The Knife

Gridskipper gives The Knife toro with a map

The Knife is on birthday assignment today, but I'll consider this an early present: Last week, Gridskipper used my list of the top toro market prices in Los Angeles to create one of its fabulous restaurant maps. (To view the map in its full glory, click here.)

An addendum: Last night, ate sushi in the unexciting city of Pasadena at a restaurant with a confidence-depleting name: Sushi of Naples. Toro was excellent, portions were generous and the entire bill came $68 -- a little more than Takami charged for its two, two-piece orders of toro. [Props to Lesley for the recommendation.]

Takami to The Knife: Message received

This comment just came in under yesterday's post, Takami's Toro is 40% more expensive than Matsuhisa's:

Everyone uses different levels of quality for Toro. The Toro at Takami has the highest food cost percentage of any menu item. We are in the process of changing vendors and are trying to reduce the pricing. Thanks for your feedback.

And for yours. A restaurant's first week is rough and comments like mine and the LAT's don't make it any easier. And toro is crazy expensive. I have to believe that Takami's view is, too. Still, take heart, Takami: If Sushi Nozawa can sell toro for $12 an order, there's got to be hope for you. (Maybe follow Mr. Nozawa to the market?)

Takami's toro is 40% more expensive than Matsuhisa's

The cause of all the trouble. Photo by Jon Cheng.

As promised, here's a roundup of today's rates for two pieces of toro sushi. I've included any comments from the restaurants. All are M.P., or market price. Conclusion: Someone at Takami is getting ripped off. Whether it's the kitchen or the customers is unclear.

Takami                             $28

Matsuhisa                        $20

Koi                                      $20

Sushi Roku                       $16 ("It's coming from Spain these days")

Sushi Nozawa                  $12 ("It's very expensive")

Sushi Sasabune               $10

The Hump                       $10

This is what a $14 piece of toro sushi looks like: Takami

This is the view from the outdoor patio at Takami, a very attractive new sushi and robata restaurant located on the 21st floor of 811 Wilshire in downtown L.A. And this is where we got the bill for the "M.P." toro sushi and discovered it was $14 per piece, or $28 per order. (A two-piece order of toro sashimi is $58.)

To be clear: No blame to our server, who was lovely and pro. "M.P." was clearly marked on the menu. And while I agree with restauranteur Danny Meyer's assertion that "M.P." really means “Either a restaurant changes its menu infrequently or they’re not interested in telling you what the price is.” -- well, at least the definition is consistent.

Still. That's $14 for one piece of tuna belly sushi. One small piece, less than 2" long and perhaps 3/4" wide, cut thinly enough for me to notice that the kitchen scores each piece on the diagonal, allowing the fish to drape more attractively and giving it the illusion of being thicker. Then all was forgotten  -- it was delicious -- until we got the bill.

Or am I being unfair? Up next:  The market price for toro, as defined by other sushi restaurants.

Takami, 811 Wilshire Blvd. (213) 236-9600

Noise-O-Meter: 68-72 dBs, even with the proto-disco music piped onto the patio