Local yellowtail (Seriola lalandi), caught off the San Diego coast or sourced from Ensenada aquaculture, sliced thin on the diagonal and served chilled with ponzu, yuzu kosho and a sliver of jalapeno.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
San Diego's Pacific yellowtail (hamachi or kingfish) runs from May through October and has been a target species since the tuna fleet's heyday in the 1920s. The sashimi-grade version reached the city's sushi rooms in the late 1990s as Hiroyuki Kawakami at Sushi Ota and Soichi Kadoya at Soichi (Adams Avenue) built their local sourcing programmes. Soichi's Michelin star (since 2022) is built around West-Coast hamachi and the Tomales Bay oyster. The yellowtail-with-jalapeno preparation arrived from Matsuhisa Nobu's Los Angeles room and travelled south.
Common allergens: Fish, Soy
Tip from the editors. Buy from a sushi-grade counter, ideally same-day. If the loin smells of anything but the ocean, send it back; freshness is everything in this preparation.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Order: Chef's omakase, the kanpachi nigiri
Why locals love it: A Michelin-starred omakase counter in a converted University Heights bungalow with no signage and a twelve-seat bar, easy to walk past.
Tip: Book a fortnight ahead for the omakase; the a la carte counter takes walk-ins around 17:30 most weeknights.
Sushi Tadokoro in San Diego is Mitsui Tadokoro's Old Town omakase counter, the long-running Michelin Guide-listed Japanese kitchen with traditional Tokyo-style preparation.
Signature: Omakase, Toro sashimi, Tempura
Order: The omakase nigiri course; the toro sashimi with grated wasabi made tableside.
Tip: Reservations strongly recommended; the counter seats twelve and books out a week ahead.
Sushi Ota in San Diego is Yukito Ota's Mission Bay Drive room since 1990, the strip-mall sushi counter that has trained more San Diego sushi chefs than any other kitchen in the city.
Signature: Omakase, Uni nigiri, Kanpachi sashimi
Order: The omakase, ordered by sitting at the counter and saying so; the uni nigiri is the indicator of the day's catch.
Tip: Book the counter, not the dining room. The strip-mall location is intentional; ignore the parking lot and step inside.
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