Sasabune – How does it stack up against the LA original?

When planning a trip, most schedule around tourist destinations, I do it around restaurants. When I began planning my trip to LA, my first step was to read the Michelin guide and LA Times. Two restaurants immediately caught my eye. Many of the chefs in New York started their careers in California, and since I love these restaurants, I picked up the phone to make reservations at the originals.

One of the earliest posts on this blog was Sasabune, a tiny sushi joint in the upper east side. Famous for their “Trust Me” menu and “No California Roll” policy, they serve no-nonsense sushi in a extremely modest little shop. The food’s always excellent. The story was that Nobi-san of the original Sasabune dispatched his disciple to open a restaurant in New York, with minimal funding, which explains the modest environment and utensils. The original Sasabune was itself a replica of Sushi Nozawa (where Nobi-san honed his craft), so I decided to travel upstream and compare how the Sasabune of NYC stacks up to its family elder.

It seems that the people working at Sasabune LA really take pride of their unique style. Everyone I spoke to, from the lady taking our reservation, the maitre’d, to the waitress, all them asked us whether we have been there before. Upon learning that we’ve been to the New York sushi hot spot, all three immediately followed with the line “oh, but this is the original”. I know, I get it.

While the New York restaurant did some modest racial profiling, giving Japanese/Asian diners a slightly different omakase menu, the LA restaurant opened with the question “do you want the American omakase or the Japanese omakase”. We were also surprised by how many people requested to order a-la-carte, which would have been met with a stern face in the New York version.

Now onto the menu. Prices were identical, about $75 a head. The freshness of the fish and shellfish, however, was quite a bit fresher than that I had in New York.

Aside from freshness however, I would say the New York one wins in every other area. The dining atmosphere was better (Cali one looked like a corporate buffet), the diners seemed more knowledgeable, and the flavoring of the main ingredients was a notch above. Excessive use of Shiso and Ponzu ruined the flavor of some pieces.

In NY, the meal ends with two divine blue crab rolls. Our meal in California ended with a tekkamaki roll with a blue crab roll. Having a massive roll of tekkamaki when you are nearly full, not a pleasant experience.

We thought if we were Japanese, we would walk up to Nobi-san and tell him that we enjoyed the NY establishment better . However since we didn’t speak a word of Japanese, we probably would have been told our understanding in the art of Japanese cuisine was lacking.

In conclusion, we’re lucky to have such a wonderful restaurant a quick subway ride away. A great California concept, improved for local consumption here in the Big Apple.