The Best Sushi In America

Since 1991, this cozy San Fernando Valley gem has been turning out some great sushi and homestyle Japanese delicacies, good enough to earn them a Michelin star in 2008 and 2009 (Michelin suspended their L.A. guide in 2010). The kappo-style menu is full of unique dishes like miso-marinated seared U.S. Kobe beef with peach compote, sea urchin tempura, and steamed red snapper head, but the sushi is the true standout: the wide variety ranges from sweet shrimp (amaebi) to halibut fin (engawa), and house signature dishes include halibut sashimi with fresh truffle, seafood ceviche, and sea urchin that's been salt-cured, steamed, and chilled. 

This BYOB Ukrainian Village standout may be decorated with Japanese manga art, and that whimsical style extends into the menu, where rolls have names like Sorry I am Drunk (unagi, shrimp, spicy mayo, black and red tobiko, chile oil, and scallions) and Breaking Bad (tempura soft shell shrimp, grilled asparagus, and avocado topped with seared marinated tuna and fried ginger). But look past the humor and you'll find expertly sliced, super-fresh sushi, and at $24, the 12-piece assortment is a steal. 

This stylish and contemporary Ukrainian Village spot showcases the culinary stylings of South Korean-born chef Frederick Despres, who previously worked under renowned chef Takashi Yagihashi (whose now-closed Tribute in suburban Detroit was considered one of America's best restaurants). His dishes range from the traditional to completely outside the box and everywhere in-between, always with an emphasis on what's fresh and in season. One appetizer showcases five Japanese mushrooms, while another combines minced toro with Asian pear, chive, caviar, and house special soy sauce. There's also a robata selection, as well as noodles and donburi. We suggest opting for the chef's choice sashimi, but the chef's skills are also evident in such special maki as zuke sake madai (marinated salmon, sea bream, takuan, ginger tare [soy basting sauce], and radish), and spicy tako ebi (spicy octopus, green pepper, shrimp, wasabi mayo, and tobiko). 

In the quiet of the Palisades just two miles up MacArthur Boulevard from Georgetown University, Sakedokoro Makoto has the power to transport you away from the nation's capital and halfway around the world to Japan. The change in culture is immediate as soon as you step in and down off the street and into this D.C. stalwart that has been delighting sushi lovers since 1992. You're forced (in a good way), by the business casual dress code and the request not to use a cellphone or wear strong perfumes and colognes, to consciously engage in a calmer mindset. Take off your shoes and settle into your wooden bench in an intimate, traditional setting that fits just two dozen people. You'll be quickly taken into the care of graceful and efficient female servers whose service possesses a touch light enough to make you feel as if you're being looked after in a traditional Kyoto ryokan. It's important to note that while you'll find expertly crafted sushi on the à la carte lunch menu and as part of the evening omakase, Makoto isn't a sushi bar per se, but rather a place to enjoy traditional Japanese cuisine. Soft-shell crabs, small nests of noodles, grilled fish — these will all round out your sushi experience, while jazz softly lilts in the background.

Hip and modern in design, Zuma is chef and restaurateur Rainer Becker's izakaya-style restaurant chain that was inspired by the six years he spent learning about Japanese food and cuisine in Tokyo. The first restaurant opened in 2002 in London and was followed by additional locations in Hong Kong, Istanbul, and Dubai before opening its first American location in Miami in the Epic Hotel. With its huge space and flashy décor, Zuma looks expensive and has a bit of a reputation for being a "scene," but that doesn't mean you'll be disappointed by the food, though this is one of the sushi restaurants on this list that you will be able to find California maki, wasabi, mayo, and spicy tuna rolls with green chili sauce. 

A new presentation from sushi veteran Masayoshi Takayama, known as Masa —proprietor of the very pricey omakase sushi bar of that name and of Bar Masa (both in the Time Warner Center at Manhattan's Columbus Circle) — this contemporary-style establishment is run in partnership with noted art dealer Larry Gagosian, the basement of whose gallery it occupies. The menu here strays far beyond sushi, with such dishes as Peking duck and foie gras tacos, surimi noodles with various sauces (one involves uni, cauliflower purée, and Parmigiano), and kale and Swiss chard salad with lemongrass vinaigrette — but the sushi selection is remarkable, both in imagination and range. Rolls include kampachi jalapeño with potato julienne, beef sotomaki with black trumpet mushrooms, and the exquisite if breathtakingly expensive toro with caviar (at $240), and there is white truffle sushi in season. Almost all the fish in the beautifully fashioned conventional sushi and sashimi is imported from Japan.

