Shogun is so good for so long, has such an enormous menu, and has so many regular customers that its preeminence among New Orleans Japanese restaurants is a negative for some people. (Not being new is a strike against many restaurants.) If it seems dubious that Shogun is one of the best places around town for sushi, go in there in the middle of the afternoon, find a friendly sushi chef, and press him on just what he has available. Order some of it, then see if you can find any other establishment with a comparable list and much higher standards. I rest my case.
Shogun was New Orleans's first sushi bar, and only the second restaurant to serve sushi at all. It thereafter set the standard for all that would follow. Calling it the best sushi bar in town will inevitably start an argument, but it's a credible thing to say. The restaurant is large enough to cover all the other Japanese culinary bases, from beautiful multi-course dinners to the hibachi foolishness with the showoff chefs, flames, and applause.
Shogun opened in 1981 in a smaller restaurant down Veterans Highway. It was perfect timing: the taste of Baby Boomers had become sophisticated, and the boldness of the generation behind them allowed sushi to become a phenomenon. That they were there first with a great product put them at the top of the list. Shogun got so busy that it moved to an enormous former Shakey's Pizza House, with what is still the city's longest sushi bar. When Benihana closed its French Quarter restaurant, Shogun bought the teppanyaki tables and started doing hibachi cookery, thereby attracting the mainstream.
The entrance passageway cuts the big restaurant in half. Conventional tables are on the right, hibachi tables on the left. The place is not heavily atmospheric, but the customers come for the food.
Like all sushi bars, this one saves its really fine product for its many regular customers. Come regularly, ask questions, look avid, and you'll get it too. There is no way to overestimate the range of possibilities.
| Attitude | 0 |
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| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 2 |
| Local Color | 0 |
| Service | 0 |
| Value | 1 |
| Wine | 0 |
