02/25/2007   English German
  Edition # 66  
San Francisco, 02-25-2007

Sushi in L.A.
Figure [1]: The Hollywood letters on top of the mountain!

And according to experts, L.A. has better sushi restaurants than San Francisco. This is, of course, a bold claim, because in San Francisco there are not only a thousand sushi restaurants, but also some that serve at a very high level.

We were recommended "The Hump," a small sushi bar located right by the private jet area of the small Santa Monica Airport. According to the travel guide, celebrities like Dustin Hoffman are said to frequent this place, but during our visit, the only celebrities spotted were the two newsletter reporters.

In such establishments, there are dishes that even a good sushi connoisseur may not have seen before, so you simply sit at the bar and order "Omakase." The sushi chef then looks you in the eye, gauges how much money you might have, and begins to serve his specialties until you say stop. The menu does mention that the dishes served via Omakase can be quite expensive, but hey, that's what credit cards are for!

The dishes were also quite extraordinary, including a hairy giant crab (from the cold waters around Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido) and foie gras with sake-marinated snapper. And the toro, a standard dish, was probably the best we've ever eaten.

But the bill, my goodness! It was immediately locked away in the editorial safe after the trip and will never be made public. Imagine an absurdly high restaurant bill, and then double the amount. Only once in a lifetime!

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