Imagine walking into a room where you immediately feel at ease. The decor is simple, just a few tables around a lively bar. The chef is an animated man who banters and carries on with his customers, all of whom are clearly friends. They down their sake with rowdy joy, and he toasts them from time to time, all the while skillfully cranking out some of the most beautiful sushi I've ever seen.
He may be the most creative sushi chef I've seen to date, giving us what is easily the best omakase experience I've ever had.
I was already worried after the black throat Sea Perch because I couldn't imagine anything better. That plushy, pillow-soft flesh possesses the perfect blow-torch sear, and I've never tasted anything more supple and sweet.
A meaty Amberjack is seasoned with rock salt and dosed with a dash of yuzu. Citrus cradles the milder meat and salt brings out the butter.
Halibut is silky smooth, slick with olive oil, heavenly with a sprinkle of truffle salt. Swallow and sit still as the truffle flavor doubles back to engulf your senses.
Hokkaido Scallop, meaty and mighty, a dab of yuzu pepper adds some zing.
The Striped Jack is another meatier slice, this one firm but just a little bit gooey.
The best of both worlds come together in the Chutoro, with robust flavors of lean tuna tempered by globules of fat.
The Raw Octopus is a new one - I've yet to have it prepared this way. Fine butterfly cuts turn a chewy slice of rubber into a soft squeegee, and fragrant basil yuzu makes a mild flavor much more interesting.
Less mild is the sweet and sensitive Goldeneye Snapper, another incredibly tender cut.
Salmon can only go so far so let this Ocean Trout take you the rest of the way. Never have I tasted anything so seductively tender and sweet.
Buttery Black Cod flakes under a surface sear, and a topping of onion jelly makes the flavors pop.
A creamy Hokkaido Uni speaks for itself.
The grand finale is a slice of seared Toro, a light char on the surface that gives way to bursting bubbles of tuna fat, topped with truffle that adds its aroma just when you think it can't get any better than this.
I have never eaten a 12-piece omakase and wanted to just do it all over again. The flavors are so varied and each piece is so creative that every bite is a new adventure. The novelty keeps you hungry for more, although we only repeated four favorites, I can honestly say there wasn't a single bite that didn't blow my mind.
I love everything about Taira Sushi; the intimacy, the purity, the amazing talent and creativity of a chef who still has the freedom to serve whatever to whomever he would wish. There's plenty of fish in the sea and lots of sushi in LA and the South Bay, but I would make the drive to Garden Grove in any kind of traffic just to eat this again.
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