The Official Los Angeles Shopping + Dining Thread - Page 115

Concerning Sushi in L.A., my vote has to go to Sushi Zo and n/Naka. I loved Mori in its prime, but since Mr. Mori left it just hasn't been the same. 

 

Though if you have less then $50 and what some amazing sushi, Hide on Sawtelle all the way. 

 

 

 

Yeah! Go Downtown! Within the next ten years, Downtown L.A. will be the new center of Los Angeles fashion. No other place in the city allows designers to manufacture and sell their product in the same building. 

I'm gonna check this out

A few lesser-known places

Shinano in monterey park has very good sushi, for the price.

Min's kitchen in La Canada has great thai food, if you happen to end up in La Canada...

Western Doma in Korea Town has great, cheap korean food.

Has LAMILL been mentioned? Everything about this place is good: great coffee, great food, easy parking, very comfortable place to sit and read/talk (unlike most every other coffee shop...)

I had sushi at mori both when he was there and wasn't there and no difference, don't believe everything you read on the internet.

That reminds me, I saw earlier some people beating up on Yelp. I agree it definitely has a plebe aspect to it, etc. but what are better or the best restaurant review sites? Zagat, Gayot, and TripAdvisor are the ones that come to mind. I like reading Chowhound forums but it's less accessible.

Friends.

I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely. Any "review" site that basically just aggregates people's opinions is going to suffer from the same limitations. You can mitigate those problems somewhat - at least when there's a sufficient body of reviews - by reading the substance of the reviews and looking for reviews that focus on things that are actually important to you. I look at it like I look at book or movie reviews -- I often care less about whether the reviewer liked it didn't like the subject of the review than I do about his reasons for liking or disliking it.

But really, you need to find a reviewer you know to be credible and reliable.

^pretty much this

Gave Mori another shot and enjoyed it more this time. I like their flexibility. For instance I commented that I enjoyed the vegetables in the sashimi opener and I later had shiitake mushroom, mountain yam, and marinated asparagus sushi. It was a very Zen-like experience. I can see why they used to boast a Michelin star.

I still haven't been to asanebo. I always stay in Westwood so it's a hike.

I had like 15 kinds of fish at mori that I never had before, neither did my friend and he's a sushi fiend. Barracuda is one of my favorites both raw and seared.

The spicy tuna tacos are amazing.

Came across Amandine on the weekend, nice spot for coffee & pastries

Ummm pastries.

I had the seared barracuda at Mori. It was good. The saba was out of this world good! I like they focus only on wild fish; apparently, some of the competitors go the farm-raised route, too.

On a related note, has anyone tried Kiriko? Any good?

I'm looking for a sushi bar where I can whip out my laptop tonight and work on the side....I'm slammed but still want good sushi. Would this be frowned upon at Asanebo, Kiriko? My experience is it's a definite no at Zo, Mori, and Nishimura.

You'll be fine at Asanebo. Although, I've been a few times now and I'm not impressed.

Try Sugarfish.

I went back to L&E Oyster bar last night. I really like that place. We ate two dozen oysters and drank several glasses of blanc de blancs. I was happy to see that they opened up a bar upstairs (or maybe it was always there?), which makes it easy to drop in for oysters and wine without waiting for a table.

i like l&e too. nice oyster bar. owners are nice folks. had a bit of their cooked food, but ... i think the star is the raw bar.

I've been twice - the first time I ordered things from all over the menu and, though I didn't dislike anything, I was resentful of every bit I took that wasn't from the raw bar.