Kusakabe - Japanese, San Francisco

584 Washington St, San Francisco CA 94111
(415) 757-0155
Parking: street parking
Hours: Mon-Sat 5pm-11pm (First seating 5pm, Second seating 8pm), Closed Sundays
http://kusakabe-sf.com/

Last Visited: December 9, 2017

Food: 4 to 5 stars
Atmosphere: 4 to 5 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: $$$$

Grand Omakase $165

Ron told me how much he loved his Kusakabe experience and highly recommended it to me.  I remember the articles about Kusakabe from when it first opened.  The fact that Chef Mitsunori Kusakabe (shown at the far end of the sushi bar) came from one of my favorite restaurants, Sushi-Ran in Sausalito, made this particular restaurant opening memorable and it has been on my list of places to go ever since.


I walked into the restaurant during the first seating and to my surprise, there was Chef Ngai whom also used to work at Sushi-Ran.  It was a mini-reunion of sorts as we sat at his station at the sushi bar and compared notes about places to eat.  I didn't expect to bump into him here, but learned about how he came over with Chef Nori and it was fun to see a familiar face.

Kusakabe's decor is modern with a long sushi bar and tables near the front of the restaurant.  A prix fixe menu,  either the regular omakase for $98 or the grand omakase for $165, is provided first followed by an a la carte menu if you wish to add to your meal.  The primary difference is that the grand omakase offers more pieces of special nigiri and a few additional dishes that are not available in the regular omakase menu.  If you want to try these additional dishes, you can still order them through the a la carte menu, but as a whole, the grand omakase is a better value than ordering all of the same items from the a la carte menu.

Ichiban Dashi
Upon being seated, you are presented with a tea cup which actually doesn't contain tea, but has a broth made from dried kombu and katsuo bushi.  It was a good way to warm up and prepare the palate for the delightful meal ahead.

Sushi Prelude
-Zuke chutoro - Seared on one side, this bluefin tuna is cured in soy sauce. This piece was so tender and was an excellent first bite.

- Live halibut - If you want to watch a cool video, the Kusakabe Facebook page has a video of live halibut that is still moving after it has been cut.  This piece of live halibut was still, but was alive earlier in the morning.  The shiso leaf and lemon zest make this piece very refreshing. The quantity of rice is just right and if you want less rice, they're happy to oblige.


Takumi Zushi
- Katsuo bonito - Cherrywood cold smoked tuna that has been aged two weeks is topped with garlic, chives, and radish.  Another melt in your mouth experience.  Each piece is so put together so that the garnishes don't just look pretty, but they balance the flavor of the fish and bring out its best qualities.

- Shima aji - Striped jack is topped with daikon radish.  This fish is what you might expect of a blend of yellowtail and mackerel. Good.

Oshinogi
- Santa Barbara sea urchin and shirako (cod eggs) - The menu refers to this one as the harmonic sushi. This combination topped with Italian black truffle shavings was one of the most memorable pieces because the earthy tones of the truffle balance out the creaminess of the fish so it's not too heavy.  Sometimes uni can be off putting, but when it's fresh, it's wonderful.  While this was a great start with the uni, it's good that it's spaced out in the meal from the Hokkaido uni which was amazing.  Great combination.

- Japanese snow crab - Served on a spoon, the snow crab is seasoned with crab miso and tops a slow cooked quail egg.  Topped with chives, this is another delicious bite.  My dining companion loved this one.  What I found interesting was how the mouth feel and flavor evolves - the initial bite is light at first and as the egg yolk surrounds the crab when you take the whole spoonful, the creamy richness makes it a more savory bite.

Sashimi
- Chef's selection of Sashimi with Umami soy sauce and yuzu onion sauce - Beautifully plated on a stand over shaved ice were two pieces of hon maguro, aged five days and two pieces of Thai snapper.  Accompanying the fish were pieces of radicchio, Japanese mountain potato inside the snapper, mizuna, a slice of radish, a slice of apple, and a dollop of fresh wasabi.  Depending on which server you receive this from, you get a different explanation of what is one the plate.  I heard my neighbor informed that you get two pieces of fish so that you can try one in each dipping sauce.  My server mentioned nothing about this.  Here's an opportunity for consistency, especially since we all sit side by side at the bar.  The fish itself was delicious and the accompanying vegetables were a nice touch. While the Umami soy sauce was good, I could eat the yuzu onion sauce by itself - slightly salty with a hint of citrus from the yuzu, I wish I could get vats of yuzu onion sauce to bring home with me.

