A Week of Sushi, the Traditionalist: The enigmatic Kaga Sushi

I first of Kaga Sushi what seems like a lifetime ago....probably around 2002. One day, while purchasing some wagashi at Hogetsu, I noticed the very non-descript sign on one of the buildings. Well....here was the Kaga Sushi that I'd heard so much about. Granted, a good part of that discussion included words like racist, sushi nazi, etc...... Also, I understand that one of the graduates of Kaga's mentorship is a pretty, well how should I say it, rather temperamental fellow himself. After seeing him treat customers badly on my two visits there, I don't think I'd return. In fact, the last time there, I was with a friend from Japan who made it a point after leaving to tell me, "I want to let you know....REAL Japanese are not like that!" 'nuff said.  Another word that has been used in various discussions is exclusivity, which kind of rubs me the wrong way.....I'm just not like that. What really changed my mind about Kaga Sushi was a discussion with Mrs Takeda of Hogetsu-do. She basically told me that the couple who run the place want to only serve traditional sushi and don't speak very much English. They basically feel uncomfortable with people they don't know and can't communicate with...there would be an additional addition to this a bit later on. I did try to get past this door with the neon open sign twice back in 2005......

And just to make the story short; I looked the part, but couldn't recite the lines. And that was just the way it was going to be. Folks I knew who were Nihon didn't want to go there....folks who thought their Japanese wasn't good enough were afraid. Still, this past winter, I was having a nice Friday drink when "Xiang Jiao" came along. For some reason, I happened to mention Kaga Sushi, and my own "xiang jiao" (which means banana in Mandarin) difficulties. Now being young and all, XJ saw a challenge....she was fascinated. As a plus, her beau (MrT) is from Tokyo and works for one of the major Japanese companies in San Diego. She asked me if I'd be up for Kaga Sushi. Thinking that nothing would come of it I said sure. And during our porcine party, XJ came up to me and blurted out a date....huh? She then reminded me of our discussion....we had a date set for Kaga, which was postponed once, but there I was standing outside that door on a rather cold late December evening. We also had XJ's friend "Trang" and her boyfriend, Masa, who is also from Tokyo for back-up. We walked through that door.....

Now I'd like to say it was all dramatic and such, but the interior is quite humble and warm....much like what you think a neighborhood sushi place would be like in Japan.

The menu, written on very old-school style wooden slats were in Japanese. The couple who ran the place seemed to have aged quite a bit in the last 7 years and now looked like they were in their 70's. The woman who simply showed me a reserved sign and nodded "no" in 2005, now seemed like a doting grandmother....plus, she seemed a bit hard of hearing, which would make dealing with English speakers more difficult.

There was a Hispanic Couple in the place when we arrived, also with a Japanese couple....so this was not an "exclusive club" even though it seemed to cater to the Japanese Ex-Pat community. MrT, ordered, in what he later told me was in the "most respectful way" that it would be Omakase for us.

So after being presented with a wonderfully prepared tako appetizer which we all had to restrain from gulping down, the plate of sashimi arrived.

And let me just say, this was very, very good. Unadorned and traditionally straight forward, but very good.....

 No fruit or vegetable carvings......no sauce "swooshed" on the plate, no neat little trinkets, no huge lump of yuzu kosho killing the hirame (my one really bad dish at Kaito).....this was just plain no hiding, no holds, delici-yoso. MrT told me that in terms of just prep and quality, this was much better than Ota, Kaito, Shirahama, or anything else in San Diego. The o-toro did melt in your mouth, the Saba was perfectly cured, milky, but without venturing into "cheesiness", the texture was just perfect. The shoyu ikura was like the kiss of the ocean with ika that had an excellent chew.  The akami was interesting, the cut included a bit of chu-toro, which made for a textural exchange.

I've never been a fan of the typical awabi (abalone) served in sushi bars, and am still not, though it does make a nice visual impact.

 Next up was a short respite with a very well done broiled saba. Nice oil, balanced salt and sweet.....

Then came the nigiri.

The first thing that struck me was the amount of komezu (rice vinegar) in the sushi-meshi.....it reallycaught me off guard. MrT and Masa thought it was just lovely. For me, the nigiri was not as thrilling as the sashimi. The highlites....well the blue crab was just plain delicious, the kohada was cured well, nice and lightly milky...the mirugai was good. The Ebi, in this case wild Mexican Shrimp was delicious as well.

