where Morimoto tackled the grand master Sushi Sho (Keiji Nakazawa, who is now at Sushi Sho Waikiki) and sadly won (what a farce). And one of the key ingredients is kanpyo (where the host emphasizes PYO, hoping he didn’t spit into the ingredients when he did so). It’s not well loved overall in the States, and quite frankly I don’t blame those who aren’t fans, simply because the medicore/sub-par versions are prevalent.
himo-kyu: a classic of a clam’s “ribbon” is cut up and paired with slivers of Japanese cucumber, maybe a dash of sesame seeds. The clam is usually some sort of surf clam / aoyagi (in the US, the ones from the East coast work), and when in season, this is a fine way to consume the clam. The adductor muscles then get hopefully used as kobashira (which look like baby scallops in a battleship/gunkan form) but that’s not prevalent around these parts. Places that can get ark shell (or a variant) would use the ribbon in the same manner with varying results.
Like @BradFord, I also enjoy a good ume shiso yamaimo cut roll, but not all restaurants have yamaimo (or nagaimo).
Whether they do or not, my preference is to have some katsuobushi (bonito flakes or crushed crumbs) added to round up the additional umami and textural kick. This is not something I order often, as the sour plum mixture (or paste) sourcing by many restaurants is shall we say, lacking in detail and care (or worst case, commercial grade squeeze tube stuff with a lot of artificial ingredients).
Natto maki - my preference is hikiwari natto (crushed/diced up) and of course with scallions.
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natto (along with bitter melon) are probably the only two things in the world i just… no.
i’m embarrassed to admit my first experiences were at tokyo lobby (RIP) in san gabriel when i first moved here in the late 80’s. then in the early 90’s i discovered an AYCE lunch in monterey park for only $12.50 (which included items such as uni and mirugai) that turned out to laundering money for a triad, but the chef was legit and when that place eventually closed i began following him around from shop to shop including places like R23 downtown when they used to be good and i still had a lot of disposable income to burn on sushi.
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You have such knowledge and experience. Do you have a hard time finding places in L.A. to satisfy your palate?
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You’ve gotta’ start somewhere .
About “zuke”, yes it is correct that it is a technique used during the Edo period to preserve food as a result of no refrigeration. However this is the quicker and easier method of soy sauce marination (as it does not need a lot of time) and is the more common approach used by chefs.
The traditional method is more rigorous and exacting, and would result in something that looks more like this
The chef would start off with a section of tuna (typically the dorsal cut, akami), applies a technique otherwise known as “yushimo” which is pouring some boiling water over the surface so it cooks the exterior, then immediately immerse in an ice bath to arrest the cooking process, then marinate the entire block in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin (some add kelp).
The definition of success here, is that you have an exterior that while is cooked, is very small in terms of thickness, and acts also as a barrier to slow down the soy sauce marination osmosis (if you will), versus soaking a raw piece of tuna in a pool of soy sauce. Timing, technique, temperature, and control are vital here. If the cooked exterior thickness is a bit too much, the soy sauce marination would make that part overly salty.
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Great insight on this technique 
Oh sweet. It does look slightly cooked on the outside. I wonder what the taste difference is. The piece we ate at Sushi Sushi had an intense, but not overpowering outside flavor. I’m going to pay closer attention next time. Thanks.
i just marinate mine in a mix of soy sake & mirin.
Yes sake works, lower polished kind, so it adds some umami.
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Just dropped $60pp at Got Sushi in Northridge. Certainly not elite level but damn satisfying.
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also, i’m a little surprised that they’d blanch tuna before the marinade;i associate that technique more with nitsuke, and they’d do the blanching with oilier fish to mitigate the ‘fishniess’.
in my case, i went to a restaurant that served sushi, and ate it.
it tasted very good to me, so i read about other sushi restaurants, and went to them. i ordered some sushi, or had them choose for me. i ate the food, and then paid for it.
lather, rinse, repeat.
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Hi @secretasianman -
I read the link you posted. It was very helpful. I look forward to a time when I can tell how different fish should be cut. Years maybe? 
Thanks!