ShopEatSleep

Thanks to Marni of Happy Go Marni, who lives just up the street from me, for turning me on to Boss Sushi, a gem of a sushi place hidden in plain sight on the stretch of La Cienega Boulevard between Olympic and Wilshire boulevards. You may, or may not have, noticed it: just up the street from La Cienega Park, Boss Sushi has a largely unadorned exterior that could pass for any number of hole-in-the-wall, strip-mall sushi joints (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, by the way).

But inside is a pretty nice-looking space that includes a long sushi bar, where you can order up some pretty cool rolls. [Note: I’m not a sushi purist, though I do appreciate a quality piece of fish. I gravitate toward rolls versus the pieces; just sayin’.] We — Marni, Lindsay of LAist and I — started off with the Fire de Kaz roll ($13): spicy tuna, avocado, fried garlic and spicy mayo inside, with more spicy tuna, jalapeno and a spicy sesame sauce on top. Sounds like it would be insanely spicy with all that “spicy” in the description, but it wasn’t. The spiciness was well-balanced, and the fried garlic gave it just the right amount of crunchy texture to make it really interesting. Delicious. (Thanks, Marni, for the recommendation!)

Fire de Kaz roll

Next, we had a Hamataku ($12), a rice-less roll made with chopped yellow tail, avocado, scallions and smelt eggs rolled up in pickled radish, and topped with a ginger sauce. It was a little hard to eat because it falls apart easily, but once you’re able to get it in your mouth, it’s a refreshing bite because there is no rice. This one was actually spicier than the Fire de Kaz, somehow.

Hamataku

This was a late dinner, so we made it a light one. The last roll we had was a simple salmon, avocado and cucumber roll, which was also satisfying. There’s a cocktail menu, too, but I didn’t really take a look at it, so I can’t comment on that. What I can say is I’m glad I finally tried this place after passing by it so many times. The presentation of the food is pretty, and while the prices aren’t inexpensive, they’re not through-the-roof, either. The most expensive roll on the menu is $14, but the rolls are large. It’s a good value. So don’t be turned off by the nondescript exterior; take a chance on Boss because you won’t regret it.