Kyo-ya

The 20 for $20 box: can you count 20?

​When we have somebody else's credit card, we enjoy dining at Kyo-ya. The sushi and sashimi are generally fresh and delicious, but the price is set for the business-expense crowd, and that's more than we want to spend for lunch.

But obviously somebody has been paying for it, because the restaurant in the Palace Hotel is celebrating its 20th anniversary in August with a takeout-only lunch special -- all month long -- that brings its offerings to a price that at least doesn't make us wince.

For $20, you get 20 pieces. It's not exactly 20 pieces of sushi, as the press release claims. We asked for a photo of a representative box and Kyo-ya sent us the one above. We counted six pieces of nigiri sushi, six pieces of sashimi, four pieces of futomaki, and two pieces of sweet egg omelet -- that's 18. The other two are apparently a couple slices of lotus root (1) and some seaweed salad (2).

Yeah, that's cheating, and we wouldn't post about it at all, except we really like Kyo-ya's sushi. On a nice day you could take the box over to nearby Yerba Buena Gardens and contemplate the vague nature of numbers. Bring your own sake.

Call ahead to order: 415-546-5089.

mikikoando.com

​Sashimi Knife Skills at Delica
Where: Delica, 1 Ferry Plaza (at Embarcadero), 834-0344
When: Sat., April 23, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Cost: $100

The rundown: Mikiko Ando, executive chef at Delica, brings over 20 years of finely honed experience to the sushi table. At this weekend's sashimi class, she is ready to pass you the knife. Ando's earlier classes were fun and laid-back, focusing on making hand rolls, shaping rice, and other basic skills. Now it's time to take the training wheels off. Students at Saturday's class need to be graduates of Ando's Sushi 101 and 102 courses, or can be granted permission based on proven ability. No worries if you aren't up for the big leagues: Basic classes are offered again on May 7 and May 21.

Contact Delica for permission to join the sashimi class, or sign up for the basic classes at Eventbrite.

New York refugee Jesse Hirsch tweets at @Jesse_Hirsch. Follow SFoodie at @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook.

Luis Chong

Somewhere Sushi's caterpillar roll, $9.95, and tamago nigiri, $2.75.

​Wednesday night SFoodie stopped by The Corner to check out the new lineup of rotating pop-ups. In the kitchen was Sushi Somewhere, a new roaming sushi maker.

This might seem like déjà vu for Mission locals familiar with Ichi, the first traveling sushi maker in San Francisco, who in 2009 got started doing Mondays at Bender's just a few blocks away. Sushi options on the Mission are sparse, and popular places like Tokyo Go-Go on 16th Street, We Be Sushi on Valencia, and Sushi Bistro on 24th Street are usually packed, so the Somewhere pop-up is potentially a boon to the neighborhood.

More >>

Tamara Palmer

​Let's Roll, a newcomer to Irving Street's bustling snack strip that billed itself as a a roll-your-own sushi bar back in August, has now opened. Only now, it's a tonkatsu (breaded and fried cutlet) house. The sign out front reflects the change.

Tamara Palmer

The storefront back in August.

​We're not sure what prompted the cold feet, but after tasting specimens of both the tonkatsu (pork tenderloin, $6.99; bacon wrapped asparagus, $7.99) and sushi (krab California roll, $1.99), it appears the owners made the right choice. And, for the record, we still think someone could do well with a roll your own sushi restaurant if done well.

Let's Roll: 2150 Irving (at 23rd Ave.)

guysketchy/Flickr

Chef Ino-san will check you.

​We were about to put some gorgeously fatty ankimo (monkfish liver) into our mouth, but at the last second threw a sliver of pickled ginger on top. And that's where we went terribly wrong: We pissed off the chef.

"No!" snapped chef Noboru Inoue (Ino-san), his face contorted with agitation. "That is for between bites!"

We sheepishly took the ginger off, and popped the liver into our mouth. He was right; it didn't need a thing.

guysketchy/Flickr

Ino's ankimo (monkfish liver) nigiri.

​Maybe you've had a similar experience at the sushi counter at Ino, a tiny, high-end spot tucked away in Japan Center's Miyako Mall. Infractions can include putting ginger on the nigiri, whipping out your cell phone, freaking out about pieces dropping directly onto the counter, cracking jokes at the chef, and other faux pas. While we don't particularly like being disciplined during a meal, following Ino-san's orders can be the rare case where enduring a bit of humiliation is worth it, especially if it makes you confront surprising combinations, such as a handroll of crispy fried smelt tucked in with a shiso leaf.

Warning: It seems as if one of Ino-san's true pleasures in life is to watch reactions to his heavy hand with wasabi, though by the time we tasted one such zinger, we were already way into all the punishment.

Ino Sushi: 22 Peace Plaza (at Buchanan), 922-3121.

