nobu is not overrated

i am sure most of you sushi lovers have heard of nobu matsuhisa...he is perhaps the world's most famous sushi chef. my husband and i recently dined at matsuhisa, his flagship restaurant in LA. the place is very low key to be such a celebrity haven. we were seated promptly at our reservation time, which is not the norm in LA. we started off with nobu stout draft ($6), which was a pretty good beer. then we ordered two sushi dinners ($36). the sushi dinner included 2 appetizers of the day, miso soup, salad, 8 pieces of sushi, and 1 roll. the amount of food was enormous. for our first appetizer, we had a sort of mixed seafood ceviche...the best i have ever had...please forgive me for my descriptions because they were randomly given and our waiter spoke broken english. the second appetizer was a white fish sashimi with some sort of ginger based clear sauce...it was outstanding. the miso soup was also the best i ever had. it tasted nothing like most i have ever had before...much smoother in flavor and less salty. the salad was also better than average because the dressing tasted like it was made 10 minutes ago. when the entrees arrived i was already a little full!

the eight pieces of sushi include tuna, albacore, salmon, white fish, yellowtail, mackerel, octopus, and sweet shrimp. each piece was the highest quality i have ever tasted. the colors of each piece of fish were bright and pure and each piece literally melted in your mouth. the sushi roll was spicy tuna and like a broken record, the best i have ever had. not mayonnaise filled as in some restaurants.

there is no doubt why it has received zagat's highest rating. we were very pleased with our visit. and in true LA style, we passed john mayer's table on the way out.