Shibucho (on Beverly): A Pictorial Essay

[J.L.]

Summary: Shige-san is still da man. My omakase went into bonus rounds.

[kevin]

Is the first dish, the albacore salad with ponzu and olive oil?

also, are the rolls, the negi-toro roll and uni rolls???

Thanks. And thanks for advertising my secret joint (or semi-secret) :) joint.

[Ciao Bob]

It is hard to imagine the secret getting out...I wish it would get out. Sadly, the place is alarmingly empty whenever I go. I cannot understand how they maintain quality without customers.

[cls]

Ask Shige. It's the wine...

[kevin]

It's the wine???

Oh. Are you saying the limited number of customers he gets usually purchases expensive bottles of wine that run into the hundreds of dollars per bottle so that it offsets any low turnover and limited number of customers ?

If so? I think you may have a point.

[Ciao Bob]

WOw, that makes me feel good.

[Porthos]

Impressive as always. What was the price point? Shibucho OC does a similar omakase at $60pp.

Also, I'm curious if one of the pieces was shako or engawa? I'm referring to the piece between what looks like hamachi and kanpachi (photo 4, row 2)

[J.L.]

Fish prices are going up all over the world. My omakase dinner (incl. beer & bonus round, which consisted of the last 6 pictures, was about $120).

I believe row 4 photo 2 was sumi ika (cuttlefish).

I had 2 pieces of engawa (row 3 photo 1 & row 7 photo 1; it was that good)!

[Porthos]

Hmm, I suspect row and photos vary based on screen size. What about the piece between the hamachi and kanpachi? Probably engawa if you didn't have shako.

Great photos. Looks delicious.

[kevin]

Yeah, basically Shibucho in LA is twice the cost of the OC one.

But with that eggplant Parm and his awesome desserts, not to mention great traditional sushi, it's worth it.

I think he does price it cheaper if he likes you or you have been going there for years or something along those lines (???) to this day I'm not quite sure. And he has a tremendous philosophy when it comes to sushi and fine, great food for that matter.

[mrhooks]

No shako as far as I can tell. It would look like shrimp but with a weird, fat tail, and a different color. Plus, it's not in season until around April.

[Porthos]

That tail looking area was what made me think shako (live, raw. Not the gray more common previously frozen or slightly cooked versions).

I think the piece we are talking about is engawa and it's the knife work that gives it that tail looking appearance.

[mrhooks]

I'm guessing you mean either pic #9, or the 3rd to last pic?

Although it's cooked in this pic, the segmentation of the body and tail is not subtle, no confusing it with a fin fish:

http://www.luxeat.com/.a/6a00df351eb5...

Although that could be the result of being boiled, I don't know.

Where around here serves live shako? Not doubting you, just curious. Okay, maybe a bit of doubt, due to the difficulty of getting them here intact. But if there's a place, I'd like to go.

[Porthos]

I'm guessing you mean either pic #9, or the 3rd to last pic?
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Yes, I mean picture #9. Part of it kinda looks like the flat fin portion of a shrimp but since there is no mention of shako, I'm going with engawa and have been since my second reply.

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Where around here serves live shako? Not doubting you, just curious. Okay, maybe a bit of doubt, due to the difficulty of getting them here intact. But if there's a place, I'd like to go
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Kiriko 2 years ago with Ken. Showed me the sucker live with mobile tail then prepared it for me as sushi. And yes, the body is not nearly as gray and obviously segmented. More translucent and white as raw shellfish tends to be (just think lobster and shrimp raw vs cooked).

I'm sure you could call and ask once they are in season again.

[choctastic]

Huh, I'm on the same wavelength as Porthos today, because when I first saw that photo I thought it was shako too. Weird.

[Tripeler]

Wow, did you eat all that? Looks like a good amount for two people.
Great photos, by the way.

[J.L.]

Thanks! I worked through lunch that day, and was famished by the time dinner at Shibucho rolled around.

[kevin]

Dang, I must have missed this review earlier.

You didn't get any desserts? Or his eggplant Parm (please don't laugh, it's seriously exceptional).

Any of the older bottles of wine.? I love that still not too many have heard of his joint, it's not overrun with fans by any means, but it's still tops in LA in my humble opinion.

Sadly, I've only been there for a decade now...