REVIEW: Hiko Sushi

11275 National Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 473-7688

Since finding Hiko years ago, I’ve gone once or twice every week. Oh – and I’m 100% Japanese by ethnicity. What does that tell you?

First of all, for those of you who’ve never been here, they serve traditional nigiri only. Omakase only at the bar. 4 dishes min per person. No verbal cell phone usage in the restaurant. Prepare for Chef Shinji to HALT the restaurant if you make/answer a call. If you persist, one of the Murata clan will throw you out.

Here’s the tale of the tape for the real foodies that want details: (Then again, this might possibly be Nigiri 101 for those of you still reviewing Japanese restaurants based on “your feelings”/“the experience” & don’t actually know dick about sushi)

WASABI:
The first thing that you’ll notice on the geta (the wooden tray in front of you upon which sushi is served) is REAL, grated Japanese wasabi root. It’s lightly sea green-tinted, sweet, milky, & with a light heat, (selling for ~$15 per 4”root) unlike the cheap, dark green playdoh-looking, flaming horseradish substitute that’s normally dumped onto idiot patrons at lower quality restaurants. For the unaware, real wasabi is not meant to be mixed with shoyu (soy sauce) but to be gingerly placed on top of your sushi & consumed directly. (Please note: Ginger is not a dish – it’s a palate cleanser. So try to restrain yourself & not hork down 5 servings of the stuff, huh?)

RICE:
All sushi restaurants have a “recipe” for their sushi rice which helps provide character to a chef’s servings. This is one of the reasons why many sushi restaurants prohibit ordering rice in a bowl: They often simply don’t have any rice other than the sushi pot & that’s not ‘pure table rice’. (This may be a revelation to those of you who have tried making your own sushi but noticed it “didn’t taste right”.) Some chefs add beer or sake, most add vinegar, maybe a little sugar & some other magical ingredients. With regard to Hiko, without going into the details of what I believe their rice preparation contains (since it’s generally a house secret) the rice is served hot, loosely packed & a very well-balanced complement to the fish.

SAKE:
They have a reasonably good sake list here with about 10 high quality brews. I’d recommend the Jozen Mizonogotoshi – a Junmai Ginjoshu, (Premium Pure Rice Sake) which is smooth and floral with hints of strawberry. Or if you prefer very dry sake, you can’t beat Shichiken – another Junmai Ginjoshu. Both are excellent pairings with all of what is served from the sushi bar and will at the very least demonstrate that you know something about sake to the chef.

SUSHI:
Chef Shinji is a traditionalist and is very serious about the speed & quality of the fish he serves. Most dishes are served 2 pieces each except for items like hand rolls.

• Baby Tuna Sashimi in Ponzu & Sesame – A good fresh appetizer of sorts to settle hungry stomachs. Large and well balanced, this dish has a the purpose of filling up customers with good fish and sating people’s hunger a little to allow them to appreciate the other nigiri.
• Yellowtail – Melt in mouth soft indicating good freshness, selection & cut; subtle taste especially pairs well with rice accents
• Toro – Was soft, well textured but not quite as flavorful as some other top tier places; best with wasabi atop to bring out the fattiness
• Red Snapper with Yuzu & Rock salt – One of the specially prepared dishes at Hiko; very well balanced with salt
• Albacore in Ponzu – Another melt in mouth soft dish
• Mackerel – Lightly seared in Ponzu; a preparation of Aji I had not had before varying the textures of fish served… very nice.
• Blue Crab Roll – Larger, deliciously fresh, pure & sweet and LACKING IN MAYONNAISE unlike certain other Tustin-based restaurants (Yes, Sushi Wasabi – I’m talking to you, you posers.)
• Lobster Roll – A large, unique serving for the Westside. Specialty roll for Hiko. A little sweeter than blue crab.
• Sea Urchin – Hands down, the best uni in Los Angeles. Always firm, sweet, creamy and brightly orange. Nuff said.
• Salmon Roe – Again, hands down the best Ikura in Los Angeles. Plump, taut, delightfully salty and fresh.

(Normally, I would score every dish based on a 5 pt scale but there’s no point. Everything served was basically a 5.)

EXTRAS:
A tasty albacore won ton amuse bouche dipping in ponzu is oddly served toward the end of the meal as well as a complimentary after dinner palette cleanser of two skinless Japanese apple slices which as always cold and sweet.

CONCLUSION:
Expect a $50-$60 bill for unextended omakase but there’s no question that this meal is ‘Best of LA’ quality. And there’s very few restaurants that offer this quality for this value in LA. So if you’re a foodie, and like me, you could give a damn whether or not the Barbie twins are eating down the bar from you with Hugh Hefner (ala Koi… yecch) this should be a destination restaurant for you.

5-Stars.

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WHY SHOULD YOU BE ON GOOD TERMS WITH THE SUSHI CHEF?
The reason you need to make sure you’re on good terms with any sushi chef is very simple: Not all sushi dishes are served equally.

One of the 2 primary dimensions of good sushi are the SELECTION and the CUT. The selection is the area of the fish that is served while the cut is the manner & size in which the fish is cut. Both of these elements are completely under the chef’s control. If the chef likes you – big surprise – your serving is going to be larger, sweeter, softer, and tastier than the next guy’s.

And the disparity is DRAMATIC. It can be the difference between a 3-Star & a 5-Star experience. My wife and I may walk in, bow, and get seated at the bar. We might quietly say hello to chef, and he’ll serve us Yellowtail belly, cut long and thin. For other servings he might break out the fresh Ikura/Salmon Roe and the brand new Uni for the day.

The retard that walks in for the first time, loudly plops herself down barking things at the chef and shouting at her dinner-mate might find herself getting tougher lateral, less fatty cuts of the same fish I was just served. She might get a dish with Chutoro-quality tuna, a lesser grade of fish. And she might discover her crab roll is not quite as fresh, sweet, or pronounced as mine… because she got served the blue crab from the back of the tray, which is likely older.

Get the picture?

A NOTE ON CERTAIN OTHER REVIEWS:
My reviews are virtually always about food quality. Except in extreme cases, I can give a damn about ambiance, price, and even service so you’re obviously going to see a disparity between this review and… oh… I dunno. The moron that downgrades a restaurant based on their petulant whining about how they don’t like the attitude of the chef… or they don’t like the restaurant rules about omakase at the sushi bar. Folks – are you eating or are you planning a gotdamned wedding? Sit down, shut up, or go to Todai.

I was at Hiko on their first week of opening. To the ludicrous Yelper that said that the food quality has "dwindled"… you’re so f-cking wrong it’s positively criminal.  My god, you should have your Yelp account revoked because I live near here and IT HASN’T CHANGED AT ALL. Perhaps you’ve just become ridiculously jaded. I mean, 3-stars… what exactly are you comparing this to? In fact, here’s a challenge if you’ve got the chops:

"Name a sushi restaurant that’s undeniably better than Hiko."

Sure there’s places that rate: But indisputably better? HELL NO. There are so few weak spots in a Hiko sushi meal, that it’s frankly easy to lose sight of how extraordinary this restaurant is… from sushi freshness, to skill, to sake selection, to the availability of fish, to all the ancillary elements that make the meal great… very little is left to criticize.