In Los Angeles, sushi is less a meal and more a sacred act—one rite at a time. Ask any Angeleno and they’ll evangelize the city’s nigiri prowess and likely tell you their “secret” (Michelin-starred) spot. And it’s not just the city’s proximity to the Pacific that drives its obsession with artful cuts of raw fish. It’s embedded within the history of sushi in America as a whole. After all, the first out-and-out sushi spot in the country was in Little Tokyo.
Like everything in LA, sushi is pay-for-play: You won’t miss that cool grand you dropped on a night of omakase and sake pairings, right? Be in the moment, as they say in yoga classes here. But it’s not all showy and spendy. In LA, sushi can also mean a midnight hand roll eaten standing up or that last fatty tuna nabbed as it comes around the revolving sushi belt. Our list of the 23 best sushi spots in LA celebrates all of it: the purist, the playful, and the wildly inventive. Read on for the best places to indulge in the pescatarian churches that are Los Angeles sushi restaurants.
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Additional reporting by Hugh Garvey and Krista Simmons.