East Comes West

Palisadians like Asian food.

Even in our supermarkets--Gelson's and Ralph's-- anyone with a sushi-hunger can pick up a bento box of made-to-order, sushi-to-go.

The only fast food take-out restaurant in the Palisades is the  on Sunset and it is swarmed at lunchtime, after school and at dinnertime by families and kids hungry for the affordable mix of fresh vegetables, braised and fried meats, rice and noodles.

Traditionalists in search of old school Chinese food, go to Cathay Palisades on Antioch. Old timers needing a drink and a plate of Wing Ding fries who let their feet carry them to the House of Lee, find themselves instead at the upscale . The bar isn’t much larger than it used to be, but the food is a whole lot better.

The new kid in town, relatively speaking because they’ve been here for over a year now, Sasabune Express Sushi Don is tucked away on Monument, behind the Post Office and the Panda Express, in the complex where Blockbuster used to be.

Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, in a no frills setting, with a scattering of tables and a counter running the length of the sushi bar, the restaurant has a focused menu offering sushi hand rolls and cut, sashimi, donburi (a rice bowl with a choice of fresh fish toppings) and salads.

Feeling very much like a neighborhood hang-out, the staples of Sasabune Express are the most popular fish served as sushi in California: tuna, yellowtail, salmon, albacore, blue crab, cooked salmon skin, eel, and shrimp.

Daily specials are noted on the blackboards on the walls and to the left of the cash register and depend on what’s fresh and available. Seafood arrives fresh from U.S. waters, the Mediterranean and off the coast of Japan with specials as varied as Alaskan king crab, scallops and Spanish mackerel from Japan, Santa Barbara sea urchins, blue fin tuna belly (toro) and Greek black snapper.

The quality of the fish is first-rate. The prices are down to earth. With 8 piece cut rolls or hand rolls priced at $5.00 and two pieces of sushi priced between $4.00-5.50 per order, enjoying a Japanese meal is affordable.

By far, the best bargains at Sushi Don are the Combos.

Combo A ($15.95) can easily be shared by two people. With a choice of either miso soup or salad, the combo comes with five pieces of sushi—one piece each of tuna, yellowtail and salmon and two pieces of albacore—which accompany a large bowl of warm rice topped with a choice of raw tuna, yellowtail, salmon, albacore, scallop or spicy salmon. If you prefer your donburi with cooked seafood, you can have a large mound of cooked blue crab, crispy salmon skin, broiled eel or steamed shrimp.

Accompanying the donburi, thin slices of pickled cucumber, ginger, and seaweed add spice to the sweet flavors of the fish. A favorite of mine is the blue crab.

Combo B ($11.95) has the same starting point of soup or salad and five pieces of sushi but substitutes a choice of a cut or hand roll for the donburi.

For those who crave hot soups with udon or ramen, chicken teriyaki, grilled meats and seafood or crispy tempura fried shrimp with vegetables, you’ll have to travel into Santa Monica (Musha) and West Los Angeles (Yabu).

But if you can satiate your craving for Japanese food with clean, fresh tasting fish prepared as sushi, sashimi or on donburi, you will be very happy stopping in or calling ahead for take out at Sasabune Express Sushi Don.

No need to drive into town, when you can eat so well in the Village.

Follow David's Palisades Food Adventures every Thursday. David Latt's blog, Men Who Like to Cook, can be found here.