Ino Sushi

This is Tom’s first submission to (at least) one cool thing but I am confident it will not be his last. Tom’s a great guy and not just because he financed 3 GNO meals the last 4 weeks. Tom also knows good sushi, which is why I insisted he share his secret San Francisco spot. Tom writes:

Tuesday night I went up to the city to eat at Ino Sushi, my favorite sushi place. Ino Sushi is a small restaurant located in Japantown, right next to the Hotel Mikado. There are eight seats at the bar, and tables for about 10 more people along the wall, so reservations are recommended. The staff consists of Ino-san and his wife, the decor is sparse, and the whole atmosphere feels authentically Japanese.

I went with my usual group for this restaurant. Bob, a food snob who's crazy for sushi but still manages to eat microwave dinners when he's not eating out, Hisae "Micki" Mitchell, a Japanese colleague who introduced us all to the place, and Gamal, a super-nice guy from Colombia.

We've been so many times, that Ino-san and his wife recognize each of us, and always provide a warm greeting. Once seated at the blonde wood sushi bar, we adopted our usual routine of letting Micki take care of the ordering. We always go for a sampler of whatever is fresh, with the pieces being placed by ones and twos directly on the wood bar. That night, the especially memorable items were a white toro, a barbecue tuna, and baby Monterey Bay squid complete with internal organs.

Ino-san has a great selection of traditional Japanese small dishes as well, but we've never tried any. The sushi is way too delicious. Tuesday is a good night to go, as fish arrives from Japan that morning. Ino selects all the sushi himself and goes to the market several times each week. He also offers a decent selection of sake, but the fish is the main attraction.

That's my cool thing of the day.

Bonus link: this review has some great pictures of the nigiri

Ino Sushi: 22 Peace Plaza, San Francisco, CA (415) 922-3121