I remember when Urasawa was $250pp and people (including myself) thought it was outrageously expensive.
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Just curious. When was that? I remember Providence’s chef’s tasting was $175pp back in 2011.
2003
When Masa left, his former assistant, Hiro Urasawa, took over the space on the second floor of the Rodeo Collection. He hardly changed a thing. He didn’t lower the prices either: A meal at Urasawa runs $250 per person before drinks, tax and tip, making it easily the most expensive restaurant in Los Angeles, if not in California – more than Bastide, more than French Laundry in Napa Valley.
Nice @Sgee ! I’m putting that on Sushi School.
I know!
I wondered about that too. Thanks for the clarification @moonboy403. 
Dreamy! @PorkyBelly & @moonboy403! 
Thanks!
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I am ashamed to say I hadn’t been to SGO until this visit, but I agree with everything that @PorkyBelly and @moonboy403 said - this meal was excellent and rivals any sushi meal I’ve had in LA.
The venue itself definitely is the nicest of all the sushi yas I’ve been to in LA (never been to Urasawa - is that even a sushi ya?). Service was impeccable and really friendly and warm - they came by with an iPad and a picture of each of the fish for everybody in the room. The one little hiccup was that I thought I had heard that you would bring two bottles of wine per party (we had 5 in total) but when we got there, they told us we could only drink 1. So we drank one bottle, and I ordered shochu after that. Corkage is a steep $50 per bottle.
The rice was great for me - a bit chewy but then flaky at the very end - they use a mix of akazu and komezu
Most of my meal mirrored that of the above, with a few differences, but I’m including all the pics for completeness (pardon the repetitiveness)
All in all, this place lived up to the hype! I had read online that one reason for the price point is that they source fish from Japan, whereas most American sushiyas source from worldwide (including locally), which is why you can get the tiger prawn and ark shell clam
Vantage point from where we were sitting
Chawan mushi with caviar and Hokkaido uni very nice start - the salinity from the caviar with the slight brininess and sweetness of the uni went really well with the egg custard
Couple kinds of seaweed, ginger, and kochi (flathead) sashimi
They mentioned that historically soy sauce was really expensive so diners would use sake sauce, which is what is on the left
Tsubagai (conch) sashimi crunchy and sweet
Mizu tako from Hokkaido - super tender and among the best Octopus we’ve ever had
Katsuo
Seared tairagai
Hamo (conger eel) tempura quite good for us actually, though the batter was a tad thick
Kegani (hairy crab) really bright and sweet - IMO much better than what I ate at Shunji in December
Ankimo Wow, this is up there with what we ate in Japan! Fluffy, fragrant,sweet, rich, and just the right level of earthiness,
Yuwan yaki - grilled sea bream this was the only miss of the otsumami
Pickles and “take shyoga” - bamboo ginger
Kinmedai kobujime many times, this is seared, but they marinated it in kelp
Wild salmon
Kohada Got ours in the normal course of the omakase 
I personally didn’t find this one over marinated but it wasn’t a highlight
Ran out of wine so ordered a glass of imo shochu on the rocks
Akami zuke
Ebodai (butterfish) had this before - tasted like the description
Miso soup a nice interlude
Japanese eggplant
Bafun uni from Hokkaido
Kuruma ebi !!!
Murasaki uni from Miyagi prefecture
Nodoguro the best nodoguro I’ve had in a while
Otoro
Shima aji
Anago
Tamago
ALC - akagai Strong salinity and and brininess with the right chewiness
ALC Ni hamaguri
ALC kasugodai One of the best pieces of the night
ALC chefs choice - tekka maki a particularly good version especially with the pickles
Dessert
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For comparison: Kinjo and Sushi Yoshizumi charge $40 corkage per bottle, both are one Michelin star. I can’t remember what it is for Californios but it was $50 a year or so ago (2 Michelin stars). $50 for West Hollywood seems about right, although interesting they only allow one bottle.
The beaded seaweed is umi budo (sea grapes), a lot of it comes from Okinawa but could also be from somewhere else (in the picture with kochi sashimi).
The “sake soy sauce” is very likely irizake 煎り酒 and is very rarely seen (but can be super delicious). It is made by boiling umeboshi in sake, adding konbu and bonito flakes (and straining afterwards). There is also a step of igniting the surface of the sake on fire at some point to burn off excess alcohol, and adding some yakishio. The recipe could vary between chefs, I only listed one example. It’s one of the best dips you can use for pristine high quality wild Japanese premium white fish (e.g. makogarei, hoshigarei, or top notch hirame e.g. from Aomori prefecture). Whoever came up with this probably figured out soy sauce overpowered delicate white fish. Could have been Hanaya Yohei or one of his competitors. Ancient wisdom for the ages. In theory you could also marinate good bluefin akami in irizake…I’ll have to find opportunity to see if I could ever try that in the future.