Based on what I'd already eaten, I had high hope for tamago. Though I've never really bought into the "you judge an Itamae by how they prepare the humble egg" school of thought, I do like a light, mildly sweet, melt in your mouth tamago just like everyone else.

This was not it. It was served ice cold which killed the flavor. The omelet was also too hard and not particularly pleasant to eat.

There's some irony to this whole meal. We'd had all this sashimi and sushi, but the one real talking point for us after the meal was the miso shiro....yep, the miso soup.

As we took the first sip of this rich, yet balanced simple miso shiro with daikon, the three guys looked up...... I'm not sure what it was, but there was that simple comforting feeling this soup gave the three Japanese "boys" in the group. Like a warm blanket wrapping around you on a cold day.... Nice ratio of miso to dashi, not too salty, the daikon cooked to very tender, but not melted away. This was so nice.

After our meal, the Itamae came and spoke to MrT....when he found our XJ wasn't Japanese, he was amazed that she wanted to eat sashimi and nigiri and not just rolls. Hopefully, that contributed to a stereotype being torn down. The folks here just seem to want to do their thing. Even though I still don't agree with the way they do it; having grandparents who never spoke English, I understand it. MrT told me that he had heard this building had been sold and was going to be torn down and the owners look like they are close to retirement. I'm hoping that Kaga Sushi will give a little in who they serve. Though I don't think I can get into the place without someone fluent in Japanese even after eating there......

Kaga-Sushi
1216 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Comments

[Hao]

Hmm, do you think they'd let me in with my rusty Japanese and a pocket dictionary? ;)

[kat]

looks great! too bad about their english though.

[Rick Freitas]

Can you give us an idea about the price?

[Kirk]

You can try Hao! Let me know how it goes, ok?

Yeah, well, that's the way it goes Kat.

Hi Rick - It was about $75/pp without booze.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

I've been loving the sushi posts. Almost too much. The pictures of the ebi in this post looked way better than any ebi I've ever seen.

I'm glad you finally got in. Congrats.

[caninecologne]

So that's what it looks like inside! Great post and write up. How sad, if the building is going to be torn down.

[Jim Gottlieb]

Speaking of English problems...

"I first of Kaga Sushi..."

First heard of? First read of?

"Folks I knew who were Nihon didn't"

Did you mean Nihonjin (日本人)? The above makes no sense.

"After our meal, the Itamae came"

I think you should refer to him as the "itamaesan".

I rarely get to Chula Vista, but this post surely makes me want to head south for the winter. Thanks!

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - They were very good.

Hi CC - Yes, it was quite good.

Well Tokyo Jim, you win the award for most pedantic comment of the week....you should feel mighty proud! I simply sit down and start typing and do everything in one pass. It is done in an almost conversational manner......informal. So if you find my post painful, perhaps you should go elsewhere. This is sort of my food diary, not a professional piece. Oh, I haven't heard the term Itamae-san in ages, maybe your overly formal Japanese dictionary needs an update.

[Rodzilla]

I'd really love to try this place, but doubt I could get in as young white guy.

[Kirk]

Hey Roddy - I think you can get in if there's someone who would go with you fluent in Japanese. The person would also have to make the reservations.

[SK]

It all looks lovely (and delicious) but I find it difficult to motivate myself to go to a place that actively does not want my (Caucasian, minimal-Japanese-language-skills) business.

[Kirk]

I know what you mean SK. I had basically given up on eating here.

[Hao]

Re: reservations
Do they not take walk-ins, Kirk?

[Kirk]

Hi Hao - If your Japanese is good, or they know you, or feel comfortable with you, you can walk in. What I saw on my two failed attempts is that every seat is "reserved". Good luck!

[Foodhoe]

Dang that looks good, you've got me craving nigiri now, although we've got plans for boring pasta pomodoro with the visiting in laws tonight...

[miki chilcutt]

Hi I love your blog, and I am amazed you tried Kaga sushi for i hear they are exclusive.

one thing. it's Miso "shiru" Shiru means soup. haha i had to correct it because i am Japanese :P

[Kirk]

Hi FH - It's nice to hear from you. Hope all is well.

Thanks Miki. Funny thing, I notice that I'm starting to make the same romanization errors my mom made.....that's how it goes for a Sansei I guess!

[Junichi]

Kaga Sushi us unfortunately closing at the end of the month. I'll be making reservations soon to say farewell.

[Kirk]

Hey Junichi - I hope you enjoyed yourself. On our last visit here, it seemed that they were pretty much ready to retire as I think there was going to be some construction on the strip mall as well.