Katsu (Mountain View, CA) – One of the Best Sushi Restaurants in the SF Bay Area
Katsu (Mountain View, CA) – One of the Best Sushi Restaurants in the SF Bay Area
by NoodleThings
5 Comments
NoodleThings
I’m a pretty big Katsu evangelist – in the guide I write for all the high end Japanese restaurants in the Bay, I usually have it either just behind or neck in neck with Yoshizumi depending when I’ve gone. This latest visit was in a week where I went to Katsu, Yoshizumi and Hashiri within the same week so I could nail down my thoughts and what my full opinion was on them.
To be brief, I think Katsu is often just as good as Yoshizumi and displays many of the same dedication to details and craft as Yoshizumi does, but with a larger team. If I were to compare, Yoshizumi is using almost exclusively wild fish in most of his menus while Katsu runs a majority wild supplemented with high quality farmed (think Biwa masu, etc). Katsu, in the largest difference to Yoshizumi, tends to focus on otsumami and offering a litany of very fun chinmi- my favorite is a kuchiko that they’ll do some time, but many others like the tako tonbi from this visit, komochi kombu they usually do around this time of year, tai no ko, tako no ko and so on are things you honestly just can’t get at Yoshizumi.
I’m still a pretty big fan and thankfully almost no one reads these things so I don’t think I’m blowing up the spot, but I do hope more folks end up checking it out if you’re in the area.
1. Hotate + bonito broth (not pictured) 2. Tako tonbi sumibiyaki, I thought this was really nice and cooked perfectly over charcoal 3. Tairagai from aichi, ma-tsubugai with kimo sauce. Both of these were great but the tsubagai was amazing – perfectly cooked with a great texture 4. Aki-sake, alright – I’m not a huge fan of salmon. Even the ginsei stuff that’s coming to market rn isn’t really for me 5. Hon katsuo warayaki, one with myoga bonito jelly and negi shoga & another with a sushi ikko-inspired nori shoyu w a twist of karashi mustard. I really like these every time, especially the myoga jelly one 6. Lightly poached octopus, got ours with myoga bonito jelly – really good 7. Nichi nichi yamadanishki, I enjoy nichi nichi a lot 8. Katsuo again, this time the one with nori shoyu got wasabi. Both also great, just wanted a slightly larger piece lol 9. Kinmedai from choshi, chiba with light dash of key lime. Really good, this one was aburi and worked well with the sake the folks I was eating with poured – I think it was an Ouroku 10. Botan ebi, alright 11. Kegani with Hokkaido uni, pretty decent 12. Kohada, really good 13. Ayu shirayaki, I liked this one a lot 14. Ankimo monoka, the one with just the simmered ankimo paste is good but my favorite is the combo one they do with the lobe and some of the ankimo paste 15. Sujiko ikura, bit smaller but really nice 16. Sanma with negi shoga and kimo, really really good. One of my favorite pieces 17. Akami zuke, pleasant but had better ones here 18. Chiagishi, really good – one of my favorite pieces of the night 19. Meso-anago with hone-senbei 20. Kawakatsu brands “Kiwami” box of aka uni, this one from Yura 21. Kawakatsu uni gunkan 22. Kawakatsu uni tempura 23. Hokkaido uni temaki 24. Ni-anago with arima sansho 25. Hoshigarei, light kombujime + marinated shisho. Really good 26. Kohada 27. Sanma 28. Shin ika geso 29. Shin ika 30. Shin ika x2 31. Sawara 32. Uni kanpyo 33. Kinmedai sumibiyaki 34. Ankimo monoka with egg yolk vinegar with shiso 35. Tekka maki 36. Iwashi 37. Tamago
Lot of food but I really enjoyed it. I got to curate a menu of stuff I liked for some friends I’d met there and it was a ton of fun.
kky
Katsu is my go-to. Thank you for continuing to be a Katsu evangelist! Speaking as someone who loves otsumami, my one wish for them is to do a little less otsumami and more nigiri.
badtimeticket
Looks good. I’ll have to check it out.
Dry-Marsupial-2922
Thanks for this (and generally for your ongoing guide). Just booked it for next month, excited!
greenyuzu
Respectfully disagree. Last time I went they had literally 5 nigiri courses out of 20. It’s not really a sushi restaurant if their main focus is not sushi so I think there’s some misbranding here. Also, Yoshizumi is a much more traditional edomae sushi restaurant in comparison.
Taste wise, I think you do get much more creativity and variety at Katsu, but the quality of the dishes feels more like Jack of all trades master of none.
