Description
Nobu Matsuhisa, it is well known, was the first famous sushi crossover artist, marrying classical Japanese techniques with the pungent flavors he had learned to love as a young sushi chef in Peru. Japanese-Peruvian cooking, though, barely exists beyond Matsuhisa, at least in the United States. So when I drove by the Japanese-Peruvian Kotosh at Kamiyama, carved out of the well-regarded South Bay sushi bar Kamiyama, it seemed like a major discovery, a chance to taste tiradito, pulpo al olivo and choros a la criolla in their original form. Before the addition of the Peruvian dishes, Kamiyama was probably best known for its zany rolls, things like “waterpillar” rolls with eel, avocado and cucumber. Now there is an entire menu of Peruvian specialties, and on busy weekend evenings, they seem to appear on two tables out of three. The best dishes tend to be the ones that pass through the sushi bar — the sliced octopus slicked with a purple emulsion of Peruvian olives and mayonnaise; the ultrafresh ceviche. The tuna tiradito is bland, but the tiradito de lenguado, made with halibut sliced carpaccio-thin, is magnificent. (Jonathan Gold)
