Shhhhhh......Shhhhhunji.....back in business

[Ciao Bob]

Good news for fans of Shunji's modern kaiseki and sushi/sashimi. He is back in business on Pico in the old Mr Cecil's Rib space. Very intimate space. Small bar. Handful of tables. Hurry.

12244 West Pico Blvd LA 90064

323-718-0807

[Porthos]

Thanks for the heads up CiaoB! Went last night and it was stellar. Simply amazing sushi and ridiulously talented cooking skills.

Shhhhhh...he's taking down names and planning dinners with sake pairings in the near future....

[Ciao Bob]

Fabulous. Glad you enjoyed it Porthos.

[Ciao Bob]

SORRY. I GOT THE PHONE NUMBER WRONG...THE CORRECT ONE IS
310-826-4737

[Peripatetic]

There's also a website (with only a home page at the moment):

http://www.shunji-ns.com/

[PeterCC]

[Edit: Nevermind, apparently posts stop being editable after a period of time. Sorry, again, new member here. I'm assuming comments will also become uneditable as time passes, though I am still able to edit this one after two hours.]

Ciao Bob, new member here, but can't you edit your original post (and http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/836769#7204191) to fix the phone number? People may not scroll down enough to see this comment. I ate there last night, and the wonderful hostess/waitress mentioned that somehow her cell phone number got posted on the internet in relation to the restaurant, and she's been getting lots of calls. Though she looked at it in a positive light, saying that at least she can tell that interest in the restaurant is rising.

(I'm only assuming that the number in the OP is her number, but it seems likely since that number was also repeated on http://www.chow.com/digest/108228/the-return-of-shunjis-modern-kaiseki/ and then http://losangeles.grubstreet.com/2012/03/shunjis-reopens-west-la-asanebo-kaiseki.html, and that's probably where people are coming across it. The number is correct on Yelp and of course on Shunji's website and Facebook page.

)

BTW, wrote my first review here (my first post, actually), on this restaurant, if you're interested in checking it out: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/842498

[Ciao Bob]

Yikes....poor Yuko ;(

[PeterCC]

Like I said, she had a very positive attitude about it, and I'm only assuming that the number is hers based on the anecdotal "evidence" that I mentioned above. Maybe it isn't her number, and hers got out somehow some other way.

[Johnny L]

What exactly was the original Shunji's? Never heard of it and am very interested in kaiseki dining.

[J.L.]

My initial review of Shunji's back in the day:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/774122

Will go try his new place on Pico soon...

Another fantastic kaiseki place is Chef Nakayama's restaurant, n/naka, on Overland.

[thranduil]

We just randomly drove by, saw the sign "Japanese Restaurant" and wandered in. Had no idea what to expect, but everything we had was wonderful. Favorites included the steamed black cod which was in a broth with two types of mushrooms (enoki and shiitake), and the nasu dengaku (a delectable portion of four slices of eggplant topped with miso, fried shrimp, shiitake mushroom slice, and a sliver of green onion). We also enjoyed our sushi choices - the selections are still a bit limited since they are on soft opening, but the marinated salmon sushi, the toro sushi, and the snapper sushi were particularly notable. We look forward to returning frequently!

[Ciao Bob]

He did a thin-sliced squid with egg-yolk, squid ink and black truffles that blew us away. My best bite so far in 2012.

Glad you liked it.

[Ciao Bob]

With several beers and a $75 bottle of sake split 3 ways it was 125/pp sans tip.

[maiweezy]

thranduil and Ciao Bob, how much did the meals run you? I assume you both did Omakase. Loved the original Shunji's and glad to hear he's back!

[thranduil]

We did not exactly do omakase because we had no idea what to do. But essentially we ordered a few things (steamed fish, vegetables, toro sushi, salmon sushi, crab hand roll) and then added a few more (eggplant, abalone sushi, yellowtail sushi, snapper sushi with ponzu). It was slightly over $100 for 2 people including my beer, without tip. We would probably do omakase on our next visit.

[maiweezy]

My meal breakdown for 2 ppl last night: $100 omakase $50 sushi $46 sake $8 pellegrino