Hassan
- Six kinds of chef's assorted les petit plats - Here's where you are likely to have a differing opinion from anyone else's because there are so many items on this plate with varying textures and flavors.  In the cup is a soy cream chowder with a single short neck clam in its shell, mushrooms, and chives.  While this was creamy and tasted like the sea, I'm not a fan of cold creamy savory things.  I prefer chowder to be hot.  In the lower right corner of the picture is rock shrimp with eggplant and bell pepper.  The rock shrimp is first fried and then marinated in dashi.  Topped with microgreens and a fried lotus chip, this was my least favorite bite because the rock shrimp had been battered and I didn't like the soft texture of the batter.  It soaks up the marinade well, but is still soggy.  The yellow cylinder is umaki - an egg omelette with unagi in the center and topped with unagi sauce.  I found the unagi to be too fatty here and sweeter than what I prefer.  In the square dish is ice fish (typically available in winter or spring) over cucumber and seaweed salad.  Grated ginger garnishes the dish.  This was refreshing and I found the cucumber and seaweed mix to be slightly bitter, but perhaps my palate was sensitive since my dining companion didn't notice any bitterness. In the upper left is a napoleon of red crab, braised sea kelp, and ikura.  While my neighbors enjoyed this the most, I found it unexpectedly sweet, but I liked the strong seaweed flavor.  The center bite was, by far, my favorite of the dish - a Shikoku oyster from Washington state topped with white sturgeon caviar.  The combination of the fat, juicy oyster with some yuzu juice was so refreshing - I loved this oyster.  I could have eaten a dozen of them.  Just bring me a plate of these.

Soup

- Ankou-jiru, monkfish tail, and Ankimo soup with shredded burdock and Kome Koji soy - A surprising mid-meal course is this monkfish in three ways.  Monkfish bones are used in the dashi based broth.  Monkfish liver floats to the top and a cube of monkfish sits on the bottom of the cup.  The presence of ginger juice is noticeable and there is fermented soy in the base.  When served, it comes covered and the lifting of the lid makes the contents a surprise.  Flavorful and not fishy, this was a good warm up.

Shizakana
- A5 Wagyu Kasu-Zuke, Daiginjo sake kasu marinated ribcap with buckweat risotto and Matsutake mushroom - When this plate arrives, the server pours the hot broth onto the plate.  The two slices of beef were very tender and the buckwheat risotto was a nice base.  While it's easy to want more and wonder why it's only two pieces, I found this to be very rich.  Good, but it wasn't significantly different from other experiences I've had.

Seasonal Sushi
- Seared arctic char - With a shiso leaf, sea salt, and lemon juice, this was another great bite.

- Young snapper - Cured with a bamboo leaf and topped with egg yolk powder that has been dehydrated with vinegar, I found this garnish to be too sour.  My dining companion was fine, so again, perhaps my palate was too sensitive.  Chef Ngai even tried the egg yolk powder and said it was no more sour than usual.  For me, less powder would have been better.

- Handroll - Chopped bluefin tuna is topped with bonito flakes and onion microgreens.  The seaweed flavor was strong, but such a great complement to the ingredients.  The onion microgreens were so flavorful and just a tad sweet.  I could eat a few more of these with ease. 

- Hokkaido uni - If you haven't tried uni from Hokkaido, it seems creamier and sweeter than any sea urchin from other regions that I've tried before.  As mentioned above, this one is definitely a few levels above the Santa Barbara sea urchin. 

Sushi Finale
- Fresh eel - From the Tsujiki fish market in Japan, they treat this one like royalty.  Braised with peppercorns, the fish is cooked on a leaf and the skin is heated until crispy.  This process lets you enjoy the two textures in a single bite.

- Toro - Closing out the grand omakase is a tender piece of toro that has been aged two weeks.  I found some silver skin in mine, so it wasn't quite the perfect bite, but still delicious. 

After the omakase, guests are given the a la carte menu.  By the time we got to this point, we were stuffed, but after hearing about their desserts which included tiramisu and sorbet, and after seeing a number of these being plated, I chose the sorbet.

- Yuzu shiso leaf sorbet - This dessert was indeed refreshing - the balanced flavor of citrus with the presence of shiso was a great complement and it was just the right level of sweetness.  It's also a great palate cleanser.   A lot of my sushi bar neighbors were celebrating special events this evening, so candles kept appearing in the desserts throughout the night.

Overall, I was very pleased with my Kusakabe experience - the fish is high quality and very fresh; the attention to detail of for each piece of nigiri and the other dishes is delicate and full of care.  The service from Chef Ngai was very personal and customized to each individual (he had six people per seating), and while there are still improvements that can be made with the overall service (such as wiping spilled tea after refills more thoroughly), I would highly recommend trying this experience.

As a side note, if you feel the need for a large personal space bubble, then you might not want to sit at the bar - besides being close to your neighbor, some of the staff members are close talkers as they explain the dishes.  Be sure to visit the restroom if you like technology - the Japanese style Toto toilet lid greets you (the lid lifts automatically) as you enter the room and of course, the typical full featured toilet offers bidet and other functions.   

If you know what you like, the regular omakase coupled with the a la carte menu many be just right for you, but if you want to try the chef's special, the grand omakase is certain to leave you feeling full.  Kusakabe makes it to the top of my sushi/kaiseki restaurant recommendations.  You get what you pay for here, but the bill is not for the faint of heart.  Make reservations early because it can be difficult to find a spot with only two seatings.