Oma San Francisco Station

TL;DR

Best bang for your buck for fancy sushi in the city (San Francisco proper). Assuming you don’t have a massive “hearty appetite” like me, you can get a very good sushi meal for $80 - $100 all in here. The fish and shari are not the crème de la crème, not even in SF, but it is more than good enough for the price and there are quite a few very good pieces. The chefs and wait staff are also very hospitable, making for a much more pleasurable dining experience than sitting at attention with your back straight in front of a serious and severe sushi sensei for 2+ hours. Small sake selection, ranging from ~$50 - $180 for a bottle with a smaller selection of by the glass for $6-7.

THE SHOP

Oma San Francisco is a sushi counter (literally, a counter and nothing more) located in Japantown. To find it, look for Andersen Bakery (divine strawberry shortcakes, perfect for dessert after your sushi meal) and turn the corner to its left. Voila, a sushi counter with no storefront. As you sit and eat, your bare back is against the open mall floor.

From their website, it sounds like Oma is short for お任せ (omakase):

“In Japan, Omakase (お任せ) “entrust the chef” is a popular style of dining, where the guests entrust the chef with the meal selection. As this is a great honor, the chef in turn vows to use the freshest ingredients, masterful techniques and bursts of innovation, to create a truly memorable dining experience. Oma San Francisco Station is proud to present this simple, yet elegant way of dining to all of our guests.”

What you actually can get at Oma is お決まり(okimari), aka set menus at specific prices. As of January 2019, they are as such:

のぞみ Nozomi / $85 / 12 Pieces of Nigiri, 1 Temaki, Miso Soup
ひかり Hikari / $55 / 8 pieces of Nigiri, 1 Temaki, Miso Soup
こだま Kodama / $30 / 5 pieces of Nigiri, 1 Temaki, Miso Soup

These menus are named after the bullet trains lines of the 東海道新幹線 (Tokaido Shinkansen) line running between Tokyo and Osaka. Hence, the name “Oma San Francisco Station” and the cool graphic of a Japanese train station in SF on their website.

You also have the option of making a reservation on their website and selecting the Secret Menu for $125, which contains 18 pieces of sushi, 1 temaki hand roll, and miso soup. Given the set price, this is really okimari as well.

THE STORY

Today marks my 3rd visit to Oma. All 3 times, I did walk-in. Today, we got really lucky and snagged the last two seats in their 6:45 seating. I would really recommend reservations if you’re going for dinner.

We had the Nozomi menu (see below) and added on 4 more items:

• 縞鯵 (shima-aji) - striped jack. Shima-aji is usually one of my favourites, but at Oma, it is just okay. Stick with the mackerels.

• えんがわ (engawa) - the fin muscle of the flounder. The chef here at Oma introduced me to this cut last time I visited. It is amazing. Really flavorful, crunchy, and fatty. Hard to believe it came from the same fish as hirame. Chef said that most sushi shops get hirame whole so if a shop is serving hirame, chances are they will have engawa as well. Ask the chef politely at the end when he’s offering you more pieces.

• 中トロ (chu-toro) - I typically like chu better than o, so I had to try Oma’s. Better than their fatty tuna.

• いくら (ikura) - Oma’s self-marinated salmon roe is excellent. Mild and not overly salty. It is slightly more sweet than most other places. They have great supple texture and pop super satisfyingly as well. A great gateway drug to the land of cured fish roe :)

Throughout dinner, we chatted with Chef Wilson (opening chef of Tsubasa in Hayes Valley) and the other chef whose name I didn’t catch (he previously worked at Ijji). They both remembered me from my previous visits (I talk too much and ask too many questions). They are relatively easy going and very accommodating, asking diners to tell them if they would like to adjust the wasabi level or 舎利 (shari) sushi rice amounts. The environment was not stiff or uptight like you might feel in some sushi establishments.

YJR was a bit salty that my piece of engawa had a long “tail” that his didn’t :P

Nozomi menu on January 11, 2019:

• 平目 (hirame kobujime) - flounder from Korea, marinated in kelp. Autumn and winter are its best season.

• 岩魚 (iwana) - Arctic char from Iceland, lightly torched. I don’t care what any snobby sushi eater says (PDF, I’m looking at you), salmon / trout / char are delicious. Fatty, meaty…so satisfying, especially with a little bit of char (pun intended). Who cares if it doesn’t really “showcase” a sushi chef’s skills?

• 鰤 (buri) - wild yellowtail from Niigata. Chef said this is in season right now.

• 赤身 (akami) - lean blue fin tuna from Spain. This was pretty good.