For sushi lovers, Naoe is a little slice of heaven in Miami. The sushi here would be right at home even at a high-end spot in Japan, and at this tiny, eight-seat temple to raw fish, you can let sushi master Kevin Cory, dubbed the "Omakase King," be your guide. The accolades for Naoe just keep piling up: Five stars from Forbes Travel Guide, named one of the country's best sushi restaurants by Travel + Leisure, a nomination for best new chef from Food & Wine, and so on. If you can snag a reservation (only 16 guests are served each night), you'll be presented with a selection of some of the freshest seafood imaginable, from both Japanese and local waters. There's horse mackerel topped with fresh wasabi, fresh-roasted and basted eel, urchin-topped egg tofu, cured squid, Scottish salmon belly... the selection goes on and on, and by the time your meal is through, you may never look at sushi the same way again.

For years, we bought the myth that sushi was an inviolable tradition, understood only by the Japanese and impervious to modernization. Then Nobu Matsuhisa came along to disprove the latter — and American chefs like Tim Cushman at O Ya in Boston (see #3) and Tyson Cole at Uchi and Uchiko in Austin tossed both notions out like empty sake bottles. There's no telling what classicists would make of Cole's bigeye tuna with goat cheese, Fuji apple, and pumpkin seed oil; tempura shrimp spring roll with Vietnamese fish sauce and grapes; or pork jowl with Brussels sprout kimchee, romaine, preserved lemon, and crème fraîche; but the hungry Austinites who crowd this rustic house-turned-restaurant obviously eat it all up.

Don't even think about taking out your cellphone at this tiny sushi bar in Japantown's Miyako Mall, where chef/owner Ino has been serving some of the Bay Area's best sushi for more than 30 years. There are fewer than 10 seats at the bar and just a few tables, and if you sit at the bar you'll want to study up a little first, because Ino-san can be a little gruff. So here's what you do: wait until Ino approaches you (don't try to flag him down), and start by ordering some monkfish liver (ankimo) and salmon roe (ikura), with a raw quail egg if you're feeling adventurous. Then head straight for the omakase, which will be placed piece by piece directly onto the counter in front of you, no plate required. Don't ask for wasabi. Go easy on the soy sauce. Be polite. And be prepared for one of the best sushi experiences you'll ever have. 

Is this New York City's best sushi omakase deal? That's the question The Daily Meal asked in 2013 when Kura opened just steps from Avenue A in an unlikely location on St. Mark's Place, immediately becoming one of the city's best new sushi spots. This open secret posts no sign — just a noren fluttering in a doorway  — behind which is a small, exposed brick space and a sushi bar that has all the familiar Yasuda wood echoes, manned not by a business-like itamae, but by Norihiro "Miyake" Ishizuka, a jovial, smiling sushi master. This Japanese sushi Santa Claus' 13- to 14-course, $65 omakase is transcendental, and incredible value for a relative steal. Once you've visited Kura, which, according to partner Huey Cheng, means "a place to store valuables," it quickly becomes the place to treasure your sushi experiences.

When chef Nobu Matsuhisa opened his eponymous restaurant along with pal Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent in New York's Tribeca neighborhood in 1994, there was no way he could have imagined that 20 years later he'd be running 28 affiliated restaurants around the world; including six Nobu-branded hotels with one more on the way. But there's a reason why Nobu has become a household name across the globe, and a visit to the Michelin-starred New York flagship (or one of the two in Las Vegas (See #7) tells you all you need to know. The design by architect David Rockwell evokes the Japanese countryside while conveying excitement and energy, and the cuisine fuses classical Japanese with that of Peru and Argentina, where Nobu trained. The standout dishes; including yellowtail with jalapeno, lobster with wasabi pepper sauce, and black cod with miso, are nothing short of legendary.

Masatoshi "Gari" Sugio became a sushi chef in Japan at age 19, and today he runs four Sushi of Gari restaurants in Manhattan. While they could have easily gone the route of pricey-if-unexceptional chains like Haru, instead they're all upscale, elegant, and focused squarely on serving the highest-quality sushi possible. Start with flawless interpretations of sushi bar classics like steamed monkfish liver in ponzu, kabocha tempura, or beef tataki, and from there move on to chef's choice sushi ($29–$49), sashimi ($36–$55), or, of course, the omakase, which certainly won't let you down. 

