Locals Only

A common question that comes up at the fish market and sushi bars is what's a good "local" fish?
Here's one that's not only local, but tasty too...

Local Sardine

Kazunori Nozawa of Sushi Nozawa says "local sardines are great" and Chef Tommy Kosaka of Sushi Dragon agrees.

Growing up in Tokyo, Chef Tommy learned that traditional sushi is using small fish from Tokyo Bay and sardines are what he grew up with. Besides it being traditional and sustainable, Chef Tommy also serves it because it's a healthy choice for his customers. Two of his regulars told him that their blood pressure had gone down because of eating more sardines.

Chef Nozawa only serves the very best and if you use locally grown or caught ingredients, it's even better. "It's costly but you have to do it the right way", says Nozawa-san.

Sardine Sashimi

Anytime you have a good product, you don't have to do much with it. My favorite way to really enjoy good sardines at the sushi bar is with ponzu (citrus soy sauce) and grated ginger. At home, I love them marinated in olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a squeeze of lemon.

Fried Sardine Bones

In the Asian culture, nothing gets thrown away, even the bones are fried and make a nice crunchy finish to a great fish dish.

"Sardines provide your body with proteins essential for building and maintaining muscle mass. Researchers also are investigating how fish oils may speed recovery from certain sports injuries", says The Sardine Diet. Studies indicate that Omega-3s may improve the healing of ligament injuries by accelerating collagen synthesis.

Regardless if you eat sardines for its health benefits or because they're sustainable, it's a great tasting fish.

Please continue to follow UMI as we bring you more information on great seafood and sushi, One Fish at a time... Please tell us what you think.

Chef Kazunori Nozawa
Sushi Nozawa

11288 Ventura Blvd. #C

Studio City, CA 91604

(818) 508-7017

Chef Tommy Kosaka

Sushi Dragon

8069 Vineland Ave

Sun Valley, CA 91352

(818) 768-4507

Article and photographs by Jeffrey Nitta and Jay Terauchi

Eating Local Amaebi

Not many people know that California is known for its spot prawns. The spot prawn, also known as "amaebi" in sushi bars, is actually a shrimp. Shrimp have small side flaps that overlap on the first through third abdominal segments and prawns have first and second anterior segments that are closely the same size. Its OK if you didn't notice that either...

Santa Barbara Spot Prawn

People who live on the West Coast are fortunate to be able to get live spot prawns, as they live up and down the coast. A lot of these prawns are caught in the Santa Barbara Channel and San Diego area. They're kept alive in cooled oxygenated tanks. Most of the spot prawns are sold alive, while the others are shipped frozen. Besides restaurants and speciality seafood markets, chances are that you won't find many live spot prawn tanks. Once they die, an enzyme spreads through the body and the meat becomes mushy.

Spot prawns have a very sweet flavor and in Japanese, "amaebi" means sweet shrimp. Most Japanese restaurants serve amaebi raw at the sushi bar.

I was visiting Sushi Dragon in Sun Valley this week. As one of my sushi bar favorites, I ordered "amaebi" sushi. I was lucky enough to get a spot prawn that was a female, so I was also served the "amaebi roe" with a quail egg. There isn't anything better than roe prepared properly with one of the freshest quail eggs I've ever had, they get them from local farmer.

Amaebi Roe (with Quail Egg) and Spot Prawn Sushi

Chef Tommy Kosaka at Sushi Dragon is an experienced chef who has the "head to tail" mind set and uses the entire fish or prawn in this case. For his customers, they're able to try a part of the fish that most have never had before. Chef Tommy spends a lot of his free time in and around the ocean, some mornings you can find him at a local beach surfing.

Deep Fried Amaebi Heads

And YES, the amaebi heads were served just after being served sushi. I realize that not many chefs have the background or training to serve most parts of fish in a delicious manner, meaning we don't want to have "Fear Factor" when dining out. I have some stories, but will have to be for another time... With the problem of overfishing, we must conserve our food supply for generations to come. You might even find out that you like a certain fish part that is usually discarded.

Stay tuned to UMI for more sushi tips and let's continue to eat sushi one fish at a time. If you visit Sushi Dragon, tell Chef Tommy to Hang Ten!

Chef Tommy Kosaka

Sushi Dragon

8069 Vineland Avenue

Sun Valley, CA 91352

Article and photographs by Jay Terauchi