Arthur, that is exactly right – “by SF sushi standards.” In my pefect world, this would be your average run-of-the-mill sushi joint. I didn’t make mention of Ino in my review, but i also agree, it’s probably the best in the city (alongside Sebo) – depends if you want the ‘cool’ experience or the more traditional one.

I finally made it to Sushi Sebo after reading this tip a while back – thanks for pointing me to it. We had a very good meal by SF sushi standards. I had a beautiful scallop, the highlight of my meal, which looked quite similar to the one you had.

It was the first time I’ve ever eaten sushi from non-Asian sushi chefs, I think. Any worries about that were unwarranted, as the two guys at Sebo clearly take their work very seriously, and are indeed trying hard. It shows. I’ve stuck to Ino mostly in the city, but I think I will make Sebo a regular stop – I’d like to see them succeed!

I agree with both your comments regarding Bar Crudo and Sebo. The comment about Bar Crudo’s frozen-in-time menu resonated especially strongly. On Sebo, interestingly, on my very first visit last year (which led to the review you read), the fish was actually superbly flavored, especially the toro, so I guess I happened to catch them on an especially good day. On later visits, I noticed more of what you described here — good quality and some quite buttery texture, but not quite as pronounced a flavor. Still, I’ve enjoyed going, especially since the fall of Anzu leaves only a few choices for good sushi in San Francisco. Sebo is a solid neighborhood joint. I do have to say I am likewise pretty frustrated with an increasingly widespread insistence that Kiss is the ultimate sushi experience, since that’s not the case at all, so I’m glad that you made mention of that in your post.

I am surprised at the blank stares about Urusawa and Kuruma, though. I have never been to either of these (though it is my dream to do so someday!). I will probably be in New York later this year, so I’ve been actively researching the sushiyas there to try; your posts on Yasuda and Kuruma (the two I’ll probably end up deciding between) provide some interesting perspective. What most interests me about Yasuda is (a) his rice, as you mentioned; and (b) he supposedly gets an incredible and highly specialized array of fish. Does Kuruma stock a similar quantity of fish, or is there less fish at higher quality?

I don’t remember if I saw it on here, but I’ve also heard some good things about Jewel Bako, and was wondering if you had been there or had any perspective on it.

Anyway, sorry to derail my original comment about Sebo by turning this into a NY discussion — I just wanted to drop by. You’ve got a nice site here.