milla

In no particular order... Baguette at the Cheese Board in Berkeley Anything from De la Fattoria... Olive Bread from Acme

I'll say. That was great...thanks.

for that price i am on the next plane!

This may be of interest with regard to the thread. You can find some comments on NY's sushi places here.

You can call ahead and make a lunch reservation at the bar. When you are there DO NOT be afraid to tell them how much you want to spend. Tell him you would like to try his best in your price range. I think you will find them more than accomodating. Don't forget to post...

I'm a bit close minded in my preference for Sushi Yasuda over Kuruma, but I've only been to Kuruma twice -- and got a set both times. It's much closer in style -- the size, the rice -- to the sushi I ate at Miyako, a very traditional and excellent sushi-ya in Tokyo. But based on your recommendation and expertise, I might have to give in and give it another shot. Damn you. ← i smell a lunch opportunity together next time i am in NYC...

My feeling is that Kuruma (along with Masa and to some extent Yasuda also) is not a place for clients just starting to learn or beginning their relationship with sushi. It is, after all, "just fish and rice". I think there is a very fine line between very good and truly great in sushi and it takes a certain amount of experience to appreciate the difference. Because of the high cost of Kuruma the expectation is high. I personally think that a wide disparity of opinions about any restaurant is a good sign; it encourages one to find out for him or herself. It is also worth noting that the very positive reviews of Kuruma at many sites tend to be from an older, more traditional Japanese clientele, a good sign. What do I know? I have been in a very obvious minority in my preference for Kuruma on this site but to me, there is a beauty to that. My Japanese friends and acquaintances continue to say that nothing comes close in terms of the fish quality at Kuruma, including Masa to most of them, and I tend to agree. Go check it out.

At the risk of going on a tangent, does that bother any of you? In the PETA thread, Menton accused most of us of not being bothered by eating endangered fish. I think that really rare species of fish should not be caught. And that goes for caviar, too. ← Especially caviar. Caspian sturgeon will probably extinct winthin our lifetimes at the current rate of poaching and mismanagement.

Hey Doc, we could all eat at Kurumazushi AND sushi Yasuda and still come out ahead on price with Masa

actually, my point was the verbiage is exactly like veyrat, not influenced by veyrat. both the wording on the egg dish and the burnt creme pots are the same. that is my only point. i will reserve judgement of course after eating there. having visited Veyrat, i look forward to the comparisons. Happy Holidays.

to me, the wording, the syntax, even the rhythm of the entire menu is heavily influenced by the wording of Veyrat's menus. check out the english wording on his website here and also here. It matches the hat and the signed menu on the restaurant wall.

Am I reading this right? Seven pieces for $200!? ← My mistake. 6-7 dollars per piece. For that $200 we had 34 pieces of fish. And worth every penny. Sorry for the confusion...

good point.... i never got it itemized, only a big round number. it has been most expensive when sushi and sashimi were requested. I have never paid over 200 a person and even at that price point it has never come out to more than 6-7 per piece of fish.

I don't know if it is the season but at Kuruma we often get shiro ebi, super small, super sweet shrimp harvested from specific rivermouths. Quite the delicacy and , no surprise, very expensive. As for the price difference is still feel that in the complex and stratified Japanese system of grading and pricing fish, Kuruma buys at a whole different level than other places, including Yasuda. It is simply not the same. I saw the “chos”, the cleaned blocks of o-toro ready for slicing, at both places, and frankly there was no comparison. At Kuruma he told me it costs him $190 a pound. This is reflected in the price disparity that the two charge. My humble thoughts though i know i am in the minority with this opinion...

what marvellous photos, doc. thanks for sharing. it is hard to go wrong choosing between those two...

Well, well, well... Welcome to eG MaxH.

Sorry, I haven't heard about this place. I rarely ever eat in the Palo Alto/Menlo Park area anymore. There's a sushi place in San Mateo called Sushi Sam's which is OK but not great, I wonder if there's any relation. ← i think that is what i heard about. thanks.

We don't have very many high end sushi restaurants in Northern California (Sawa Sushi in Sunnyvale is the only one I can think of, and I haven't eaten there yet), but I think we have a decent selection of mid-range places. Have you tried Ino, Hama-Ko, Tekka, Ariake in San Francisco and Sakae in Burlingame? ← Malik, a couple of reliable Japanese sources have been talking up this place in Menlo Park called Sushi-sam. Do you know anything about it? It's supposed to excel at omekase...

Ooops. my bad...

Favorite restaurant experiences this year. Not just for food alone but good times, good friends and good spirit... 1. Urasawa 2. French Laundry 3. Whole Hog Dinner-Oliveto 4. Elisabeth Daniel, closing week with retrospective menu (technically 03 but close ) 5. Ino sushi (always) and, of course all the time, Oswald and Soif in Santa Cruz and Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero on a rainy afternoon...

Alot of fish is imported into the US fresh. Whether the restaurant chooses to cook it or serve it raw is another matter.

this simply does not make sense nor is it true. nor is it shipped frozen, at least not to the West coast. A reputable fish purveyor (small, quality oriented above all else, dealing only with japanese restaurants) has all grades of fish but the daily faxes of the best is priced accordingly. I deal with wholesale japanese fish on a daily basis. and decent but not great blue fin true belly toro is $60-80 a pound. a line caught wild fluke, not farm raised, from the sea of japan will cost you $45 a pound, whole fish. Hell, and ikejime tai from Japan that is wild and from cold currents will cost you $19 wholesale whole fish. you get what you pay for. you can look at websites or call around but in this arena, relationships are made and cultivated, you develop trust, and then, maybe,you get to look in the bottom drawer and see what really is out there. I can assure you that the high end guys, masa, kuruma, yasuda and urasawa in LA have the best go to them because: a) they have developed the relationships and the trust b) they pay for it, no questions, to maintain that and c) they keep constant vigilance and uncompromising standards for what they expect. They are also reknown for treating these special products with respect. with ingredients that are commodities there are no bargains. you get what you pay for.

Completely agree. I wonder if Masa is attracting the tourist or the heavy in the know Japanese. All my info before my fist visit to Kuruma was from an older, food sophisticated Japanese group who said the fish is the best, period. The mantra is "Yasuda for rice, but Kuruma for fish."

At Kuruma in September the master held up a truly magnificent piece of fish and said "$190 per pound". Like i said earlier, he, and probably Masa also, buy on a different level that know one can compete with. that is the difference. for the record my september lunch was $200 per person for a sushi and sashimi omekase and we had 34 pieces of fish. that comes out to just under 6 bucks a piece. with lots of toro and all his other pristine wonders... You can count me in as one of those "crazy people" for a comparison next time i'm on the east coast

Yes. Without question. ← I agree. Many people find it very possible to quantify worth on a numbered scale. Of course, like all other matters of taste and opinion - as opposed to hard, scientifically provable facts - such a scale will always represent that person's subjective ratings. ← It is all subjective with sushi, that is for sure. My feeling is that you can get to a super high level of quality and care that is fairly accessable in price and then there is small group of sushi guys who pay onto a next level that is hard to imagine. And it shows without question in the quality of fish. There is no comparison. That simply is the price difference of Kurumazushi (my favorite by a wide margin, personal preference ), Masa and Urasawa in Los Angeles from the rest. One can argue whether you get it or you don't but that isn't fair. But I will bet if you see the o-toro from your very good corner sushi place and the piece from Kuruma it will all make sense. If you pay $190 a pound for O-toro wholesale as they do at the above three places, there is no comparison.