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.