Husband-and-wife restaurateurs Marco Moreira and Joann Makovitzky opened 15 East seven years ago a block away from New York City's Union Square, and in the time since it has become one of New York City's most esteemed spots for sushi. There's a clean, open dining room with windows that look out on the street, but you're going to want to sit at the counter, where executive chef Masato Shimizu oversees the action. Shimizu apprenticed with sushi master Rikio Kugo at Tokyo's renowned Sukeroku for seven years before moving to New York and getting snapped up by Moreira and Makovitzky. You can order à la carte at 15 East, from a menu that features six types of white fish, eight kinds of silver fish, and at least four kinds, cuts, and different presentations of clams, tuna, hamachi, and octopus — but if you're a sushi purist, you'll only go omakase, where the chefs will select the best fish of the day according to your preference: sushi, sashimi, or both. 

Boston isn't a city that's generally known for its sushi, but the fish at this South End gem is right up there with the country's best. Chef Ting Yan opened the restaurant in 1998 with the intention of drawing on influences from his multicultural background and experience as a sushi master in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, and unexpected menu items include kaffir lime duck salad, handmade tofu, and foie gras-truffle sushi. While there's a wide menu of expertly prepared appetizers, entrees, soups, and salads, the sushi selection is exceptional. Six types of salmon, 12 types of tuna, 10 types of shellfish... the variety alone is enough to make your jaw drop, and Yan knows exactly the right way to slice, treat, and garnish each fish. 

Nobu Matsuhisa is nothing short of a rock star in the sushi world, and a visit to one of his two Las Vegas restaurants (we recommend the one located in the newish Nobu Hotel inside Caesar's Palace, but the original inside the Hard Rock Hotel is also spectacular) will immediately tell you why. These David Rockwell-designed Nobus are chic and hip, sure, places to see and be seen, but the ambiance never gets in the way of the food. You'll find all the trademark Nobu dishes — black cod miso, rock shrimp tempura, yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño — but there's also an astounding sushi selection. Even though Matsuhisa himself is more renowned for his hot dishes, he's brought on some of the best sushi chefs in the world and his creative ingenuity is on full display here. Be it abalone, Japanese red snapper, shad (kohada), or striped jack (shima aji), when it's served at Nobu, it's going to be good.  

Masaharu Morimoto — you might have heard of him? Here at the legendary Iron Chef's Philadelphia flagship, he's creating magic every night, with appetizers including sautéed foie gras with grilled eel, 10-hour braised pork belly, and tofu made tableside, noodle sides like uni carbonara (with quail egg, bacon, and Parmigiano), and entrées like crispy whole rainbow trout with mapo tofu sauce and the "Morimoto surf and turf" with Wagyu filet, Hamachi ribbons, and avocado salad. Sushi and sashimi are the best you'll find in the city as well: you can take your pick of everything from shrimp pound cake (kasutera) to oh-toro (fatty tuna), mirugai (geoduck clam), or golden big eye snapper (kinmedai), but you know what? You should probably just leave you meal in Morimoto's (very capable) hands. 

Chef Tim Cushman brings innovative sushi and related new-Japanese fare to his menu with imagination and flair, serving these and other truly wonderful dishes; accompanied by a large choice of excellent sake and wine, in an understated dining room whose simplicity belies the complexity of flavors on the plate. Cushman won the 2012 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast. You can expect to enjoy dishes like balsamic chocolate kabayaki, claudio corallo raisin cocoa pulp, sip of aged sake and warm eel with thai basil, kabayaki, fresh kyoto sansho.
 

Masa Takayama is undeniably a sushi master: calm, precise, insistent on the very finest raw materials, and the sushi and other dishes you may sample at his flagship in Manhattan's Time Warner Center will be truly memorable. Does that justify the $450-per-person tariff (before tip or beverages) for his omakase menu — or, for that matter, the $200-per-person fee for cancellations less than 48 hours in advance? That's something each diner must decide for him- or herself. Suffice it to say that Masa's toro-stuffed maki rolls inspire ecstatic reactions, his fugu sashimi (including liver, skin, and intestines) is well worth the frisson you'll get from consuming this fabled blowfish (toxic if not properly prepared), and his  toro with a generous helping of beluga caviar seems almost worth the price of admission. That said, à la carte selections are also available.