Is Sushi Zo in my future?

[JeffW]

Late bloomer Jeff here, hoping to get a little bit of Sushi Zo input from the Hounds, as we've yet to experience this Sushi bar. Sushi Zo has been on our "want to try" list for a while, and after seeing Poet Kitty's enthusiasm regarding Sushi Zo when we met her at Opus, we really want to give it a shot. Just wondering if there is anything we should know in advance such as sitting with a particular chef, or needing to set up anything in advance, or most favorable days of the week to experience Sushi Zo at its best.
Thanks in advance for your tips.

Happy eating,
Jeff

[epop]

i prefer zo but also like hump and s gen. hump for rare too thin slices. all 3 r great. hump annoyed me b/c they gave me a 200 dollar solo rush dinner omakase in 45 minutes. i told them i had little time. the chef started slowly shaving sushi. very annoying meal

[tissue]

Yeah I'm not a big fan of Hump...

[daluji]

How does Sushi Zo compare to The Hump or Sushi Gen in terms of taste? Admittedly, I haven't done omakase at either of the latter two. I like the toro (can't recall which grade) at The Hump and the hamachi at Gen (kanpachi was delicious as well). Zo is first on my list of sushi places to try (working my way to Urasawa). Then, probably Shibucho in OC.

[JeffW]

Thanks all for the helpful input. Guess I'll be bringing pen and paper with me come Monday, so I can report back.

Cheers

[epop]

where else do you go for sushi, esp. on the west side, ciao bob? i like kiriko, echigo but that's about it. out looking for more. + zo

[epop]

i find the staff extremely friendly, the place clean + had wonderful meals there

[Ciao Bob]

Ditto.

[westsidegal]

had an EXCELLENT dining experience there.
by having the sushi served piece by piece, the pacing of the meal was much better than what happens when i am faced with a large platter of food.
also, the smell of each individual type of sushi is more distinct when the sushi is served piece by piece. . . .

i only went once, but i ADORE this place. i hope the quality of the food and of the experience can be maintained.

[writergirl]

I find it interesting that folks referred to Sush Zo as a "sushi Nazi" place. Everyone, including Keizo was very nice to me. When he informed me what dishes didn't need soyu added to it, it was in a very nice, non-condescending manner, not snippy or snotty at all. I understand if you're Japanese it might be annoying, but when I hear fill-in-the-blank Nazi,I envision yelling and intimidation..."no sushi for you!"

[JeffW]

Spousal unit and I decided to give it a go! We have reservations at the bar on Monday, and they are already aware that we'll be doing omikase (sp?).

[tissue]

If you don't get a chance to have ankimo and ikura, please ask for it... it's really delicious.

[JeffW]

Thanx---LUV me some Ankimo!

[MeowMixx]

The best ankimo I've ever had!!!!! I've never been a big fan of it but Keizo serves it slightly warm and the texture and flavor is PERFECT.

I went again last night and had a great dinner. It was empty last night at 8pm so we had all of Keizo's attention. He always remembers my name and although he's not that talkative, he's always cheery and sweet when he does say anything.

[kevin]

i'm not a fan of warmed ankimo, cold as a pate with some ponzu and scallions usu. does the trick.

i think the heating up of ankimo hides it's off season quality.

[budlit]

the ankimo at kiriko is the best i've ever had

[jcwla]

good but not great is an accurate assessment.

[trolley]

everyone here seems to be pro sushi zo. i'm still on the fence and probably would sit at the sushi bar next time and then really make up my mind. we (me, mom and her friend) sat at a table and sushi came out one by one. what we missed the most about this was the presentation of the sushi on a nice big platter. we all admitted we liked looking at the sushi as much as we liked consuming it.

also each time something came out already with ponzu or some other sauce on it the lady made it a point to tell us that we should eat it as is and not use any extra soy on it. well, first we found this a bit condecending since all three of us are native japanese and we were speaking to the lady in japanese. in fact, my mom's friend is just visiting from osaka for a few months so she's really japanese and even had a discussion about it with the lady. point is that when you're from japan you know how to eat sushi and every japanese person knows that. we felt that the sushi nazi thing was a bit too gimmicky.

i admit that the sushi is top notch quality. the rice is perfect and most of the fish is excellent. i found the uni to be very average but i hear it hasn't been a good season for uni. i personally prefer gen, mori or kiriko.

[Dommy]

Very interesting POV... thank you for your post...

I'm still on the fence about Zo myself. We DID totally enjoy our meal, but overall, it just was a GOOD Sushi dinner. That was the focus, just straigh sushi. So for some it might dispointing because it's missing the ambiance, the presentation and the casualness of several of other GREAT sushi bars in the city.

--Dommy!

[trolley]

us too dommy! we had a GOOD sushi dinner but that was it. more than we minding her instructions on how to eat, we really missed the presentation. we find sushi to be visually pleasing especially when plated all together on a nice dish and shared together with good company. and as much as we value the presentation in other types of foods we didn't realize we missed it so much in sushi too until we went to Zo. there's something really special about thoughtfully plated food. it's art!

[modernist]

i was skeptical at first. and in general i feel that this sushi nazi schtick that seems to be sweeping LA is kind of tiring and patronizing. but my sister just bought a house right up the street and i thought it would be a good time to check it out to show her whats in her new hood.

we had a really nice lunch. wasnt cheap at about 55 dollars a person. we ate everything on the specials board and then some...
the nigiri was top notch quality and bite sized (as opposed to sushi gen cuts which generally two biters for me). sit at the bar...

[JeffW]

Thanks for the feedback, Alex and Modernist. Learning that one can make a res. for the sushi bar is a good thing to know. The trend of being able to do this in some top quality sushi bars is fairly new to me- - -but definitely a good thing in my book!

[Alex250]

I would suggest making a reservation for the sushi bar, as the place has been getting busier lately. Keizo is the only sushi chef there, and he will take great care of you. He has specials listed on the board, but everything is amazing and very fresh...enjoy!