I had begun to feel it. Burnout. Burnout from all the food hopping. I thought that by appropriately mixing up the restaurant cuisines and locations that I would be able to fulfill the dual accomplishments of fleshing out the blog as well expanding my food horizons. But it began in a subtle manner. On Tuesday I was with my brother in Larchmont for Pizza. Or was it Wednesday? Yesterday I was ready to go out to Sasabune with coworkers. Why did I think it was Friday? The days started blending together, one restaurant assignment collided with another and while my taste-buds could still pick apart the subtle nuances of a delicate sauce, I couldn't for the life of me remember what day of the week it was.

I needed something familiar and exotic at the same time. Or maybe I just needed a drink.

After arriving at my apartment Wednesday night, I decided to hoof it over to a sushi joint. Plans fell through for a trip to Sasabune, and I had a small sandwich for lunch in preparation of an expertly crafted omakase over in Brentwood. But expectation lingers just like memory, and I still wanted to sate that sushi urge. Walking west on 3rd street and facing the Fairfax intersection, I had a choice: go west for the newly opened Izaka-ya or head north for Hirozen.

I didn't want to deal with new crowds. I wanted a neighborhood sushi joint, even if my neighborhood wine bar is AOC and my neighborhood Italian place is Angelini. I headed north up Fairfax to Beverly and made it to Hirozen.

Sitting down at the last seat of the sushi bar, my view obstructed by a stack of plates and my closest companion being the room's thermostat, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. I felt energized just by being there, and made no hesitation to order omakase, the chef's choice for the evening, along with a bottle of unfiltered sake.

Kinme snapper and sayori

The result was nothing less than exceptional. The first two pieces, Japanese red snapper and sea bass, had lots of yuzu flavor and a nice textural contrast from the sea salt crystals. Next was Spanish mackerel and Tazmanian sea trout, the sea trout topped with a sliver of raw garlic. Both packed lots of ponzu. Then came the wonderful toro and kanpachi. Then came the fantastic seared sea scallop and seared EU snapper. The scallop was particularly amazing, having been seared perfectly to give it texture, but retaining its luscious interior.

The kinme snapper was next, sitting next to sayori. Then the Japanese mackerel with kelp and squid. The saba (Japanese mackerel) had a surprising sweetness, which Chef explained was due to the fact that it was cooked with a little bit of sugar.

Unfiltered Sake

After that, my omakase was supposed to end, but I was still in possession of an almost-full carafe of my second nigori sake. I asked to try the uni (sea urchin). It was presented alongside a bountiful and beautiful presentation of salmon roe. At this point, I still wasn't done, and so in true style, the chef kept going.

I was served with more saba and a jumbo clam, which had a thin layer of lettuce separating it and a whole grip of wasabi. Then came the beautiful abalone and shrimp. The shrimp had a wonderful familiarity to its taste. It didn't have a texture that I would normally go for, but it had wonderful salty flavors and a touch of acidity and sweetness. And then finally, I decided to call it an evening when I was served the pairing of freshwater and sea eel. The freshwater eel was great. The sea eel was off the charts amazing.

Buzzed off of two large bottles of sake, I stumbled home down 3rd Street. On my way up, I noticed that Jar was busy. On the way back, I saw that La Terza was busy. Ortolan was busy. Toast was busy. Celadon was busy. And AOC was absolutely packed. I opted to swing by Doughboys to get a pair of cookies so that I could have something to nosh while watch Scrubs on DVD. Maybe it isn't the constant crush of restaurants that's causing me this momentary lapse of reason. Maybe I just needed a short stroll.