What City Serves The Best Japanese Food In America?

[+ Avalon]

On the recent episode of "Dynasty" it was said that Miami does.

[Rudynate]

My brother in law and his brother in law own a few Japanese restaurants in and around Ft. Lauderdale. One of them is even on Las Olas Blvd. I'm not a conoisseur of Japanese food. I like sushi and miso soup. Other than that, I eat white folks Japanese food - Teriyaki, tempura, yakitori, shabu shabu - that sort of thing. The first time I ate at one of their restaurants, I said I thought the food was superb - and it is. They considered it a high compliment, coming as it did from somebody from San Francisco who obviously ought to know really good Japanese food.

[GBoi]

Los Angeles or NYC. Honolulu and Seattle next tier down. SF is decent. Everyone else is below that.

[+ pitman]

Vancouver, no contest (and I live in SF).

[Epigonos]

Los Angeles/Gardena.

 

Little Toyko has been around for years. It was originally a poorer Japanese neighborhood but has become a restaurant mecca over the years.

Gardena was the original suburban Japanese settlement after WWII and over the years many of the local residents have dispersed but continue to come back to the area to shop, celebrate various holidays, and visit long established outstanding restaurants. I grew up not far from Gardena in South Central Los Angeles (now politically correctly called simply South Los Angeles). When I was a child our next door neighbor was an older Japanese/American couple. Mrs. Nakashima was like my grandmother and she fed me thus Japanese food is along with standard American food (my mother) and Mexican Food (Mrs. Garcia) one of my three cradle foods.

[jslim90]

Little Tokyo or Sawtelle/Japantown both in Los Angeles.

[cany10011]

I may be biased, but NYC has the most number of Michelin stars in the US at 76. 20% of these are Japanese. Not only the the Michelin starred ones, but there are many single specialty restaurants that serve only one type of dish or from one region: Kyoto-style, onigri, okonomiyaki, skewered meats, and those that specialize only in chicken or pork. I know no reason to look elsewhere (in the US, that is). Although it is fun to explore and to experience new places, i am pretty content with the offerings here.

[thickornotatall]

We ate at Zuma in London in The Knightsbridge area....the food was wonderful...the restaurant beautiful..fairly expensive...

Zuma London

 

4.5Address: 5 Raphael St, Knightsbridge, London SW7 1DL, UK also in NYC..

 

Phone: +44 20 7584 1010

[cany10011]

Zuma Las Vegas is also fun

[GBoi]

Vancouver, no contest (and I live in SF).

 

I didn’t know Vancouver, WA was such a mecca for Japanese food

 

All kidding aside, Vancouver, BC is excellent especially for ramen and izakaya style food. It doesn’t have the breadth of higher end places like LA and NY though.

 

SF is better than average and there are a number of good/great places, but it’s can’t compare at the low end to Vancouver, BC and high end to NY/LA.

[Rudynate]

I didn’t know Vancouver, WA was such a mecca for Japanese food

 

All kidding aside, Vancouver, BC is excellent especially for ramen and izakaya style food. It doesn’t have the breadth of higher end places like LA and NY though.

 

SF is better than average and there are a number of good/great places, but it’s can’t compare at the low end to Vancouver, BC and high end to NY/LA.

 

There's a new ramen place in my neighborhood with lines out the door.

[+ WilliamM]

Probably Tokyo, but I was not there long enough to say absolutely, perhaps 5 or 6 days in 1995.

[+ Charlie]

My all-time favorite sushi restaurant was in Fukuoka. My regular restaurant in Philadelphia was Hikaru, but I haven't been there in a few years. Palm Springs doesn't have many options; the best is Kiyosaku.

[cany10011]

Unfortunately, many of the "japanese" restaurants in the US are run by chinese/taiwanese. Nothing wrong with that, but may be lacking in the authentic "omotenashi" experience.