The list includes 12 restaurants classified as Japanese, which already exceeds Addison’s usual limit of ten for any one cuisine. Is Shunji better than Morohiro, Kaneyoshi, I-Naba, Kisen, Shin, and (from the Hall off Fame list) Gen, Matsu, and Asanebo? He presumably doesn’t think so, though he raved about the place last year.
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Hiro doesn’t seem to be much of a publicity hound. Fine with me as long as continues to stay busy.
I appreciate not having to participate in the Resy Olympics when I want to visit a wonderful Izakaya close to home.
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Sushi Gen isn’t even in the same stratosphere as Shunji. Other than age and popularity, I don’t see how it can be on the 101 list at all given the quality of their sushi…
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Gen is not on the 101 list. It’s in the Hall of Fame. Addison says:
I love the place for its intersection of affordability, efficiency and quality.
Which goes to show yet again that the “best” in the headline is a false description of the criteria.
I love what Shinju is trying to achieve with his cooking. However, if you are comparing Shinju to other places, his food feels like it lives in between worlds? Maybe it’s hard to categorize his cooking beyond just labelling him sushi, omakase?
I feel like he could be grouped with Hayato or Morohiro, and kaneyoshi and that hinders him. Since when I went like a year ago, his dishes had techniques I have seen at all three places (but in one restaurant). I am not saying his dishes are copying a style since these techniques are probably years old. However, I think Shinju is just missing his wow factor that will pull him into the spotlight he deserves.
After much reflection, I think this is one of his main weakness because I see too many voices/influences/techniques (whatever you want to call it), but I cannot identify Shinju’s voice.
For example, when I think Hayato I have a very clear image of “Brandon, kaiseki dishes, almost perfect execution” and kaneyoshi “kahoda, ankimo, sashimi heavy” and Morihiro “too much food, pastry chef with excellent dessert, sashimi heavy, jelly tomato” if I do this with Shunji, I think “sashimi, entree with leaves on my plate and one dish that had dashi jelly/sauce” nothing sticks out even though the food tasted great.
I remember going back to Hayato and thinking, “every photo looks great, if he carefully thought out which plates to use for X dish then I am sure the lighting received the same thought process.” Morihiro surprised me since he executed everything so well and then he serves dessert that’s beautiful and tasty?! I went to Kaneyoshi twice since my first experience was not great (not due to the food), and Yoshi-san was consist, his ankimo was so unique and he had a heavy rotation of fish vs entree like Mori-san had. Shunji fades into the background, however, I do remember his food being good, but nothing sticks out and in a competitive food scene like LA that’s bad.
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in what universe is kato $$$?
Kato is 275 pp that’s definitely $$$ or $$$$
orsa & winston is 125
shin sushi ~200
pasjoli a la carte
all listed at $$$$
and yangban $$?
anajak $$?
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I’m not sure they have a glossary of $ but that would be helpful.
Kato definitely $$$$
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Anyone else annoyed that Bavel and Saffy’s are both in the top 20?
The Goldster used to wrap Nancy’s places into a single Mozza-plex entry - granted they are on the same piece of land.
I can (kind of) see a value/fairness of, say, an Ori-plex, or a Manske-plex or a Nobu-plex designation for these multi-concept chefs.
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I emailed them and they’re going to correct it.
me listening to unverified max on air gjordan
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What did he say?
Nice to see Luv2eat finally get some recognition from the Times.
I’m way behind, only eaten at 19 of them.
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I’m not sure he and I agree on how much he “writes and writes and writes” considering he’s a professional critic.
There’s a lot of fucking writing in that 101 list. What standing do you have to disagree?
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