Zencu Sushi & Grill (Little Tokyo, LA, CA)

Located at:
319 E 2nd St
Ste 206
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Date of Visit: 9/20/13


      I've been coming here on and off for a while now whenever i was in the mood to pig out on Japanese food. Zencu has a vast menu that serves the usual sushi dishes to warm foods (teriyaki, tempura, noodles, etc). And unlike like some places with huge menus, Zencu's food holds up pretty well. On this particular pigging out excursion i felt like having some sushi and some of their specialty rolls.

      This place is a little hidden. Its on the second floor of the Little Tokyo Mall above the popular Jungle anime store.

      One of the best things about places that are kind of hidden is that it doesn't get at crazy during Lunch and Dinner rush services. (I hate Crowds) And once we arrived there were only about 7 other parties there. Since this place was rather big it wasn't a big deal at all. Weekend dinner services on the other hand though may a bit hectic.
     It has been a couple of months since i was last here and i think they've redecorated a bit. It feels like the place is lit up a little better than how it was before. And the sushi bar looks great!
     The service is still very good. We got our drink orders taken as soon as we sat down. She was prompt to take our order but I wasn't ready (I'm can't ever seem to make up my mind). But when we did finally order or food there was a about a 12 minute wait before all the food came flying out at us.

      "Spicy Albacore Roll" and "Scallop Roll" The spicy albacore roll was pretty good. It doesn't stand out that much and is almost just like the other similar rolls elsewhere. The Scallop Roll here on the other hand is pretty awesome. The scallop tastes extremely fresh and light. The overall textures and flavors is amazing from the poppiness from the masago, the softness of the scallops and the slight crunch from the green onions.

      "White Tiger Roll" - Seared White Tuna on Spicy Tuna Roll with Sweet Mustard and fried Onions. I'm going to be honest, I can't taste this sweet mustard they claimed they used. It tasted more like a ponzu sauce. As for the white tuna, it's good. But i can't tell if it was actually white tuna or not. After this whole scandal about how a lot Sushi joints out there mislabel a certain white fish for white tuna, I was a bit hesitant at first to order this. But this place seemed "fancy" enough to go with the real deal... right? All i know is, This roll is quite good.. not great.. but good. 

      A medley of nigiri sushi. We ordered a bunch of nigiri sushi a la carte. Scallop, Albacore, Salmon, and Egg Sushi. The scallop sushi was just as or even better than the scallop roll. Granted i think the ingredients used in both are just about the same. But for some reason this scallop sushi just taste so much better. It was just so delicious and fresh. And it had an awesome rice to scallop ratio. The albacore sushi was alright. It was a bit on the chewy side. The same sauce that was used on the white tiger roll was also used on the albacore and the acidity worked well with it. The salmon was amazing. It just almost melted in my mouth. Just can't get enough of that salmon.

      "Alaskan Roll" - Baked Salmon on California Roll with Eel Sauce. This has always been my favorite roll. Nicely cooked salmon on a warm cali. roll. The creaminess from the avocado mixes well with the cooked salmon texture. The eel sauce may be a bit overpowering at times. It would just mask the subtle salmon flavor some times. But that's never the case with me. Yum.

      "Magic Roll"- Spicy Albacore, Shrimp Tempura. This roll is "alright". It would have been good but the fermented/marinated carrot that was used kind of killed it for me. Because of that one carrot (i'm assuming thats a carrot) it ruined the overall texture of the roll because now i gotta chew harder. And the flavor of it overpowered the albacore and the shrimp.

     I still haven't tried all of their specialty rolls yet. Part of me wants to but Zencu is a bit pricey and my wallet would take quite a hit if keep ordering things at my usual pigging out volume. But this visit most definitely subdued my sushi cravings and left me happy... and somewhat sleepy. The next time I visit again i shall do a post about their warm foods. Until then I gonna have to say this place is pretty awesome. (The sushi side that is)