I’m always on the lookout for new restaurants and Kurisaki opened in South Redondo Beach not long ago. They took the place that Naka Sushi occupied on Pacific Coast Highway near Avenue G.
For my birthday, my family gave me a homemade gift certificate to Kurisaki. It was homemade because Kurasaki doesn’t sell gift cards. While my family was aware that there are many sushi restaurants nearby, they also knew that I was particularly interested in checking out Kurasaki.
I knew that the chef and owner of Kurisaki previously worked at Matsuhisa. That said, I had a feeling that I would encounter some unusual offerings that may turn some people off. For that reason, I decided to dine solo.
Kurasaki is an old school sushi restaurant. It is not decked out with beach decorations and the interior is quite modest. Jazz played over their audio system; this was not the place to eat California rolls and slam down sake bombs.
I glanced at the menu and nothing caught my attention. Since I was armed with my gift certificate (actually it was cash), I decided to go for it. I told the server, “I’d like some sake”.
He promptly came back with a large bottle of Matsu no Midori Junmai Daiginjo sake to which I quickly nodded in agreement. This was placed in a stainless steel ice bucket. After trying some, I found it to be an extremely soft with slight notes of melon.
Feeling better, I asked whether they could do “omakase.” The server said that they could do it and just like that, my attitude improved.
Chef/Owner Kuri-san is a long-time veteran chef of Matsuhisa and this was the primary reason why I wanted to visit Kurisaki. He nodded and asked what I was interested in having; apparently one of his offerings is an “all cooked” omakase. I told him that I preferred to have everything “raw”.
A Kumamoto oyster topped with caviar was served. Not only was it beautifully presented, but the sweet and buttery flavor of the oyster nicely paired with the saltiness of the caviar.
The second item was monkfish liver topped with caviar and a light miso sauce. The monkfish liver was pretty dense and fairly sweet. The light miso sauce didn’t overpower this dish.
On this visit, I had many firsts, and this was the first time I had shirako or cod sperm. This is an acquired taste for many and a Japanese delicacy.
Kuri-san sources his fish from many different locations. Kyushu and Hokkaido were mentioned frequently as places where the fish was sourced. I found it interesting that one of his suppliers is from Boston and I quickly realized that he was a perfectionist about quality seafood.
Because the size of the restaurant is quite modest, I asked Kuri-san how he could have so many nigiri to offer. He replied, “most of my customers are from Japan. They are used to having a wide selection of fish to choose from.”
All in all, I probably received equivalent food to Matsuhisa at a fraction of the price. While this is more than I normally spend for sushi, the quality and the experience was worth it to me. If you are a sushi fanatic, I recommend that you try this place.
Kurisaki
- 1414 S Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA; (310) 540-5555
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sushikurisaki
You missed a few items of interest based on the pictures in the article.
1. Monkfish – that is obviously monkfish LIVER and not monkfish sashimi. And that is A LOT of monkfish liver btw.
2. Shirako – you didn’t even mention what it is! It’s cod sperm, which is an interesting choice after all the caviar “eggs” in the previous courses.
This place seems quite interesting. Will have to check it out. Thanks for the article.
Vickie
Culinary Vixen
Hello Vickie,
Thank you for taking the time to read the article and to provide your corrections. I have corrected my error and have clarified in English what shirako is. I guess I feared that most would be completely turned off and only included the Japanese name.
Best,
Bryan Tsunoda