Yen Sushi & Sake Bar - Japanese Restaurant

Yep, it's sushi time again. This is one of my favorite sushi places on the Westside, and I didn't know before today that there were four locations of this restaurant. I thought the one that I normally go to was the only one.

I went there for lunch today with two friends from work. It has actually been a while since I've been there, but one of the sushi chefs that we know was there today, so we sat with him at the bar. We've only sat at a table once. We usually like to sit at the bar because there's more interaction, and you get to see what else they're making for other people so you can get ideas about what else to try.

Here's their website. (BTW, there appear to be some problems with the website. For instance, the "sushi" and "maki" links don't work properly.) And here's the direct link to the menu. One of our favorite things at this restaurant is the BBQ sparerib roll. OK, I know, we're supposed to be having sushi. What is up with ordering a cooked roll, and not even fish at that? Well, one of the times I was there, the other people wanted to order it, so we did, and I decided just to try it. Oh my goodness. It is such incredibly good bbq, almost like Korean bbq sparerib, but not quite as sweet. The flavoring on the sparerib is just really good. They use the meat to wrap up in the roll, and then you get the bones, most of which also still have meat on them, on the side. Even the bones still have a lot of flavor. Go to this link, and look in the first column, third picture down. See the one that purports to be "New York Steak roll"? Well, that's labeled wrong. That's the BBQ sparerib roll. It's very filling so I would suggest ordering it with others to share so you can have other stuff too.

One of our other perennial favorites is unfortunately not included on the website. It's a toro and scallion roll, so we ordered one of those. OK, actually, the sushi chef is so used to us ordering that whenever we're there that he just asked if we wanted that again without us having to actually order it.

I was the one who introduced these two friends to the wonders of spanish mackerel, so we got two orders of sashimi to share. Mmmm, yummy! They also deep-fried the bones of the fish and gave that to us. I don't remember having gotten that before, but maybe we got it because we had gotten two sashimi orders of the fish.

The two friends had tried the spicy tuna salad on a previous visit, so we got an order of that as well. For being an appetizer salad, it's a huge serving. It's enough to be an entree salad and definitely good to share amongst a few people if you want to have room for other stuff. It had big chunks of tuna, and it also had, among other things, gobo (the little marinated carrots), which I love, so I was happy about that. A very tasty salad with lots of different ingredients. I don't know exactly what the dressing was - I think it's referred to as chef's special dressing - but it is very light, and I definitely tasted sesame in it.

One of the things that Yen has that most other places don't is yellowtail belly. It's really smooth and incredibly good, so we had two orders of sashimi to share. The chef put some flying fish roe (which are black) on the pieces.

I particularly like ankimo, which is monk fish liver. Some places serve it softer, in a sushi cup (like you get with uni [sea urchin] or ikura [salmon roe] or masago [smelt fish roe]), and some places compress it into a round tube and then cut slices off. Yen serves them as slices. I got one order of sashimi, and we shared that. The chef had put little drops of spicy sauce on it, so it gave it a nice kick.

On a previous visit, I've had the RocknRoll original, which you can find on this page, right column, second picture down. That was very yummy. Not all places do rolls using cucumber rather than rice and seaweed, and I like the extra freshness and crispness that the cucumber wrapping adds to a roll.

The item pictured at the top of the main page for the menu is not actually included on the website but is rather on the special menu, like the toro and scallion roll. It appears to be various pieces of cut roll with different kinds of fish eggs on them. On the actual menu, it's just called "caviar". I love ikura and masago, so that's something I'd like to try in the future.

The fish is very fresh and very good, and the service is prompt and friendly. Definitely a place I'd recommend.