*** An updated post on Komasa from 05/30/2006, can be found here.
Having the day off, we decided on a road trip to Little Tokyo, and our favorite little Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar there Sushi Komasa. We attempted to time our arrival to opening time for Komasa which is 530pm, at ended up in the Japanese Village Plaza Parking lot at about 520.
Sushi Komasa is a little operation with about 5 tables and a bar and serves only dinner. Though it's not the most well known of establishments, it's our favorite for good reasonably priced sushi and was a regular stop for us when we lived in LA.
We were happy to see the familiar Komasa lantern next to the door, but surprised to see 5 couples already waiting ahead of us. It seems that the word is out and Komasa is getting busier. We were able to snag the last corner table, ordered our tea (no sake for us, we had a 115 mile trip back to San Diego), and quickly marked our order off of the sushi order form; 5 orders Albacore, 2 orders Maguro, 3 orders Hamachi, 2 orders Hirame, 2 orders Tai, 1 Negi-Hama, 1 soft-shell crab roll, oh yeah, and one order ankimo.
This was met with the usual "Are you sure you want all this, this is alot of sushi?", to which we gave the "Oh, yes, we're REALLY hungry, the sushi here is so good" response. Plus we've driven over a hundred miles to be here, so we're getting our money's worth!
The Ankimo(steamed monkfish liver) was the first to arrive, smooth and silken, served with thinly sliced cucumber and green onions, in Komasa's sour, yet tangy ponzu, this is always wonderful. I've been told that good Ankimo tastes like fresh crab eggs. I don't know, but the Ankimo at Komasa is consistently good.
Next to arrive was half of our sushi order:
No need for explanation. The Albacore was topped with grated ginger and finely sliced green onion, tonight the Maguro was not as good as previous visits, but the Hamachi was heavenly, buttery, melt in your mouth delicious!
The second half of our order arrived just as we were finishing up the first - you'll notice a few pieces missing, I'm new at this "photographing my food thing" and actually started eating the Tai (snapper) and Hirame (flounder) before realizing I hadn't taken a picture of this dish! Oh well, needless to say, "delici-yoso"......
Our bill came out to a reasonable (for the amount of sushi we ate) $63. Komasa also makes an excellent Chirashi and good Tempura. Most Nigiri are about $3.80. Good solid old fashioned sushi!
Sushi Komasa is open from 530pm Tuesdays thru Sundays - closed on Mondays.
Sushi Komasa
352 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA
213-680-1792
We usually "hit" Fu-getsu-do before Komasa, and buy some mochi and other goodies to have for dessert. This Japanese confectionery shop was founded in 1903 and is still run by the same family today. It's located on a portion of first street declared a National Historic Landmark.
But today we stayed around the Japanese Village Plaza and ended up having some Gelato from Mikawaya, another sweet shop located in the plaza. Cool and refreshing, a nice after dinner dessert.
We then walked down Second Street, crossed San Pedro and onto Ellison Onizuka Street and Weller Court.
I did some quick shopping a Marukai - bought some Okuhara Kamabuko, and other snacks. Also of note, a membership card is not needed at this location.
Some notes on Little Tokyo, there are 3 markets located in Little Tokyo, Enbun in Little Tokyo Plaza, Marukai in Weller Court, and Mitsuwa (used to be Yaohan) which has it's own Shopping Mall on Third Street. Restaurants and shops abound. Little Tokyo is a quaint, safe, and fun little community that is anchored by the Japanese American National Museum, and is one of the places in Downtown Los Angeles that feels safe walking at night. Every year the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center hosts the LA Tofu Festival which is a fun time. This year it's scheduled for August 13th and 14th. Though slowed by shifts in population and economy, we were amazed to see a frenzy of building currently going on in the Little Tokyo area, which hopefully ensures a prosperous future for the area.
Hi Kirk,
Great job on the blog thus far. I'll be updating my sidebar this weekend (hopefully), so I'll be adding a link to your site. Hopefully this will drive more traffic your way. You may want to also consider having your site listed on food porn watch (e-mail to [email protected].
That said, I miss my visits to little Tokyo. It's been many years (at least 10) since the last time I was there. The sushi here looks good, and the price is definitely reasonable. I'm glad the hamachi was good as it's probably one of my favorites besides maybe uni.
Posted by: Reid | Thursday, 02 June 2005 at 02:17 AM
Reid - Thanks for taking time out to read this! Are you still in SF? Man you work hard! We were pleasantly surprised to see all of the building going on around Little Tokyo. We'll be heading to Sushi Gen next road trip.
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 02 June 2005 at 07:45 AM
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/watthai07.JPG
this slab of meat is ground pork with pork skin in it
almost like a vietnamese version called nam but its pink with a piece of garlic and chill wraped in banana leaves.....
Posted by: bill | Saturday, 06 May 2006 at 10:57 PM
Hi, I recommend Sushi Ota to you. Their Sushi is good, I think one of the best Sushi in San Diego.(Most of my Japanse friends agree with me )You need a reservation otherwise, you have to wait long time outside..
4529 Mission Bay Drive
858-270-5047
Posted by: atsumi | Tuesday, 04 July 2006 at 04:16 AM