Tag: San Francisco

I first learned of Sushi Nagai from an ad on Instagram. The ad noted that the Chef and Co-owner, Tomonori Nagai, graduated from culinary school in Japan and worked in Japan, Hawaii, New York, and Singapore. It highlighted that while in Singapore, he worked at one Michelin star Shinji by Kanesaka. Curious, I tried to look up information on the Chef and very little information came up. I’m assuming Sushi Nagai is following recent patterns of luring disciples from top Japanese sushi-ya and showcasing them in newly opened sushi-ya. However, what truly caught my eye was the focus on traditional edomae style sushi and I could not resist despite the steep price of $200/ person. Reservations were easy to make and they had same-day availability. We went in May which I like to note as omakase is about seasonal ingredients and will change quite often.

Kusakabe is a well known and established sushi omakase restaurant in downtown San Francisco. The restaurant is owned by Chef Mitsunori Kusakabe, of which the restaurant is named after. He likes to go by Nori-san for short, and he made a name for himself when he previously worked at Sushi Ran in Sausalito. He has a strong culinary background which includes experiences in Kyoto, Nobu in New York and Miami before his time in Sushi Ran. He opened Kusakabe in May 2014, and had a couple of years with a Michelin Star, but not in recent years.