Kushiyu is a smallish restaurant in a strip mall in Tarzana on busy Ventura Boulevard - not where you'd necessarily expect to find great sushi, but I've come to not be surprised at what treasures you can find in unexpected strip malls. There's a parking lot out front as well as some underground/covered spaces as well.
We arrived shortly after 8pm, and the restaurant was very crowded, with people waiting for tables outside the restaurant. On our last visit, which was on a Saturday night, the restaurant wasn't nearly as crowded, so I was surprised at how busy it was. That had been in late August of last year, so maybe the mid-summer crowds are heavier. The bar was completely full, and it looked like the restaurant was as well, but luckily, there was a small two-person table available in the front corner, so we were seated immediately.
This was only my third visit, so since the husband was much more familiar with the restaurant, he did most of the ordering. They have one sheet of sushi items, one sheet of kushiyaki items, one sheet with the regular menu, and one sheet with the daily specials. Oh, and then there's the separate sheet of hot and cold sake. Yes, there's a lot of stuff to look at.
The husband initially ordered several items, and then we kept some of the menus in case we wanted to order more. One of the things I love about sushi places is that you can order a couple items at a time, so if you're still hungry, you can order more, and if you're full, you're not stuck with too much food, and you don't have to decide at the outset of the meal how much you might want to eat.
The first items brought to us were two items of kushiyaki - lotus root with chicken paste (which had two pieces on a skewer) and chilean sea bass (one long piece). The lotus root was quite tasty, but then, I'm a fan of lotus root. I like its crunchy texture - lotus root can sometimes be overcooked - and the seasoning on the chicken and what tasted like teriyaki sauce on top was delicious. The chilean sea bass was just heaven, moist and tender, melting in your mouth.
Next up was the halibut sashimi with yuzu sauce and caviar. I loved the spicy citrus flavoring on the light halibut.
Next was the salmon tower, which the husband likens to sushi nachos. I've had this every time I've been there, and it's definitely something he has every time he's there as well. Cubed salmon sashimi is mixed with chopped tomatoes in a sauce with masago on top, and it's all placed on a crispy fried won ton wrapper, with three of these stacked on top of each other. The mix of flavors is just really nice, and the crunch of the fried won ton adds a bit of interesting flair to the dish.
Next up was the only regular sushi we ordered, though "regular" is definitely not the way to describe yellowtail belly. It was very tender and buttery and moist. Yellowtail belly was one of the best things (right up there with spanish mackerel) that we were introduced to a few years ago. As I mentioned, while we did have a lot of other raw fish (which were technically on the appetizers list), this was the only regular presentation of sushi that we had. All the other dishes were on a plate with sauces and other things. One thing that I've come to notice about the distinguishing features of a good sushi restaurant is the quality of their rice. The rice that came with the yellowtail belly was soft and not too thick, a nice complement and accompaniment to the fish, but not enough to overwhelm it. I find that at lesser sushi restaurants, the rice can end up being a hard rectangular block, and it really detracts from the taste and texture of the fish.
Last of the dishes originally ordered was the salmon sashimi with diced vegetables, which included okra, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. I'm not sure what the sauce was on that, but it was really just amazing, and the coolness and texture of the finely chopped vegetables were a real complement to the salmon. The plated sashimi appetizers came with about 8 generous slices of fish, so there was plenty to share between the two of us.
At this point, we decided to order a couple more things. The husband ordered the spicy tuna on rice cakes, which came with four pieces, and I ended up having one of them. The little rectangular rice cakes were crunchy, but not hard, and it was a nice mixture with the spicy tuna on top.
I ordered a regular tofu and seaweed miso soup (they have a couple different varieties of miso soup), and it was a very generous serving, with the bowl filled to the top. Very tasty too. I also ordered the monkfish liver with tomatoes. I've been a fan of monkfish liver since being introduced to it by a friend, and I find it interesting the different ways that different restaurants serve it. It slightly changes the taste, and it definitely changes the presentation of the dish. Well, when they brought the monkfish, I was definitely impressed with how it looked. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but what I got sure surpassed that.
It was apparently impressive enough to catch other people's attention, as I heard a nearby table ask our server what the dish was after she'd dropped it off. The flavor and texture of the monkfish liver was very good, and the hearty tomato flavor was a nice addition, not to mention the ponzu-based sauce.
For dessert, we decided to split the mochi, getting one mango and one strawberry.
Because of how crowded the restaurant was, I was expecting a wait for our food, but our first dish arrived in a fairly short amount of time, and subsequent dishes arrived with good timing - not all at once, but we also weren't having to wait around for the next dish because we'd already finished the dish we had. Our server was running around the restaurant pretty much the whole time, and our glasses (the husband had water, I had water and green tea) were generally refilled promptly, and she was very helpful and pleasant, as were the rest of the staff. The freshness and flavor of the fish was outstanding, and the kushiyaki was very tasty. One of the dilemmas you'll find at Kushiyu is deciding what to have from the sushi menu, what to have from the appetizers menu and what to have from the kushiyaki menu, because you can't possibly have it all. I'd love to go back when I've prepared myself that I won't be having much sushi because I definitely want to try more of the kushiyaki. There was a duck breast on the specials menu that was quite tempting, but I was just too full to try it.
Given the amazing quality of the food and the terrific service, this is a restaurant I would highly recommend.
Kushiyu
18713 Ventura Boulevard
Tarzana, CA 91356
(818) 609-9050
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