Sasabune

Sasabune used to sit in a house on Sawtelle and Nebraska but was recently relocated to the old Todai all-you-can-freakishly-eat on Wilshire. I’d never been there before but Jeanne said the sushi there would make any other sushi I’d ever eat taste like rubber feet. And, she was right.

We had our fears about how the relocation would affect the quality of the food and service. And, although the capacious space that used to house a buffet wasn’t quite nearly as quaint as a once humble abode, the food and service lacked nothing.

We stepped into the restaurant to be greeted by a sign that read, “We do not serve California rolls or spicy tuna.” I couldn’t decide if the sign was pretentious or funny, but being in LA, my opinion leaned toward the pretension. Was this place really that good and so aware of it that it could post such a sign and be taken seriously?

I found out when the first dish of our omakase meal arrived at our table. It was Alaskan albacore sashimi in soy sauce on an icy cold dish. The rectangles of light pink fish sitting in a pool of light brown soy and topped with thin rings of scallions melted in my mouth. The soft flesh simply vanished like a magic trick on my tongue.

Next came the miso soup, which was sweet and delicate, with tiny bits of mushroom, seaweed, and tofu floating atop the clear broth.

We were also surprised with dishes of baby yellow tail from Australia, sea scallop, tuna topped with a clear seaweed, and toro, all of which sat on top of perfectly shaped mounds of rice. And, the rice was spectacular, soft, chewy, just sticky and sweet enough, and warm. I can’t remember ever having warm rice served with my sushi, and the difference in temperatures between the just-out-of-the-refrigerator fish and the rice-steamer fresh grains was sublime.

The only sad note to the meal was our final dish of crab rolls. Crustacean flesh was mixed with what seemed to be a mayonnaise substance and rolled with a piece of seaweed. The seaweed was chewy and hard to manage without squirting crab meat down my shirt. And the stuffing itself was nothing to write home about.

The waitstaff was also very helpful, telling us where each piece of fish came from and how to eat it. Other highlights of the meal were the fresh wasabe and Kirin on tap that came in frosty glasses. We think we also spotted Muriel Hemingway getting her parking validated.

In the end, I was convinced that Sasabune was good enough to tell diners that if they wanted California rolls and spicy tuna, that they came to the wrong place.