Tamara Palmer

​Last week, new signs went up on a former frozen yogurt storefront at 2150 Irving (at 23rd Ave.). When it opens, Let's Roll might be the city's first-ever roll-your-own sushi bar. A note posted on the door seeks "energetic and smiley" kitchen staff, servers, and a sushi chef, all of whom (preferably) speak both English and Japanese. This block is already a popular snack destination for the after-school set. If its prices are right, Let's Roll should fit right in.

jen d./Yelp

Man does not happy hour by $3 beers alone.

​The place: Naked Fish, 2084 Chestnut (at Steiner), 771-1168

The hours: Mon.-Thurs., 4:30-6:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 4:30-6 p.m.

The deals: $1.50 nigiri sushi, $2 hand rolls, $3 maki rolls, $5 sashimi/gyoza/oysters/yakitori/tempura/soft-shell crab, 25 percent off signature rolls, plus beer or sake for $3

The digs: Charming little Marina venue features a cozy sushi bar glistening with fresh seafood and an inviting counter inlaid with voluptuous seashells. The distressed grapefruit-red walls and moderne objets d'art give the place a hip yet welcoming vibe. There's also an attractive dining room out past the bar.

More >>

A. Simmons

Not Sebo, but not Safeway, either.

​The lower rungs of the casual restaurant universe are rife with oddball establishments boasting menus teeming with seemingly incongruous dishes that hop cuisines like BART trains. We think of cheap Chinese joints doubling as doughnut shops, for starters. Coffee places generally play it pretty safe. Most only offer a perfunctory array of pastries -- muffins, bagels, scones, maybe a hip doughnut with bacon in it -- and perhaps a few sandwiches. Not the Little Spot Café, a tiny cup-crafter hugging the corner of 23rd and South Van Ness, right across from the post office. Since December, the Japanese couple who recently took over ownership have been quietly preparing a sushi menu three nights a week, Wednesday through Friday. You can't take a menu home with you yet. You can't pay with a credit card. You can't, to our knowledge, sneak in a big bottle of Asahi.

More >>

overthebluemoon/Flickr

Albacore or escolar? And how can you tell?

​We started reading Bon Appétit after Condé Nast began sending it as a sort of sop after Gourmet's demise. In the January issue, Andrew Knowlton addresses sustainable seafood at sushi restaurants, and in his most riveting turn of phrase, likens eating bluefin tuna -- "the holy grail of fish aficionados" -- to tucking into a panda steak. He suggests domestic albacore instead.

Bluefin is a controversial fish, simultaneously sought after and avoided around the world. Last week, Mark Rumminger of Berkeley-based blog Mental Masala popped up on The Ethicurean to pass along a big dose of tuna trouble. Rumminger highlighted someicky findings in a new paper by scientists from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History, who analyzed tuna sushi from 31 restaurants in New York City and Denver.

Among a litany of bluefin travesties (both the fish's protectors and avid consumers should be alarmed), the study reveals something particularly disturbing: Much of what passes for so-called "white tuna" -- albacore, typically -- is not tuna at all, but instead the very curious and somewhat threatening finned thing called escolar. Now, despite the vaguely sinister name (we think of a deceased Colombian drug lord), escolar happens to be a firm, fatty, deep-water ocean fish with an intense flavor and flesh the color of dirty snow. It bears little resemblance to the tuna it's often required to emulate.

More >>

elkanah5730/Flickr

The new traditionalist: Sebo's Michael Black.

​It's ironic -- sushi, a cuisine that fetishizes a few simple, pristine ingredients, just might be the last restaurant genre to pick up the ingredient-centric mantra of modern food. But a sustainable sushi revolution that ignited in San Francisco has gradually spread to other West Coast cities, causing more and more sushi lovers to question where the tuna in their nigiri is from, and whether or not it's depleting global fish stocks.

The standard collection of always-on-the-menu favorites (farmed salmon and shrimp, eel, hamachi, and above all bluefin tuna, every one of them dodgy from an environmental perspective) is giving way to less conventional choices. At the same time, young chefs (most not of Japanese heritage) are taking sushi back to its historic roots in early-19th century Tokyo, when fish for sushi was lightly cured with salts, vinegar, and seaweed. We're foscusing on four West Coast spots in the forefront of new sushi.

Tiny, nondescript Tataki in San Francisco is credited with launching the sustainable revolution -- it's the first sushi bar in America to serve only seafood from sustainable sources. Chef-owners Kin Lui and Raymond Ho even employ a full-time sustainability consultant. They've banished unagi, but how about faux-nagi? Fatty black cod seared with a blowtorch to resemble glazed eel. Cool idea.

Portland's Bamboo Sushi calls itself the world's first certified sustainable sushi restaurant (it's received a big thumbs up from the Marine Stewardship Council). Owner Kristofor Lofgren brings a kind of New American sensibility to sushi. Consider the Salmon Nation rolls, ivory salmon smoked in house with wild salmon and salmon-skin salsa, or the Highway 35, with its red crab and sake-poached pears.

More >>