Sushi Yoshizumi (San Mateo, CA) – Beginning of Fall Menu
Sushi Yoshizumi (San Mateo, CA) – Beginning of Fall Menu
by NoodleThings
2 Comments
NoodleThings
Sushi restaurants here are doing their best in the wake of tariffs and some of climate stuff that happened/were ongoing last week. This is the most recent of my fall visits and felt it was worth posting since it had been a while since the summer menu. As always there’s more courses than the 20 Reddit allows me so [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ftAGz6ZfRG_yT_NWMCqFrBGaK98RPxHE) is a Google drive folder with pics of everything
1. Ishiwaka no mozuku, less vinegary than the iwa mozuku I had before. He doesn’t add vinegar to these so always fun to taste differences 2. Hokkaido buri and tsubugai, buri was good – hella fatty for as early as it is and tsubugai was crunchy n tasty 3. Half Nama, half hanjuku ikura with uni shari and jikasei karasumi, pretty nice and fun contrast. Feels a bit instagrammy but it’s whatever – I still enjoyed it 4. Katsuo-zuke from kesennuma, really nice – a bit lean, still waiting for modori katsuo here 5. Raosu shirako with fantastically controlled ponzu and blanched negi, really great as everything came together and the shirako was cooked exactly how I like it 6. Gomesaba (Miyagi) bozushi, hella good – a bit of kanpyo underneath the saba was a really fun and slightly sweet touch contrasting the more vinegary shaved kombu down there as well 7. Ankimo, standard prep executed well. One of the better ankimo in the Bay, my favorite is still at Katsu 8. Mehikari from choshi, standard ichiyaboshi prep – nice and meaty, perfectly rendered- only wish for a slightly larger price but alas it is tariff time 9. Tennen kawahagi with chilled kimo and key lime, really fun – citrus a bit much but would’ve been a good piece otherwise 10. Senzaki aji from yamaguchi, one of chefs favorite. Truth be told I preferred the one from earlier in the month although I still enjoyed this 11. Chiagishi chu toro from kesennuma, miyagi, enjoyable! I’ve enjoyed all the miyagi tuna I’ve been having recently. I’m excited for later in the season 12. Sawara matsuemaezuke, delicious – amazing. Perfect acidic, great umami and delicious fattiness. My favorite of the night, he’s usually been doing a matsuemaezuke piece for the last few months my favorite was the shibudai ones he was doing up until last month, they’re still catching shibudai of good quality at least as late as last Sunday (imo, didn’t ask him abt this at the time) but I imagine given tariff situation it’s probably hard to commit to that stuff rn 13. Sekami zuke, kesennuma, miyagi. Superlative, really great piece – zuke was done perfectly and we’re getting into the part of the year where the back pieces really begin to shine. Once we hit winter, I’m going to look into securing some of my favorite senaka 14. Sumi ika w a little key lime, 100g size + geso. Enjoyable, nicely chewy 15. Kegani chawanmushi w kanimiso, one of the few places in SF that doesn’t overcook the fuck out of kegani. I liked it but have had this way too many times here 16. Sanma with liver shoyu and kizami negi, the liver shoyu/jouyu (whatever I’m meant to call it) was kinda sour? Didn’t really enjoy this one, previous sanma pieces here were great though but sanma last two weeks in SF have kinda fallen off a cliff 17. Nodoguro, forgot where from. Good first taste w the daikon oroshi but back half a little cold oddly – like the neta had been grilled but this part still hadn’t fully come to temp. This one’s usually a highlight piece here so not worried about this on future visits 18. Kuruma ebi, really good today. Perfectly cooked given Yoshi’s preferences. While it’s not my favorite almost mi cuit (lol) cook, I really enjoyed it – just missing the versions w some ebimiso as well 19. Uni from hokkaido, we’re past uni season for the most part and you can taste it. Nothing bad but not the nicer stuff he usually gets in the summer 20. Anago, really good. I don’t like the citrus heavy/sour tsume a lot of folks in the bay use, this one’s really good 21. Negitoro handroll, amazing. I didn’t wanna keep him too long otherwise I’d have honestly ordered a whole one 22. Tamago, good. Been a while since I had like an amazing one lowkey which is a bit depressing Extras 1. Chidai kasugo, nice but nothing to write home about 2. Ishikawa iwashi, pretty good but the iwashi he was using for the iwashi maki earlier in the year were amazing – wish I could’ve had those as nigiri 3. Kohada from amakusa, this one was actually really good – liked it a lot 4. Katsuo-zuke as nigiri, still waiting for modori katsuo here sadly but this does nicely for the time being. Really enjoy the katsuo here and at katsuo 5. Sawara matsuemaezuke again, sparked a convo about amamoto n sushi miyakawa here lol. As good as the first, would’ve ordered more if I didn’t wanna keep him there 6. Chiagishi again, I always enjoy chiagishi and this was as good as the first. Id have ordered the akami too but see above 7. Sanma aburi w/o the key lime, I was trying to sus out where that slightly citric sour taste was and this kinda helped nail down it was probably the kimo shoyu.