5 Comments
I’m a pretty big Katsu evangelist – in the guide I write for all the high end Japanese restaurants in the Bay, I usually have it either just behind or neck in neck with Yoshizumi depending when I’ve gone. This latest visit was in a week where I went to Katsu, Yoshizumi and Hashiri within the same week so I could nail down my thoughts and what my full opinion was on them.
To be brief, I think Katsu is often just as good as Yoshizumi and displays many of the same dedication to details and craft as Yoshizumi does, but with a larger team. If I were to compare, Yoshizumi is using almost exclusively wild fish in most of his menus while Katsu runs a majority wild supplemented with high quality farmed (think Biwa masu, etc). Katsu, in the largest difference to Yoshizumi, tends to focus on otsumami and offering a litany of very fun chinmi- my favorite is a kuchiko that they’ll do some time, but many others like the tako tonbi from this visit, komochi kombu they usually do around this time of year, tai no ko, tako no ko and so on are things you honestly just can’t get at Yoshizumi.
I’m still a pretty big fan and thankfully almost no one reads these things so I don’t think I’m blowing up the spot, but I do hope more folks end up checking it out if you’re in the area.
All the course photos are available in [this Google folder](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1auwp4UmTBHAoGpsGv-nRa52jfl2b4U20) (there’s like ~36 so hard to fit in this gallery) but descriptions are available here:
1. Hotate + bonito broth (not pictured)
2. Tako tonbi sumibiyaki, I thought this was really nice and cooked perfectly over charcoal
3. Tairagai from aichi, ma-tsubugai with kimo sauce. Both of these were great but the tsubagai was amazing – perfectly cooked with a great texture
4. Aki-sake, alright – I’m not a huge fan of salmon. Even the ginsei stuff that’s coming to market rn isn’t really for me
5. Hon katsuo warayaki, one with myoga bonito jelly and negi shoga & another with a sushi ikko-inspired nori shoyu w a twist of karashi mustard. I really like these every time, especially the myoga jelly one
6. Lightly poached octopus, got ours with myoga bonito jelly – really good
7. Nichi nichi yamadanishki, I enjoy nichi nichi a lot
8. Katsuo again, this time the one with nori shoyu got wasabi. Both also great, just wanted a slightly larger piece lol
9. Kinmedai from choshi, chiba with light dash of key lime. Really good, this one was aburi and worked well with the sake the folks I was eating with poured – I think it was an Ouroku
10. Botan ebi, alright
11. Kegani with Hokkaido uni, pretty decent
12. Kohada, really good
13. Ayu shirayaki, I liked this one a lot
14. Ankimo monoka, the one with just the simmered ankimo paste is good but my favorite is the combo one they do with the lobe and some of the ankimo paste
15. Sujiko ikura, bit smaller but really nice
16. Sanma with negi shoga and kimo, really really good. One of my favorite pieces
17. Akami zuke, pleasant but had better ones here
18. Chiagishi, really good – one of my favorite pieces of the night
19. Meso-anago with hone-senbei
20. Kawakatsu brands “Kiwami” box of aka uni, this one from Yura
21. Kawakatsu uni gunkan
22. Kawakatsu uni tempura
23. Hokkaido uni temaki
24. Ni-anago with arima sansho
25. Hoshigarei, light kombujime + marinated shisho. Really good
26. Kohada
27. Sanma
28. Shin ika geso
29. Shin ika
30. Shin ika x2
31. Sawara
32. Uni kanpyo
33. Kinmedai sumibiyaki
34. Ankimo monoka with egg yolk vinegar with shiso
35. Tekka maki
36. Iwashi
37. Tamago
Lot of food but I really enjoyed it. I got to curate a menu of stuff I liked for some friends I’d met there and it was a ton of fun.
Katsu is my go-to. Thank you for continuing to be a Katsu evangelist! Speaking as someone who loves otsumami, my one wish for them is to do a little less otsumami and more nigiri.
Looks good. I’ll have to check it out.
Thanks for this (and generally for your ongoing guide). Just booked it for next month, excited!
Respectfully disagree. Last time I went they had literally 5 nigiri courses out of 20. It’s not really a sushi restaurant if their main focus is not sushi so I think there’s some misbranding here. Also, Yoshizumi is a much more traditional edomae sushi restaurant in comparison.
Taste wise, I think you do get much more creativity and variety at Katsu, but the quality of the dishes feels more like Jack of all trades master of none.