This Koreatown sushi restaurant has firefly squid, and a $60 omakase
Name of restaurant: Sushi One or Sushi Hitotsu, which is restaurant shorthand for “one for the sushi bar.” The restaurant has been open for a little more than a year.
Who’s cooking: Chef-owner In Wook Chun, though he goes by his Japanese name, Hitoshi. He’s half-Korean, half-Japanese, was raised in Glendale, and is now the owner of a Koreatown sushi bar. He’s worked at restaurants across greater Los Angeles, includuing Kanda Sushi in Thousand Oaks, and Club 33, the exclusive restaurant inside Disneyland; he’s also cooked at Pinot Bistro, Hamasaku, and Gonpachi in Beverly Hills, where he became executive chef. Sushi One is very much his show — he does the shopping every morning, and mans the sushi bar every day except Sunday.
Where you are: On the same block as Here’s Looking at You. The space is small and efficiently decorated, just the sushi bar and a row of tables, with a couple of choice images on the walls — a cresting wave and a giant fish — painted by Toshi’s wife, Areum. The ambiance feels less solemn than that of a traditional sushi bar. Toshi and his team are young and energetic. They’re as likely to wear backward caps as sushi chef hats; they communicate cheerfully with customers and with each other.
What you should eat: The $60 omakase is an excellent deal, with about 10 to 12 pieces of nigiri and a few prepared dishes — typically miso soup, salad, shishito peppers, and a red clam chawanmushi, the savory steamed egg custard of your dreams. The nigiri represent Toshi’s top picks of the day, and you never really know what you’re going to get. You might have melt-in-your-mouth otoro one day, and firm halibut the next. If you go now, you can catch the hotaru ika, or firefly squid, which can be enjoyed for only a brief season. They’re tiny, delectable squid, served gunkanmaki -style, piled up over a mound of rice banded with nori. This is also a great way to enjoy the creamy house-braised ankimo, or the delicate uni and house-marinated ikura (salmon roe). If you’re still hungry at the end of your omakase run, you can tell the chefs and they’ll bring on more nigiri.
Value meal: For $25, you can get the nigiri sushi set, which includes 10 pieces of nigiri and a bowl of udon. The udon is excellent, the broth comforting, and the noodles supple with plenty of bite.
Uh-oh: Toshi only buys enough inventory to carry through the day, so he tends to sell out of some fish. So if you are dead set on having specific pieces, dine early or, better yet, call ahead.
Info: Sushi One, 3905 W. 6th St., Koreatown, (213) 908-5082.
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