Saturday, December 27, 2008

Los Angeles 2008: Shima

Tucked in the trendy portion of Venice beach (the part with a La Jolla-on-weed feel, not the New Jersey-on-steroids bit) I was introduced to a fabulous find of a sushi restaurant on Abbot Kinney.


Shima (with no apparent website, but located at 1432 Abbot Kinney, and can be reached at 310.314.0882) is an organic, local-ingredient focused (not as hard in LA as elsewhere given the sushi-based menu). They had a very nice, short sake list; my dining companion and I opted for the Dewazakura "Nama genshu", which was lightly sweet, but clean and dry. An excellent match to every dish we tasted.


My friend had dined at Shima in the past, and we pitched the menus and requested the chef's omakase (tasting) menu.


The omakase consisted of 10 total courses, detailed below. To a one, they were well-executed and made of the freshest ingredients. On the margins, I could find a few nits to pick, but overall a tremendous meal displaying not only the fine art of simple, good sushi but also some innovation and inventive dishes.


Course 1 - Toro Tartare with black roe, topped with chives in a soy broth an served in a martini glass: a very nice star to the tasting, delicate with a creative presentation.

Course 2 - Spanish Mackerel salad, with ponzu sauce: a solid dish, with a salty and sharp sauce.
Course 3 - Maine Lobster ceviche with cucumbers and avocado. The lobster was firm and spicy/citrus sauce: very tasty, but also very bold and tart. That said, the sake cut the flavors nicely.
Course 4 - Red Snapper carpaccio with truffle oil and lemongrass: An adventurous course and bold for a traditional sushi house. A very well-done dish, and I award extra points for the contrasting flavors and the concept of truffle oil with sushi, generally.
Course 5 - Homemade Tofu Steak: Crisp outside, silky inside, a little less flavor than I would have liked but a perfect execution of textures.
Course 6 - Grilled Abalone with mushroom and asparagus. Unexpectedly flavorful with a hearty mushroom sauce and perfectly cooked Abalone.

Course 7 - We sampled two non-traditional Miso soups; neither stood out to me, but a good break late in the meal.
Courses 8 and 9 - The meal was rounded out with a high-quality selection of sushi (I even liked the Uni which I typically do not). The chef also asked us if we wanted to try a handroll, and made us one of spicy tuna; the stand out from this final dish was the crisp and light seaweed, with none of the "chewiness" one typically sees from many sushi restaurants.
Course 10 - A finishing sweet course, a gelato-like non-dairy surrounded by various fresh fruit. It had a semi-fredo texture and some tapioca and coconut flavors, a good cap to an excellent, long meal.

I would run, not walk, to this hidden gem in Venice if you are in LA, before it gets too swarmed.

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