The green pickle is Japanese version of the Chinese/Sichuan pickled mustard plant stem Zha Cai (zāsai in Japanese), less pungent and more in the vein of Japanese tsukemono flavors. Good stuff, rare to see it at a high end omakase place in California (and maybe the US).
It appears they applied some OG legit Edomae techniques on the wild salmon (Copper River Alaskan King)? It looks like the traditional / old school method of maguro zuke which was previously explained here
Thanks so much for your report and great photos! Much appreciated.
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Glad you enjoyed it!
What’s wrong with it?
It’s not just that they source nearly everything from Japan, but the quality is very high, they get mostly wild product and they get highly seasonal items. There’s a great local sushiya in Brookyn (Uotora) where about 60-80% of the fish is sourced from Japan, but many are farmed and the overall quality is not at the level of SGO. Also, ark shell clam is still as far as I know illegal to import into the US, so interesting that SGO LA consistently has it. They must have an LA importer willing to take risks. Don’t see this regularly in NYC.
Kue marinated in irizake?
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Thanks for the report, glad you liked it. Did you get yohei-san? Too bad they didn’t have any aji on your visit.
Was that torotaku?
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If I zoom in on the toro / sukimi tekka I see small bits of the green pickle as part of the pre sushi course earlier inside the roll, zasai ザーサイ (zha cai in Chinese).
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@moonboy403 - thanks for your original review! The grilled fish was a bit dry, with a one-note smokey flavor. I would have enjoyed it in a bento lunch, but did not think it lived up to the other dishes at a ** sushiya.
@PorkyBelly We asked for and received Yohei-san. He was super friendly - will definitely go back and sit in front of him when the gaping hole in my wallet recovers. Thanks for your review!
That was toro taku (literally says that on our receipt) - good catch! 
@beefnoguy Those are some serious ninja skills…
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i asked chef go at hayato about the recent influx of akagai in la. he said there’s a new seller at the market importing pre-shucked akagai. maybe that’s how they’re able to get around the restriction?
Pls pass me his/her digits.
Had the good fortune of making a return visit to SGO, and wow! This might be my favorite LA sushi experience in a long time. Everything from the otsumami to the nigiri to the service was outstanding. The otsumami blew away what I had in Tokyo most recently at Harutaka (though the otsumami there isn’t at a high bar to be honest) and gets within spitting distance of some of the best I’ve had in Japan on other occasions. I didn’t think there were any misses from this meal - I thought every single course was outstanding - I remember @jperelmuter mentioning SGO’s outstanding sourcing previously, and I thought it really showed tonight.
@moonboy403 @PorkyBelly Sorry we couldn’t make it happen this time around - perhaps next time!
I ordered the base meal, but I think I received some additional pieces (based on what neighbors were getting) that I’ll note - I suspect it was because I was plying Chef Yohei-san with sake and getting him tipsy There was a group to my left that had ordered a pricier tier, and they received some abalone and some uni hand rolls as additions, from what I could recall.
Apologies in advance for the poorly focused pictures / banding in many (all?) instances. Used a different camera, and I think I need to manually focus more often.
Tai no kobujime
Great start to the meal - it was almost sweet
Chawan mushi with Italian caviar and Hokkaido uni
Poached Japanese octupus with the skin, served with yuzu kosho
Amazingly tender, and the kosho added a nice kick
King saba with seared skin
The finish went on for days…
Hokkaido uni
A display of the Kegani we will have later
Steamed amadai
I lapped up that broth
Wild ankimo
So decadently rich
And now it was on to the nigiri. I think I still prefer the rice at Mori slightly (especially the texture), but the quality of the neta at SGO is so good that I now prefer the nigiri here. Mori uses a blend that skews to komezu, whereas the rice here at SGO seemed to be mostly akazu. They mention they use a brand called Yokoi Yohei that is aged for 3 years.
Kinmedai
Starting with a bang
Buri zuke
They mentioned it swims from Hokkaido to Hyogo; at any rate it was rich and fatty, with a touch of salinity from the zuke - outstanding
Kegani with the kani miso and some caviar
A quick interlude from the sushi
Shima aji
Sayori
A particularly outstanding piece tonight; they mentioned they try to get large fish samples
Seared Tairagai Hand Roll
Ginger It might be hard to tell from this photo, but the pieces on the left were sliced by Yohei-san, and the ones on the right were by another chef. The ones on the left were noticeably thinner and more delicate tasting - this is one reason I personally like to request to sit in front of Sergio-san at sushi bars whenever possible.
