A Subtle Sea Change in Sushi Style

Sushi outlets have been opening in Southern California at a dizzying pace. To distinguish themselves in this crowded arena, many new places emphasize a specific style. Take Echigo and YuZu.

Before you’re even through the door at Echigo, a waitress advises, “No California roll.” As if the point needed emphasis, the words “Traditional Tokyo-style sushi only, no California roll” also appear on a blackboard that lists the day’s available fish.

Echigo calls to mind the sushi restaurants that cluster around Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, those casual little places that serve whatever’s freshest that day without fanfare. Similarly, Echigo’s sushi is utterly plain: no cucumber garnishes, no clouds of shredded daikon, no intricate leaf cutouts.

In the classic Edomae (old Tokyo) style, the sushi rice at Echigo is so freshly cooked it’s still warm.

The knife work may be unspectacular here, but you’re likely to find, as I did, orange clam so fresh it’s still moving or tiny pink scallops served on the half shell with coral. One night there was sweet, fresh Santa Barbara shrimp sushi. The luscious roe, still clinging to the empty shrimp shells, came separately in a bowl with a sprinkling of ponzu sauce.

At these prices, don’t expect freshly grated wasabi or new-harvest green tea. There are several brands of premium sake, though.

The room, on the second floor of a mini-mall, has plain ebony-colored furniture, hospital-green tablecloths and a cordial ambience. Unlike some sushi places, which more or less dictate what you get, diners at the six or seven tables can order anything they want. The bar is reserved for chef’s choice (omakase) dinners, but even there you can negotiate, to a degree. (Could tuna be omitted from my meal? “Of course.”) Still, everything is served in the proper sequence, from the mildest- to strongest-tasting fish.

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YuZu Sushi Roll House & Sake Bar is an old pizza place remodeled in a spare, attractive way--not quite Japanese; call it Brentwood chic. (From the look of the place, you’d expect most of the diners drive SUVs, and you’d be right.) YuZu serves what it calls “California-style” Japanese cuisine.

Sushi purists might consider its complicated rolls a travesty, but many evolved from regional Japanese lunch-box classics such as futomaki (a hefty roll of omelet, sweet gourd and spinach), inari (rice in fried tofu pouches) and chakin (sushi wrapped in thin egg sheets).

So YuZu’s soft shell crab roll combines crab tempura with Alaskan crab meat, avocado, cucumber and nori seaweed inside a thin carpet of rice. Like a good burrito, it has just the right balance of crunch and juiciness. In the YuZu special roll, the flavors of sweet, fresh salmon, perfectly ripe avocado and rich, salty salmon roe merge spectacularly with in a slightly brittle tofu skin wrapper. The usual nigiri sushi is simple and fresh, though the selection here is fairly limited.

Even aficionados of creative rolls may find the Rolls-Royce roll a bit excessive. It’s a standard California roll (made with real crab) under a salad-like topping of scallops, sliced tomato and a crunchy smelt roe dressing. Groups of people order this like a tapa. Spicy yellowtail crunch is raw fish garnished with tomato, herring roe and a light, spicy mayonnaise, with fried wonton “chips” on the side--this take on the nacho plate is so popular it has been joined by a tuna version.

The calamari tempura tastes of fresh oil; the pot stickers are OK. But the Tokyo rib-eye Caesar salad, garnished with over-grilled beef, and the soggy soba noodles with mushy eggplant and shiitake make the kitchen seem amateur.

And where was the advertised sake tasting? “That was a mistake,” said the manager nonchalantly. In its place we got a list of premium sakes to decipher by ourselves. At YuZu, the sushi rolls rock but the sake bar hasn’t arrived.

Echigo, 12217 Santa Monica Blvd., No. 201, L.A. (310) 820-9787. Lunch, noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Beer and sake. Parking lot. All major cards. Dinner for two, $45 to $85.

* What to get: sushi, omakase dinner.

YuZu Sushi Roll House & Sake Bar, 11645 San Vicente Blvd., L.A. (310) 571-2323. Lunch, noon to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. daily. Beer and sake. Parking lot. All major cards. Dinner for two, $35 to $60.

* What to get: spicy yellowtail crunch, soft shell crab roll, YuZu special roll.