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Sushi Bar with Koji, at the Glover Park Sushi Ko


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I always love Koji's lobster miso but yesterday was the first time I had it with the daikon, it made a great canape. The soy marinated sea bream sperm was awesome also. Next time say hi.

I was there by myself on a rainy night week before last. Koji-san's station was deserted when I walked in, and I wasn't there for omakase. After a while, a solo guy who appeared to be a regular, well-known to Koji-san and the other sushi chefs came in and sat next to me and ordered omakase. I was chatting with him, and when his first courses came, he offered tastes to me. So I got a chance to taste the tuna "jerky" (meh--beef jerky becomes something entirely new with appeals of its own. this was merely dry, overcooked tuna), and the daikon with lobster tomalley and white miso, which Koji-san called "Japanese peanut butter." That, I found to be completely delicious. I was finished with my own meal by that point, and didn't want to take advantage of my neighbor's generosity so I paid and left at that point.

For my last taste I asked Koji-san: "Do you have gobo?" "Yes." "Ume?" "Yes."

So, I was able to order a gobo-ume-shiso temake, for which he only charged me $3. Koji-san had to go back into the kitchen to find the gobo root (kind of a skinny carrot) and the salted plum paste. Not enough demand to keep it in the sushi bar area, except for the shiso leaf, apparently. My brother used to travel regularly to Japan and he introduced me to that combo of ingredients many years ago. It was one of my regular choices in sushi bars, when I lived in L.A., but for some reason I forgot about it until last week. Delectable.

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Any recent reports? Paula and I are heading here tomorrow night (assuming my reservation for the "Sushi Bar with Koji" was understood correctly) and are trying to break out of our usual sushi/Japanese comfort zone.

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I hope Pete had a wonderful experience and will perhaps post a report soon, but in the meantime, I will drop my classic one-liner recommendation.

Scallop chips. This the crack to be had here. Of course, it was only an accompaniment to the scallop sashimi, but wow. A simple little concoction that should be bagged and sold to munch on with a nice cold pint of brew or sake.

Edited to add: Watching the master at work is truly amazing. Chef Koji Terano has such beautiful hands to render such beautifully plated artwork. He is so focused when plating, there is this wonderful hush of anticipation that dissolves into satisfaction upon the first bite.

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Don has asked me to post this email that I sent him yesterday after a really fine evening on Sunday at the bar with Koji.

Hello Don,

I cannot thank you enough for arranging our dinner at the bar with Koji at Sushi-Ko last night. It was simply a SPECTACULAR EXPERIENCE. We asked for Omakase and Koji performed his magic for 2 hours and I simply lost count of the number of dishes we were served. Each dish was so good, one thought, well, this is the best, it just can't get any better than this. And then, the next dish would come along and be better still. Our guests were sushi lovers from Denmark and have dined on quite a bit of sushi in their time in several locations worldwide and they declared it the best experience they've ever had. So much so, that they ordered a 20-piece sashimi box to take home and promptly consumed it in its entirety after we arrived! Koji was an absolute delight and it was a very fun evening. I would recommend this experience to anyone.

With deep gratitude,

Laura

For anyone who is a sushi aficionado, this is for you. At the same time, while this experience may seem intimidating to the uninitiated, I would recommend it to the sushi novice as well. Koji is very accommodating. He asked us right away if there are any fish we especially enjoy or do not like and we indicated that we like all fish. I mentioned that I had never had uni and wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not. He replied that, “Then you must have it and I will make sure you like it.” And I did. And, after a long series of nigiri, Koji asked would we like to continue. We asked, ”Is there more available?” He said, “Yes, I have 3 more.” “Yes!” we replied. It just seemed to go on forever and we went happily along. We had so many kinds of seafood, from lobster(3 ways) to toro to 3 other kinds of tuna to 2 kinds of mackerel to salmon to flounder and beyond. My new favorite: horse mackerel. And, of course, scallop chips (Koji says they're like bacon-bits; I say they're way better and they're real food!)

Watching Koji work up close is a real treat – the deftness with which he wields that very long carbon steel knife is mesmerizing. Watching him carve a checkerboard pattern into a flounder belly, without cutting through it, was a highlight. It’s also great fun to watch the chefs in the background making Maki. (I'm sure Don or someone can make an off-color joke about that sentence.) Finally, as others have noted above, do order the Panna Cotta for dessert. Yes, it’s a bit confusing why there is an Italian dessert on the menu of a Japanese restaurant. Even Koji joked about it. Don’t question it, just go with it. You won’t be sorry. Delicious!

We thought this was an incredible value, given the quality and quantity of our experience.

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Don has asked me to post this email that I sent him yesterday after a really fine evening on Sunday at the bar with Koji.

[Not the email, silly, just the review! :) (But it was a very nice thing to write.)]

I can't tell you how much I want everyone to experience the Sushi Bar with Koji. It is such a wonderful dining experience, and yep, more exclusive (and dare I say "better") than Minibar?

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