Restaurant: Takao [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 11656 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 207-8636

Date: May 15, 2011

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: 9/10 creative “new style” sushi

I’ve already covered Takao in some detail HERE and then separately here, but we went back (we go often) and I built another “custom omakase” trying some different things. The full menu and some information on the history of the place can be found through the first link.

House cold sake. Masumi “Okuden-Kanzukuri” Nagano prefecture.

Heirloom totmato salad with sesame dressing.

Tai (red snapper), with garlic, salt, red peppercorn, onions, olive oil. A very bright flavor, and the peppercorns, not spicy at all, add a nice textural component.

Seared bonito sashimi with scallions and ginger in ponzu.

Miso soup. I think if you ask they have a couple different types. This is the basic scallion and tofu.

Uni (sea urchin) tempura with shiso leaf and seaweed. Sea salt.

There is also the classic tempura dipping sauce.

Here is a closeup of one of the Uni fries. This stuff is yummy! With the crunch of the fry, the minty flavor of the shiso and the briney soft taste/texture of the sea urchin pairing wonderfully.

“Scottish Salmon ‘to-ban’ Taki.” Salmon and vegetables cooked on Japanese earthenware ‘to-ban’ with special Miso sauce.

Rock Shrimp Tempura Dynamite. The underlying component is in itself tasty. Sweet rock shrimp perfectly fried. Then you ad some dynamite with it’s zesty zing and it gets even better. For those not in the know Dynamite is a warm sauce consisting of mayo, sriarcha hot sauce, and masago semlt roe.

The big sushi plate. This was all mine! And so were most of the preceding dishes.

Kani (Alaskan king crab) sushi.

Japanese scallop sushi (raw).

On the bottom, Ika (squid), perfect chewy pasty texture. Underneath was shiso leaf.

Scottish Salmon.

Kanpachi (young yellowtail).

Uni (sea urchin — from Santa Barbara).

kura (salmon eggs).

O-toro (ultra fatty tuna belly). Like butter!

Unagi (fresh water eel) BBQ, with sweet BBQ sauce.

Tamago (sweet egg omelet) sushi.

And this wraps up the custom omakase.

Below is the Salmon Terriyaki “set dinner,” it comes with everything shown.

Salad.

Mixed tempura.

Miso soup.

Salmon Terriyaki.

Rice.

Choice of dessert, in this case vanilla mochi balls (ice cream coated in sweetened pounded rice).

The chefs at work, Takao himself on the right.

For more LA area sushi, see here.