Nagisa Sushi a local favorite, for good reason

Stephen Santacroce

When I came to Southern California almost 24 years ago, I was a naive

young man just entering college. I had come here from a heavily

Italian neighborhood in New Haven, Conn., and while I had always

enjoyed dining out, my experience with foreign cuisine was pretty

much limited to the plentiful selection of Italian restaurants in my

home area, or the sole Polynesian-themed Chinese restaurant called

the South Seas.

As it is for most people, college was an opportunity for me to

broaden my horizons through the friends I made, other students from

not only all over the United States, but from many foreign countries.

Of course, this cultural experience involved dining at the broad

array of ethnic restaurants Southern California has to offer, and it

was here that first tried the cuisines of India, Mexico and Iran.

It was during this time that I first tried sushi, as well. Before

I came to Southern California, if anyone had told me I’d be eating

raw fish, I would have believed them as much as if they’d told me, a

5-foot-4 male, that I’d play starting center for the Lakers.

Luckily, my sense of adventure and curiosity prevailed, and today

sushi is among my favorite foods.

In Corona del Mar, where I now reside, we’re lucky enough to have

not one, but two good sushi restaurants, Gen Kai and Nagisa. I’m a

patron of both, but I have to admit I’m partial to Nagisa, the tiny

restaurant at the southern part of town.

Nagisa is on the north side of Pacific Coast Highway just south of

Poppy, tucked next to a real estate agent and an antique shop. The

restaurant isn’t hard to miss from the street. The large yellow sign

that sports the restaurant’s name and the word sushi in large block

letters easily draws one’s eye.

Nagisa is one of the older restaurants still running in Corona del

Mar. Founded 21 years ago by owner Ray Ueno, Nagisa was serving raw

fish and other delicacies long before it became popular, especially

here in conservative Orange County.

Any question of the popularity of sushi or of Nagisa is

immediately dispelled when you walk through the front door. Nagisa is

a tiny restaurant. The sushi bar seats 15 at most. Behind the sushi

bar is a row of booths houses with five tables for more private

dining, and there are a few more tables at the front of the

restaurant.

The decor is traditional Japanese, sporting lots of teak and muted

lantern lighting. Nagisa doesn’t take reservations, and it’s not

uncommon to see a short line out the door of eager patrons. If you’re

lucky enough to make it to the small interior waiting area, a glass

of wine or sake is good to prepare the palate, while the irascible

Ueno tries to manage the seating, which always seems to be

inadequate. Nagisa serves beer, too, but if you’re partial to

starting your evening with a cocktail, you might do like me and stop

into the bar at the Five Crowns before heading over for your sushi.

As a primer for newcomers, sushi is slices of raw fish served over

a thumb-sized portion of sticky rice, while sashimi is simply a plate

of the same raw fish without the rice. There are also some cooked

fish served as sushi, such as barbecued eel or sweet shrimp.

Sushi can also be served in rolls, in which case bits of raw or

cooked fish and vegetables such as cucumber or avocado are spread on

a layer of rice and sheets of dried seaweed, rolled jellyroll style

and sliced into bite-size morsels.

I often highlight the importance of good ingredients at quality

restaurants, and nowhere is this more important than a sushi bar,

where the main ingredient is typically augmented by nothing more than

a splash of soy sauce and a bit of wasabi, the green Japanese

horseradish. Ueno and his head chef, Yasu Minami, who’s been with

Ueno since the restaurant opened, understand this and pride

themselves on serving only the freshest sushi.

For example, one of my favorite dishes is a simple plate of

albacore sashimi. Albacore is a lighter-color tuna than the more

popular ahi, and has a lighter flavor. At Nagisa, Ray serves thin

slices of the translucent pink fish artfully arranged over Japanese

greens.

If you ask, Ueno will serve his “special” sauce (which my friend

Ross swears was created for him), a soy-based sauce augmented by

“secret ingredients.” I’ve never been able to buy Ueno enough free

beers to get him to reveal the secret of the sauce, but it’s the

perfect complement to the tender albacore.

Nagisa offers a plate of ahi, a sushi favorite, that’s first been

crusted with sesame seeds and then quickly seared, cooking only a

thin layer of the flesh around the edges and leaving the interior

deep red flesh still raw. This plate is garnished with finely diced

onion that’s been marinated in soy.

All of the standard sushi favorites such as mackerel, yellowtail

and octopus are offered, priced anywhere from $4 to $8 per order,

which is usually two pieces.

Rolls include standard fare such as the California roll and some

more unique offerings. My favorite is the spider roll ($7), crunchy

pieces of fried soft shell crab and strips of creamy avocado in a

layer of seaweed and rice. The contrast of flavors and textures is a

sensory treat that I usually can’t resist.

Diners’ adamant about not eating raw fish can still enjoy some of

the teriyaki or tempura dishes on Ray’s menu. A popular entree

combines chicken teriyaki with an assortment of tempura, vegetables

and shrimp fried in a light batter.

The chicken is grilled quickly so it doesn’t dry out, and the

tempura is fried perfectly, without any residual grease.

Nagisa offers a limited selection of wine and sake (served hot or

cold), and an assortment of beer, which always makes a good pairing

with sushi or sashimi. It’s always good form at a sushi restaurant to

buy the chefs behind the sushi bar a beer, which they’ll gratefully

acknowledge with a boisterous toast of “Kenpai”.

Desserts are not common at most sushi restaurants. If you have a

sweet tooth, again, the Five Crowns bar might make a good

after-dinner stop. If you bring Steve, the bartender at the Five

Crowns, an order of sushi, he might even buy you an after-dinner

drink with your souffle or cheese cake.

Nagisa has been a local favorite for years now, and with good

reason. The atmosphere at the restaurant is always upbeat and lively,

and the freshness of the sushi and sashimi is as good as it gets. I’m

lucky enough to be walking distance away, but even if you’re a bit

farther, it’s worth a drive to enjoy Nagisa’s fresh sushi and other

unique dishes.

* STEPHEN SANTACROCE’S restaurant reviews appear every other

Thursday. Send him your comments at sdsanta@oc-dining.com.