• 胡麻鯖 (goma-saba) - wild sesame mackerel from Miyagi.

• あん肝 (ankimo) - monkfish liver. Prepared in house, this is really good. Light and delicate, not fishy at all. YJR, who claims to normally not care for this much, really enjoyed it.

• 金目鯛 (kinmedai) - wild golden eye snapper from Miyagi.

• 帆立 (hotate) - scallop from Iwate. Really meaty and delicious…could use a bit more acid though. Oma’s serving size of scallop is the largest anywhere I’ve been. Haha.

• 鰆 (sawara) - wild Spanish mackerel from Miyagi. My favourite piece of the night.

• トロ手巻き (toro-taku temaki) - hand roll of chopped blue fin tuna with pickled radish. Really delicious

• かます (kamasu) - wild barracuda from Chiba. Also delicious, chef said this was one of his favourites.

• トロ (toro) - I am actually not sure if this is 大トロ (o-toro) from the belly or カマトロ (kama-toro) from the collar. A little too melty for my taste.

• 雲丹 (uni) - sea urchin from Hokkaido / Russian Sea.

Sushi Masuda

TL;DR

Delicious and consistent Edo-mae sushi served in a slightly sterile environment with a “Tokyo 2 Michelin star sushi” price tag. Recommend for an excellent traditional sushi omakase experience in the Jiro school (especially since it’s not terribly difficult to make a reservation at). Skip if you’ve experienced anything of similar caliber and style.

The Review

The food is good. Strong vinegar shari (as to be expected from the Jiro school) with good texture, excellent neta, and yummy otsumami. The whole experience is delicious and consistent. Not a single bad piece. Incomparable and so much better than anything you can get in San Francisco, but it is not mindblowingly good like Jiro (maybe my sushi palette is spoiled?).

The environment is not as uptight as at, say, Jiro, but service and overall ambience was pretty sterile compared to other counters I have eaten at (e.g., Sho Saito, Yoshitake).

It is pricey - we paid ¥70,000 total for two people at lunch with drinks. This is expensive compared to many sushi-ya’s and other Tokyo fine dining genres at lunch. However, this is also inexpensive compared to omakase in the US, especially for what you’re getting. Your call.

The Story

YJR and I visited Sushi Masuda on our July 2018 Tokyo trip. We had a lunch reservation made through our hotel. Upon arriving, we were seated at the far right of the empty bar with beverage menus. I ordered a carafe of the seasonal sake (smooth and delicious) while YJR ordered a ume liqueur with soda. Because of course he orders the girliest drink, of course. Mocking aside, it was delicious. A few courses into our otsumami, another party of two joined us. The four of us at the bar were served by Masuda-san himself, while the sous chef served the private room. The progression of the meal was very standard Edo-mae style sushi, ending on tamago. No fruits and no offers for extra pieces. Not a terrible thing considering how stuffed we were at that point (there were a lot of otsumami courses).

Masuda-san is pretty quiet, but did deliver each piece telling us the Japanese and English name of each. Towards the end, we chatted a bit with Masuda-san and the sous chef. I mentioned that I had visited previously and we had talked about the Mission burrito in San Francisco. The sous chef was very gracious and acknowledged like he remembered. Whether he did or not, we will never know. Oh, the Japanese and their social tendency to give grace and avoid awkwardness.

The Ramblings

Sushi Masuda earned its second Michelin star shortly after I last visited in November 2016. Conceptually, I understand what Michelin stars are supposed to signify. Per the Michelin Guide,

Three stars signify "exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey"
Two stars mean "excellent cooking that is worth a detour", and
One star signifies "very good in quality, cuisine prepared to a high standard that is worth the stop."

Honestly, I don’t think it’s a very practical or applicable system across geographies, cultures, or culinary genres. The guide was maybe never meant to be used for comparisons in this way, but as soon as you assign a rating, comparisons will invariably happen. How are you to compare your overall experience at a sushi-ya in Tokyo versus one in New York? How are you to compare your overall experience at a sushi-ya versus a Japanese-French fine dining establishment in Tokyo? I believe the answer is you cannot. Anyhow, more on this in a later post…

A few untouched Pixel phone photos below.

Abalone in its liver sauce.

Chutoro, my favourite cut of tuna. Rich and fatty, but still maintained structure and distinct flavour.

Kuruma ebi. Dare I say I enjoyed this “smaller” serving more than the larger serving I had at Jiro.

Tamago, my favourite sushi dessert.

Jerry’s pretty sake cup. I got a matching pink one instead. Hmmm.