When it comes to sushi, it’s all about the fish. It has to be absolutely fresh, sliced perfectly and served at the correct temperature, or I’ll take a pass. To avoid the risk of anything less I’ve made it a habit to not eat at sushi restaurants that aren’t recommended by someone I trust completely. .
Until recently, Asanebo in Studio City was the only sushi restaurant in which I ever ate that wasn’t recommended by someone with whose tastes I wasn’t familiar. It was the intriguing notion of a strip mall sushi restaurant in the San Fernando Valley with a Michelin star on the wall that did it and boy am I glad. You can read my recommendation of Asanebo on this web site.
Then came the time when my friend Lisa and I decided we would take her 4-year-old son Nick out for a sushi lunch. Lisa had been telling me of Nick’s adventures with sushi for more than a year and I wanted to see for myself. It turns out this is no ordinary 4-year-old. Ask him where he wants to go for dinner and it’s likely that he’ll name one of his two favorite sushi restaurants.
Lisa asked if I would mind meeting her and Nick in Pasadena, where they live, and she suggested Sushi Roku, at which neither of us had ever eaten before. We had been to other sushi restaurants in Pasadena through the years and were never thrilled by any of them. I had heard good things about the other two Sushi Roku locations in Los Angeles so we decided to give the Pasadena spot a try.
Good decision. Yellow tail belly, toro, uni, salmon, amber jack, Japanese mackerel, albacore – all spot on. This time we were thrilled. And so was our 4-year-old sushi connoisseur, who went bite-for-bite with us.
I’m recommending Sushi Roku as a sushi restaurant, rather than a Japanese restaurant because the listing of cooked appetizers and entrees is somewhat skimpy and I’ve not eaten anything there other than sushi. And I have no doubt that this is a place very well worthy of a lunch or dinner at the sushi bar.
