Hide Downhill

After an energizing yoga class with Matthew at Yogahop, I was in the mood for some sushi so we stopped at Hide Sushi on Sawtelle in West Los Angeles before picking up some ingredients for dinner at the Japanese markets in the area.  Hide has been around forever; at least 15 years in my recollection and has long been the standard for fresh, reasonably priced sushi.  I hadn't been in at least a year; my suspicions should have been alerted the moment I walked in: during peak lunch hour, the restaurant was maybe 1/3 - 1/2 full.  In the past, there are usually there are lines out the door.  We ordered hamachi (yellowtail), toro (fatty tuna), aji (horse mackerel with ponzu and ginger), uni (sea urchin), scallop special (scallop with mayo and smelt eggs) and an unagi (sea eel) handroll.  While it satisfied my basic craving for sushi, I was definitely a little disappointed.  The fish just wasn't as fresh as I'm accustomed to; I feel like the fish at Sushi King with Saito-san, my go-to sushi spot in Santa Monica, is a lot fresher, and even the fish at Marukai market, when carefully selected, is a lot better.  I felt like the pieces were also sloppily cut; it just did not have the precision that good nigiri should have.  The fish was also a little bit too cold, like it was still slightly frozen or not fully defrosted, which masked the full flavor of the fish.  Apologies for the poor iphone quality of the photos:

Aji: you can see how unevenly cut the fish was; even the thin slits weren't uniform

 The toro just didn't have the sweet melt-in-your mouth texture and was a little stringy, and the uni was a little bland

Hide Sushi

2040 Sawtelle Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 477-7242