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Ebisu
By Peter Dell
There are very few restaurants where I would wait 30 minutes for a table, or even worse, a seat at a bar. After a recent trip to Ebisu, a sushi restaurant at 1283 9th Ave. near Irving, I have another restaurant to add to that elite list.
My boyfriend Erik and I had been looking for months for a good place in San Francisco to get good sushi. We had tried several places that my friends or his friends had said were the best in the city, yet had been disappointed with each one. At one place, the prices were too high, the fish mediocre, and the atmosphere right out of a mini mall. Most places have been OK but nothing exceptional. Then recently, Erik's friend was visiting and another friend suggested Ebisu. With expectations lowered from months of searching without success, we went to yet another sushi restaurant.
Ebisu has a long sushi bar, several tables, and a semi-traditional Tatami dining area, a room where you leave your shoes at the door and sit on floor mats while you eat. Though small, Ebisu manages to fit in many customers comfortably. It was a busy Saturday night at 7:30, and we were expecting a wait no matter where we went.
The small waiting area in the front has several Best of the Bay awards for sushi, a title that Erik and I are convinced is accurate. Overall the atmosphere is more functional than beautiful, though the traditional Japanese styling adds something enjoyable to the dining experience.
Talking about the ambiance of Ebisu is a bit like talking about the stadium when going to the Super Bowl: the main event at Ebisu is the food itself. Everything we have tried there has been amazingly good. The fish is exceptionally fresh and the textures and flavors that come from either a single piece of sashimi or from a house specialty roll -- with a combination of flavors and fishes -- is perfect. The nori (seaweed wrap) is fresh, with a great nutty, chewy and crunchy taste. The miso soup is similarly good, and you can have shrimp heads added for flavor and a crunch if you are a more adventurous eater.
No visit to Ebisu would be complete without sampling one of their custom
made rolls. The Double Hamachi roll is made of yellow tail tuna, rolled together with rice, seaweed, and other spices and topped with a nice portion of tobiko making it one of the tastiest rolls I've ever had; the tuna melts in your mouth it is so fresh. The Dragon Roll is another favorite: avocado, eel, and more tobiko wrapped around a center of shrimp tempura, which is still warm. There is a full color menu available with pictures and descriptions of each of the rolls, which is very helpful for people new to sushi and those who would like to try something new.
The hand rolls are also excellent. Ones we have sampled and enjoyed are the spicy scallop, spicy tuna, and salmon skin. Erik ordered the scallop
roll extra spicy and was pleasantly surprised by how spicy it was. The fresh nori accentuates the flavors of the hand rolls.
If raw fish is not for you, Ebisu also has a fine selection of other Japanese cuisine, including teriyaki and tempura (a safe bet for those people who are sushi-phobic, as I used to be). There is also a wide selection of sake available, our personal favorite being the cold, unfiltered Takara Sake made by locals in Berkeley (not on the menu).
If you're looking for a good place for sushi, I know of no better place than Ebisu, located in UCSF's own backyard. If you're going on a busy night, the wait is well worth it, but it may be easier to call ahead for reservations.
Peter Dell is a medical student.
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