Overall, good night – some execution n sourcing things I wasn’t in love with but I think that’s just part of sushi and how small the team is here and given the typhoon n warmer than this season would imply waters. As an aside, I’ll be posting an updated guide to all the high end Japanese restaurants sometime next month – there’s been several new additions and closures since the last one so it feels prudent to update. I’ve already been to Kinsen and wasn’t a fan but want to go again before really solidifying my opinion on it as wells a few other new openings like the new An, Ren and so on
Also, always looking for folks to go with to Yoshizumi – if you’re tryna go n don’t have someone to come with, lmk
2 Comments
Sushi restaurants here are doing their best in the wake of tariffs and some of climate stuff that happened/were ongoing last week. This is the most recent of my fall visits and felt it was worth posting since it had been a while since the summer menu. As always there’s more courses than the 20 Reddit allows me so [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ftAGz6ZfRG_yT_NWMCqFrBGaK98RPxHE) is a Google drive folder with pics of everything
1. Ishiwaka no mozuku, less vinegary than the iwa mozuku I had before. He doesn’t add vinegar to these so always fun to taste differences
2. Hokkaido buri and tsubugai, buri was good – hella fatty for as early as it is and tsubugai was crunchy n tasty
3. Half Nama, half hanjuku ikura with uni shari and jikasei karasumi, pretty nice and fun contrast. Feels a bit instagrammy but it’s whatever – I still enjoyed it
4. Katsuo-zuke from kesennuma, really nice – a bit lean, still waiting for modori katsuo here
5. Raosu shirako with fantastically controlled ponzu and blanched negi, really great as everything came together and the shirako was cooked exactly how I like it
6. Gomesaba (Miyagi) bozushi, hella good – a bit of kanpyo underneath the saba was a really fun and slightly sweet touch contrasting the more vinegary shaved kombu down there as well
7. Ankimo, standard prep executed well. One of the better ankimo in the Bay, my favorite is still at Katsu
8. Mehikari from choshi, standard ichiyaboshi prep – nice and meaty, perfectly rendered- only wish for a slightly larger price but alas it is tariff time
9. Tennen kawahagi with chilled kimo and key lime, really fun – citrus a bit much but would’ve been a good piece otherwise
10. Senzaki aji from yamaguchi, one of chefs favorite. Truth be told I preferred the one from earlier in the month although I still enjoyed this
11. Chiagishi chu toro from kesennuma, miyagi, enjoyable! I’ve enjoyed all the miyagi tuna I’ve been having recently. I’m excited for later in the season
12. Sawara matsuemaezuke, delicious – amazing. Perfect acidic, great umami and delicious fattiness. My favorite of the night, he’s usually been doing a matsuemaezuke piece for the last few months my favorite was the shibudai ones he was doing up until last month, they’re still catching shibudai of good quality at least as late as last Sunday (imo, didn’t ask him abt this at the time) but I imagine given tariff situation it’s probably hard to commit to that stuff rn
13. Sekami zuke, kesennuma, miyagi. Superlative, really great piece – zuke was done perfectly and we’re getting into the part of the year where the back pieces really begin to shine. Once we hit winter, I’m going to look into securing some of my favorite senaka
14. Sumi ika w a little key lime, 100g size + geso. Enjoyable, nicely chewy
15. Kegani chawanmushi w kanimiso, one of the few places in SF that doesn’t overcook the fuck out of kegani. I liked it but have had this way too many times here
16. Sanma with liver shoyu and kizami negi, the liver shoyu/jouyu (whatever I’m meant to call it) was kinda sour? Didn’t really enjoy this one, previous sanma pieces here were great though but sanma last two weeks in SF have kinda fallen off a cliff
17. Nodoguro, forgot where from. Good first taste w the daikon oroshi but back half a little cold oddly – like the neta had been grilled but this part still hadn’t fully come to temp. This one’s usually a highlight piece here so not worried about this on future visits
18. Kuruma ebi, really good today. Perfectly cooked given Yoshi’s preferences. While it’s not my favorite almost mi cuit (lol) cook, I really enjoyed it – just missing the versions w some ebimiso as well
19. Uni from hokkaido, we’re past uni season for the most part and you can taste it. Nothing bad but not the nicer stuff he usually gets in the summer
20. Anago, really good. I don’t like the citrus heavy/sour tsume a lot of folks in the bay use, this one’s really good
21. Negitoro handroll, amazing. I didn’t wanna keep him too long otherwise I’d have honestly ordered a whole one
22. Tamago, good. Been a while since I had like an amazing one lowkey which is a bit depressing
Extras
1. Chidai kasugo, nice but nothing to write home about
2. Ishikawa iwashi, pretty good but the iwashi he was using for the iwashi maki earlier in the year were amazing – wish I could’ve had those as nigiri
3. Kohada from amakusa, this one was actually really good – liked it a lot
4. Katsuo-zuke as nigiri, still waiting for modori katsuo here sadly but this does nicely for the time being. Really enjoy the katsuo here and at katsuo
5. Sawara matsuemaezuke again, sparked a convo about amamoto n sushi miyakawa here lol. As good as the first, would’ve ordered more if I didn’t wanna keep him there
6. Chiagishi again, I always enjoy chiagishi and this was as good as the first. Id have ordered the akami too but see above
7. Sanma aburi w/o the key lime, I was trying to sus out where that slightly citric sour taste was and this kinda helped nail down it was probably the kimo shoyu.
Overall, good night – some execution n sourcing things I wasn’t in love with but I think that’s just part of sushi and how small the team is here and given the typhoon n warmer than this season would imply waters. As an aside, I’ll be posting an updated guide to all the high end Japanese restaurants sometime next month – there’s been several new additions and closures since the last one so it feels prudent to update. I’ve already been to Kinsen and wasn’t a fan but want to go again before really solidifying my opinion on it as wells a few other new openings like the new An, Ren and so on
Also, always looking for folks to go with to Yoshizumi – if you’re tryna go n don’t have someone to come with, lmk
Amazing work as always!