Welcome to Sushi California!
We looooove sushi. It’s beautiful, delicious and consistently an incredibly fun experience. The thought, care and artistry that go into making sushi is a lifetime practice to perfection. We want to provide you with referrals to great, local sushi restaurants to satisfy all your senses.
A great sushi restaurant is a satisfying experience for everyone at the table. Take care to select your options well because it’s so easy to fall in love with only one kind of sushi that you end up missing all the other great options.Eating sushi is less a meal and more an experience or an event. There are customs and procedures that are good for you to be aware of to really enjoy a bit of Japan even here in California.
Here are some tips to help you relax and enjoy your sushi meal.
A hot, wet towel (called an oshibori) will likely be offered to you at the beginning of your meal. Wash your hands and fold it back nice and neat for the wait-staff to collect.
Avoid rubbing your chopsticks together. Place them parallel to yourself on the holder (if there is one) or on the shoe dish.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for an item not on the menu. Sushi chefs appreciate your interest.
• Never put wasabi directly in the shoyu dish. Nigiri-zushi (fingers of rice topped with fish or another topping) comes with wasabi placed under the neta (fish) by the itamae. The sushi chef places the amount of wasabi on the fish based on what s/he believes the correct balance of wasabi to chef to be. Of course, if you really like it fiery, add more wasabi.
• Eat sushi with your hands or your chopsticks. Sashimi, on the other hand, should only to be eaten with your chopsticks.
• Do not pick up a piece of food from another person’s plate with the end of the chopsticks you put in your mouth. This is considered rude. Instead, use the other end where you hold the chopsticks.
• Eat nigiri style sushi in one bite. This is not always easy here in , California where the sushi is sized in generous proportions. Do your best even if manners must give way to greater bounty. 
• Ginger (gar) cleanses the palate and is to be eaten between bites of different kinds of sushi. Don’t eat it with the sushi. Blech.
• Slurping noodles is OK by Japanese standards. Who knew?
• In more traditional sushi-ya, if you are not given a spoon for your soup, do not ask for one. Drink the soup as if it’s a mug, using your chopsticks to direct the solid pieces to your mouth.
• Never pass food to another person using chopsticks. This is considered symbolic of passing a deceased bones. Instead, pass sushi with a plate.
• Don’t stick your chopsticks in your rice and leave them sticking up because it symbolizes incense sticks as used in Japanese funerals.
• Technically sake is not paired with sushi (or rice in general) because both are made of rice. You can drink saki with sashimi. Enjoy green tea or beer with sushi.
• When you do drink beer, don’t pour for yourself first. This is considered rude. Sake is served both hot and cold, though take note that the higher quality is served cold.
• Unlike other Asian cultures, burping at the table is considered impolite. Yay!
Keep these tips in mind as you enjoy Sushi California
Enjoy California Sushi!