Mickey T.
Yelp
NOTE: Dined in on 5/7/24. Located on the 2nd floor of the 99 Ranch on Westwood. Parking in the garage is easy and available, or that stretch of Westwood isn't too busy after dark, so you should be able to find street parking as well.
The food court on the 2nd floor of 99 Ranch is still in its infancy, but this little handroll bar is certainly an attraction worth coming to. Nikkei cuisine is amongst my favorites, and it's sad to see that some restaurants in LA that served it in the past have quickly come and gone (Causita in Silver Lake, Yapa on the outskirts of Little Tokyo). That blend of Peruvian ingredients and Japanese cooking techniques was always fascinating to me and fits right in with how multicultural Los Angeles is.
When I turned up on a quiet Tuesday night, I ended up being the only diner at the horseshoe-shaped bar, with instrumental hip-hop beats (including Nujabes) setting the mood for a chill solo dinner. The works of art you see in the photo took some time to prepare, but they were certainly worth the wait. I can say that the rice had a beautiful, delicate amount of chew to it, and it complimented each fish and other accompanying ingredients very well. The nori tore away fairly easily at each bite, which was appreciated since these rolls are loaded and you kinda gotta eat them like tacos.
I ended up trying four, which was more than I had originally planned. Here's the breakdown:
1) Maguro - crispy quinoa, ponzu, aji verde, and sunomono. Great chew on the maguro (tuna), mostly lean, clean taste, subtle acidity from the ponzu, a moderately powerful presence from the aji verde, as it had a medium kick of spice and creaminess, and the sunomono + quinoa added a pleasant crunch to the overall texture.
2) Kanpachi - I love amberjack due to it's hefty chew, which each chomp bringing out more flavor and fat. This again had some aji verde, but also had tangelo preserve (a mix of tangerine/pomelo) even though I wasn't able to taste much of that, and blistered shishito, which I also wasn't able to taste much of. It's not that those flavors weren't there, it's just that the aji overrided them for the most part. Maybe that's for the best, as I think kanpachi is fine with a minimal amount of side ingredients. This ended up being my 2nd favorite!
3) Hirame - Disappointing, honestly. I was expecting more of a presence of the leche de tigre (a slightly creamy/rich, but tart citrus-based ceviche marinade), but no dice. Couldn't really taste it at all. It came with Shikuwasa (another citrus), pickled mustard seeds, and charred leeks. It was fine, but wouldn't order again.
4) Wagyu - served with Hokkaido uni, shiso, and pickled pichuberry. This was certainly the star of the show, both in terms of presentation and taste. The ingredients went so so well together! You have the melty surf n turf of wagyu + uni, which simply marry and dissolve into one another upon touching your tongue. The wagyu has to be at least A4 with how fatty it was. Likely A5. The shiso balanced things out without being overpowering, which was a welcome relief. The pichuberries were delicious enough to eat on their own, but also provided a nice kiss of sweetness onto the mixture. I would come back just to order one of these as a little snack!
Which leads to my conclusion... this place is really amazing. The food, the convenient location, ease of parking... so why did I give it 4 stars? Well, the Hirame was disappointing, for one. But also, the prices are going to be tough for a lot of people to swallow. I understand why things are prices that way and I don't necessarily think it's unfair, but if I'm going to enjoy anything sushi-related and Yama is nearby to provide it for much cheaper prices, then I have to take that into account. Even dining at Kazunori would be cheaper. I didn't come hungry to Lima, and I ended up spending a lot for a meal that wouldn't fill me up. So do I recommend it? Yes, of course! But don't come expecting to get full on the cheap.