Omakase at Shibucho:

Nat and Lisa have been telling me about this sushi place where you have to eat whatever the chef serves you and you can’t use your cell phone. Sounds like a nightmare to me. They also said it has the best sushi in Los Angeles. I was fortunate enough to go with them on the night of the BCS championship game. Even though I was terrified of getting thrown out for refusing to eat the uni, it was exciting to know I had no control.

Shibucho is in remote part of Silverlake. I say remote because there are no other restaurants to my knowledge in the area so it’s weird to enter into a high end sushi spot. I didn’t take pictures inside because I didn’t want to get my fingers chopped off by Shige the sushi chef. I keep talking about pictures I didn’t take and now I need to take them instead of talking about them. The restaurant is very peaceful inside with room for maybe 12 to 15 people at most. The staff is just Shige and his wife, whom you spend a good two minutes bowing with when you arrive and leave. I have never been to Japan, but romanticized the place many times, and this was exactly what I expect it would be like. Very formal but with an air of tranquility that made the whole experience completely comfortable.

Shige is known for pairing his sushi with wine. He takes his wine as seriously as his fish. When they bring out your wine you also get the label wrapped in parchment paper. I got a glass of Conte Lorennzo Sormani Barberra del Monferrato from 2005. This stuff was markedly better than the glass of Two Buck Chuck Merlot I had at an art show the other night. Shige clearly knows what he is doing and I don’t.

The fish was incredible. I ate everything that came across my plate and all of it seemed to melt in my mouth. We had one course of salmon sashimi and two courses of tuna. He made a salad with raw halibut, arugula, olive oil, and soy sauce. The flavors danced on our tongue. We also ate a bowl of cracked crab that was kind of like crab salad minus the mayonnaise. I don’t know what Shige did to it, but I have never tasted something so fresh. The weirdest part of the meal was “the chef’s take on eggplant parmesan”. Here I was freaking out about the fish and little did I know the hardest thing to eat was going to be eggplant parmesan. This was the first time I had eggplant ever. My Dad eats everything in the world but eggplant so that was reason enough for me to never try it. Well a dictatorial sushi chef was the one to finally break me down. This was my least favorite thing I had at Shibucho. It wasn’t bad but after all this amazing fish cheese and fried eggplant was the last thing I wanted. The last thing we ate was a baked toro. It had some sort of a soy glaze on the outside and when you took a bit the fish slid down your throat. It was the richest tasting fish I have ever eaten.

The meal at Shibucho was an amazing experience. I have never tasted so many distinct and rich flavors in my life. The experience is akin to being invited to someone’s house for dinner and trying to be on your best behavior, except it costs you money. If you like sushi and have never experienced omakase I can’t think of a better place than Shibucho.