Sunday, September 19, 2010. The Sushi Family. Broke from a full day of Joomlafying the website for a sushi lunch at Kazuko, a new place in Mandeville. It's in an L-shaped strip mall (aren't they all that shape now?) that a year or so ago replaced yet another patch of woods along the increasingly stark and commercial LA Hwy 59.
I knew immediately that this place would be good. The sushi chef and owner is Wilson Fung, who for years was one of the chefs at the excellent Little Tokyo on the other side of town. He isn't just good at his craft, but he's an irrepressible jokester, always going for a laugh with his customers. The name "Kazuko"--translated above the kitchen window--means "family." Wilson's son is the sous sushi (soushi?) chef. His daughters run the dining room.
The lunch he made for me was without flaw. I began with asparagus negiri sushi and some seared, spicy tuna. Then a boatload of gyoza. Now an idea so good that a) it's been around a long time and I've missed it, or 2) it's new. Sushi trios: one kind of fish prepared three different ways for a single six-dollar serving. Wilson said that salmon was the thing. The trio included a chopped, spicy concoction served wrapped with seaweed, in the style of uni. And two pieces of salmon negiri, one seared with a blowtorch and the other raw (below).
My last course was a Burning Man roll, always my favorite at Little Tokyo. Spicy tuna inside, rice rolled around it, avocado, seared peppered tuna, and a few strategic squirts of sriracha pepper sauce. This one couldn't have been better.
The premises are spacious, green (the girls designed it; bright greens are hot right now), and clean. A lot of sushi bars have opened on the North Shore since Katrina, including several very close to this one. Kazoku is at least as good as any other Japanese restaurant on this side of the lake.
Kazoku Sushi. Mandeville: 1680 LA Hwy 59. 985-626-8118.
