Arigato Sushi

Arigato is the goto sushi restaurant for my good friends that live in Santa Barbara. I have eaten here before, but it had been awhile, I was excited. We were in sort of a rush so we didn't enjoy everything Arigato had to offer, but we did have was great.



We sat at the sushi bar in front of Brian. Our meal started off with Halibut Carpaccio and Yuzu Pepper Tai sashimi. Both were delicious, the tai sashimi was really fresh, there was a little too much sauce on the carpaccio and it over powered the fish.



Next up we had Ankimo, delicious! The chefs made a few special items for us, didn't know the names or all the ingredients, but they were incredible. The highlight was a thinly sliced seared scallop topped with a crab mixture and tobiko. It was also served with cilantro oil and black sesame sauce, it was awesome.



Looking forward to my next visit. See more photos here.

Sushi Yusho

A last minute decision to go out for sushi in the Conejo Valley and we ended up at Sushi Yusho in Newbury Park.

I had been here a couple of times before and had decent experiences, so we decided to try it again. The first round of items included Spanish Mackerel, Red Snapper, and Albacore, all ordered nigiri style. Also had a spicy scallop hand roll and green mussels. All of the fish was decent, the green mussels were prepared a lot differently then I'd had them before, they weren't very good. I think they were broiled and just has some type of miso sauce ladled over the top.



Our table also had a variety of cut rolls, all of them were decent, but nothing special. The star of the night was the Sho Chiku Bai Junmai Nigori Sake. This sake is unfiltered and has a great sweetness. With a few of those the sushi became the supporting cast.

Sasabune

Finally. After all these years, I finally had dinner at Sasabune. My friend had been saying I need to try the sushi there for the last year and a half. I read about Sasabune on several blogs and food review sites. It was always spoken highly of and I was looking forward to the experience.

Chef/Owner Nobi Kushuhara is a disciple of Sushi Nozawa and his restrictions are similar. As you walk in you see a handwritten sign that says "No California Rolls, No Spicy Rolls...", this place specializes in warm rice sushi and sashimi. The sushi bar is only for omakase, chef's choice. We asked for a table and our server asked if we would like omakase or pick n choose, we decided on the pick and choose. As I scanned through the sushi list, I noticed a nice variety of fish, many I had never tried before. I started to check items I wanted to try, Kanpachi, Golden Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Hotate(Japanese Scallop), Hamachi, Albacore and a Blue Crab Handroll. As each order of nigiri was delivered to our table, the server would comment whether or not to use soy sauce. The majority of items we ordered were sauced pretty heavily, mainly Ponzu. I felt the saucing was to heavy made the rice fall apart. But the fish was very fresh and subtle. The blue crab handroll was also delicious, classically made. After all of those items, I asked if they had Lobster in Miso sauce, the server answered "yes". I was brought a Lobster miso soup with a portion of the Lobster head. Not what I was expecting, but delicious.

All in all Sasabune lived up to it's reputation. I'm planning on trying the omakase in a couple of weeks. The service was excellent and the prices were very reasonable.

Masa Sushi - Camarillo

I work in Camarillo and have never really given sushi in Camarillo a chance. So yesterday for lunch we tried out a place called Masa Sushi, located off the Los Posas exit. I did some research online and found some decent reviews of the place.

The restaurant is pretty small, a sushi bar that seats about 10 people and tables for an additional 30ish customers. The restaurant is named after the owner, who works behind the bar. He wore a hat that proudly displayed his name. Behind the sushi bar there is a huge list of rolls and specials.

Since this was a lunch visit, I wasn't planning on trying everything. So we ordered Hamachi, Albacore and Salmon Nigiri, each of these were very fresh. Then followed that with some of their specialty rolls. We ordered the La Bamba roll, Chilean Lobster Roll and California Roll. The La Bamba roll was described as a Tuna cut roll with Avocado, Tomato, Cilantro and Jalapeno, I thought the salsa would be incorporated in the actual cut roll. But it was just spooned on to each piece, definitely could have been more refined. It was an interesting flavor combination and the jalapeno added a nice kick. The Chilean Lobster roll was decent but I expected larger pieces of lobster, instead the lobster was mixed into a crab salad consistency and lost it's subtle flavor.

Overall Masa delivered a decent sushi experience. I would love to go back and try more nigiri and have Chef Masa San make some of his specialties.


Photo Courtesy of Wilmar D.

Sushi Raku II

My second outing to Sushi Raku and they didn't disappoint. I went to meet my friend Laura for dinner and to catch-up on current events. The restaurant was pretty busy, we got two seats at the sushi bar.

In my first visit I ate a whole lot of food. Tonight was going to be a little more mellow. We both started of with a Spicy Scallop Hand Roll. I didn't order this last time, it was good. Their Scallop mix didn't have any mayonaise or at least very little. I thought it was good, not great. Next I ordered Ono nigiri and Laura had Salmon nigiri. I love the Ono, they serve it with some fried onions and a special mayo type sauce, excellent.

Next up was Spanish Mackerel for me and a special cut roll for Laura. The roll was a imitation crab mix on the inside, with slices of tuna and avocado on the outside. The ingredients were pretty standard, but the sauce was a bit different. It was some type of white miso sauce, kind of sweet. My mackerel was awesome, super fresh.

Sushi Raku has an incredible menu of specialty rolls. I watched as all kinds of dishes were being created and delivered to tables. I'm not much of a roll guy, but they did look good. I finished with an order of Halibut Fin nigiri, which I've only had at Uerukamu. It was a huge portion, but I liked the touches at Uerukamu better.

Overall Sushi Raku has become my favorite local spot for sushi. The ambience is nice and the sushi is fresh. I'll be back...soon.