I always enjoy the anticipation from seeing them prep kuruma ebi
Dried karasumi with marinade - additional piece
Chef Yohei gave me a piece and mentioned this chinmi would go well with the sake (of course!) - it was especially rich, not too powdery, and just the right level of saltiness; so tasty
Kuruma ebi
Shiro ebi
Hokkaido uni
At this point, they had a large block of tuna that they unwrapped and broke down. It ended up being a fun show - I can imagine some might find it offputting, but I thought they did it with humor and in good fun rather than trying to make it ostentatious.
They mentioned they get their tuna from Yamayuki, which I understand to be one of the best purveyors.
Yohei-san with what I can only describe to be a katana
@beefnoguy I’ve seen you encourage us to drink junmai and junmai ginjo to better pair with the latter parts of sushi and kaiseki meals. Thus far, my novice sake palate hasn’t been able to appreciate the rusticity with these more robust sakes, so I’ve stuck with junmai daiginjo. But it was at this point in the meal that I noticed the food overwhelming the sake (it was the Kokuryu Shizuku). They recommended another one (Mimurosugi Yamadanishiki) which was a junmai daiginjo as well, but it was far more powerful and kept up with the food at this point. I’ll endeavor to try and get a ginjo next time!
Some piece of tuna that was from a special part I think this was an addition to the base meal - I couldn’t quite understand what they were describing and couldn’t read the paper, but it was fantastic 
Akami aged 8 days
Otoro
At this point, I think the base meal was over, as I saw other customers get their tamago and dessert. They asked me if I was hungry and if the chef could give me a few more pieces. Without hesitation, I said “Yes, onegaishimasu!”
Seared nodoguro
Rich, fatty, decadent, delicious
Shiokara
More chinmi to pair with the sake - the salinity was pretty welcome at this point
Grilled hokkigai skewer
Kobashira
Anago
Tamago
Dessert - a coconut pudding with a black bean on top
Dessert 2 - more shiokara Also got another piece of the karasumi somewhere in there
Post dinner bang at Apple Pan
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thanks for the report. your dinner looks spectacular and i’m always thinking about that ankimo!
did you have silent shutter on? that could be a cause under artificial lighting at certain shutter speed.
Yowza!
I have to get there.
Thanks for the report.
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Not sure if LA branch has it but the NY one does a $70 Futomaki to go. (I’ll call and find out if any of you guys care)
I kinda want to take one for lunch the next day at work lol
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Thanks for this nice updated report and killer photos!
About sake and pairing, Mori Sushi’s sushi profile, although I have not tasted the current iteration with the rice vendor change, the general feeling I get is that it pairs better with specific sake profiles. SGO here from just looking at the pictures, you need sake that has a lot more structure, acidity, some astringency / tartness in order to pair better, that could possibly be a bit too strong if having the same sake at Mori Sushi. Think of it like wine pairings…the really smooth premium wines like First Growth of Grand Cru level Burgundy (with exception) are very easy to drink, but it’s the lower village level / table wines that have a wider range with food pairings (same for sake).
I also love and enjoy Kokuryu Shizuku but it’s a splurge and rare sake to come by. But I can also see why the stronger flavors here at SGO would take over. Mimurosugi is from Nara Prefecture (currently not yet available up here where I am) and their lower level sake seems to be a great choice for quite a few Tokyo sushi restaurants. It’s also polished to 50% for the rice, which makes it a bit more fuller bodied than the Kokuryu Shizuku Daiginjo (polished to 35%) and thus can handle a wider range of food profiles.
Yes the bluefin you had (the first giant block) is from the famous vendor Yamayuki that many known shops use. It was caught off Choshi, Chiba prefecture (that region is super famous for having the best kinmedai, by the way), via longline catch method according to the “catch certificate”. However it’s only aged 8 days and from past experience it is still a matter of preference in terms of the flavor profile… there may still be some astringency within the tuna itself (for the akami especially) that will throw off a sake pairing unless you attack it with the right profile.
The second tuna that looks like zuke was caught off the coast of Maizuru (Kyoto-Fu), and the catch method is teichiami (fixed fishing net)
That tsume on the anago looks seriously thicc… (in a great way)
Finally Yokoi Yohei Akazu is actually the most common sake lees vinegar (akazu) on the market and also widely used in Japan. However it makes more sense to blend it with another akazu (the same company offers upwards of 3 to 5 other lesser known or used kinds) or blend it with komezu. The vinegared rice recipe will contribute towards affecting the pairing with sake.
Are they still limiting corkage to one bottle per party? From the last sake menu I saw, the choices of Junmai Daiginjo were a bit too wide and not enough of the right kind of Junmai and Junmai Ginjo.
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Thanks for sharing! SGO is clearly aiming for a consistent experience across their many locations. I do admire the quality of their ingredients and some of the unique preps (red wine poached ankimo), I generally prefer the idiosyncrasies one can find at none-syndicated sushi-ya. However, knowing one can get (with the sharing of sake perhaps) shiokara, I will definitely put SGO LA on my list.
What did the meal set you back?