Shiki
“Morihiro Onodera may have the most passionate fans in the universe of Los Angeles sushi,” said Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times. At Mori Sushi, the Michelin-starred restaurant he created and later sold, he “had a magical way of making you think that each piece of fish he handed you was as much an act of communication as it was of cutting fish.” Onodera followed other passions for several years. But now he’s back, at Shiki in Beverly Hills, and he’s lost nothing. “This is what sushi devotees are looking for when they save their nickels”—each morsel “a definitive experience.” His old friend Nao Sugiyama gets the $130–$190 omakase menu off to a dazzling start before the first piece of sushi arrives—an awe-inspiring slash of kelp-marinated sea bream. Then come sayori, needlefish, buri, mackerel, kohada. Often, Onodera finishes with a Tokyo-style roll of rice and braised squash that’s “stunning” in its simplicity. “Could a vegan sushi roll serve as a mike drop? In this case, definitely so.” 410 N. Canon Drive, (310) 888-0036 Bill Addison in Eater.com. Credit the arrival from Japan of such masters as Takeshi Kawasaki. Kawasaki’s Sushi Maru is “a teleportation chamber”—a virtual replica of the Michelin-starred Sapporo restaurant he recently handed over to his son. Here, the nine-seat counter made of blond cypress wood is polished so smooth, it “feels almost alien,” and $280 a head feels like money well spent. At Sushi Maru, “the revelations come from the absolute thrumming quality of the fish, and from the clarity of the ingredients that frame and season them.” The uni from Hokkaido—“my God.” And when I ate a sliver of mackerel topped with ginger and green onion, “the world somehow fell into order.” This is a place where the form and structure of each presentation