SugarFISH - Downtown LA

Back in my early-mid twenties, I was a girl in the know. I went to all the new clubs on the "good nights" and was really something of a girl about town...my how things have changed. These days, my idea of a night on the town consists of a nice dinner out with friends and maybe a trip to a low-key bar after. I still love to get my dance on, but usually reserve that for my once or twice yearly trips to Popstarz with my boys (or just dancing around my apartment). A couple of weeks ago, I was a surprised and delighted to receive an invitation to try the then not opened new location of SugarFISH in downtown LA.  I took Jamie as my date and set out to try the new restaurant.

I'd heard of SugarFISH before, but I had never been to their Brentwood or Marina del Rey locations.  Last Tuesday, I ventured to downtown LA to meet Jaime and get our sushi on. I'm so glad we did!!

We were joined at dinner by one of the managers, Emanuele "Lele" Massimini. He explained to us that he used to visit Sushi Nozawa very regularly and was completely taken with their minimalist style and quality sushi that was accessible and affordable. They sought to bring something similar closer to where they lived, which they did with the Brentwood and Marina del Rey locations of SugarFISH. The fish for all of the restaurants is picked by Nozawa every day and all of the sauces are created in house. The key to the success of the restaurants is the simple preparation of the most stellar ingredients. It really showed through in each of the dishes we tried.

As instructed, all dishes that came with sauce (usually different forms of ponzu) are not to be eaten with soy sauce. Anything that was "naked", we were welcome to dip. We both had the The Nozawa which came with edamame, tuna sashimi, albacore sushi, salmon sushi, snapper sushi, yellowtail sushi, halibut sushi, toro handroll, crab handroll, and scallop sushi. I can honestly say, it was all great, but my favorites were the tuna sashimi and the crab handroll. Everything tasted exceptionally fresh and I loved the crunch of the seaweed on the handrolls. I'd never had sushi with warmed rice before which interesting in a good way, even though I'm sometimes clumsy with chopsticks and it got a little messy. Again, I love how simple everything was and the fact that the fish was able to shine through the simple preparation. Jamie mentioned several times that it could be her new sushi spot. It could definitely be mine as well, and I'm happy that once again, I'm in the know of a new gem.


*All food and drinks were comped. Opinions are my own . All photos are property of SugarFISH*
SugarFISH
600 W. 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 627-3000
www.sugarfishsushi.com