July 26, 2007 6

Sushi Nozawa (Studio City)

By in 18: Greater LA

Haven’t been to Nozawa for a long time. I’ve heard notorious stories about the famed sushi Nazi who kicked people out for picking up their cellphones or ordering California rolls…but I haven’t witness these myself. We did take caution in turning off cellphones before walking in, and I was nervous whether I could take photos. Nozawa does special ‘warm rice sushi’, in which the rice are warm and easily fall apart (like Sasabune except Sasabune’s are too warm in my opinion).

Four of us got the omakase (with possible misidentification):
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Tuna Sashimi. Albacore

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The Blue Crab Hand Roll is easily the best of the night. LOVE it! Yellowtail

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Sea Bass (?), Toro Hand Roll

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Halibut is amazing! Lobster Hand Rolls.

DSC04076.jpgThe last one is Monkfish Liver Hand Roll, the miso sauce is a bit too strong, nice smokey pate-y flavor.

That was very satisfying: fresh fish, perfectly flavored rice and sauce. I’m still not a total convert of the warm rice yet…the nigiri falls apart too easily that makes eating a bit nerve-wrecking. ^^;; The vibe inside seems a bit quiet and tense. But I like how fast, efficient and absolute here and the sushi are all really good~

Sushi Nozawa
11288 Ventura Blvd. Suite C. Studio City, CA 91604
(caution: no cellphone! and don’t order California roll or spicy tuna roll and such ^^b).

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6 Responses to “Sushi Nozawa (Studio City)”

  1. i hear ya on the warm rice thing; i’m not a big fan of it either for the same reason…the nigiri falls apart way too easily. glad to know i’m not the only one!

    still wanna try nozawa though. =)

  2. SauceSupreme says:

    I’ve found that when I have to season the fish with soy sauce, I get the best results when dipping my chopsticks and then “painting” the nigiri on top. Usually with non-warm rice nigiri, I can just pick it up, tilt upside down in the soy sauce and then eat, but you’re right; it just falls apart too easily.

    Clearly my chopstick kung fu needs practice.

  3. seat says:

    There are so many rolls in seaweed~. Did you request for them? Usually for omakase course, you have the normal sushi, and at the end you have some rolls and miso soup to fill up your stomach. Maybe warm rice is easy to fall apart so they need the seaweed to hold it properly…

    Were you sitting at the counter? The sushi for everyone came in big plates so I guess you had a table? I agree, taking photos in sushi place is stressful…

  4. Freda says:

    Yeah Seat, I thought it was too many hand rolls, our stomachs were exploding! We sit at table…the counter fill up so quick! But I think I might be a bit intimidated to sit at counter given the chef’s reputation ^^;;

    Hi Daily gluttony, glad to know I’m not alone. ^^;

    SauceSupreme: haha I avoid putting soy sauce on the fish though (i usually let the soy sauce soak from the bottom rice). The falling apart warm rice prevented me doing that…^^;;

  5. JBC says:

    I was just curious if can you remember whether he still has a sign on the wall that says something similar to?

    “Don’t Talk, Just Eat”

  6. Freda says:

    JBC: I didnt notice the sign, but then I didn’t really look around (somehow i feel improper to do so…oh I’m the type who’s easily intimidated ^^;;)