- [Steven] Hey, Keith.
What's up, man?
Today is your lucky day.
I cleared out your entire schedule
and we're gonna go on a food adventure.
No, I did.
Don't worry.
Bring your bread.
Let's go.
Best friends forever.
Best friends.
Nothing, let's go.
- Okay, so what are we doing?
- We are on our way right now
to eat three different sushi restaurants.
Not the restaurants.
- I didn't think you meant
that we were gonna go eat the restaurants.
- We're gonna go to three of the best sushi restaurants
at three drastically different price points
and compare which one is the best experience.
- Probably the really expensive one is gonna be the best.
- But you have to weigh value, taste, as well as atmosphere.
It's the whole experience.
Each roll at this first spot is $3.
- [Keith] Is it good?
- [Steven] Yes, it's unbelievable.
- You've been there?
- No.
(laughs)
But I've heard a lot of good things.
Sup?
- Hey guys. - Hey, Chris.
- What's up?
Welcome to Sushi Stop.
Wanna go back to meet the chefs?
- Yes, we'd love to. - Yeah, let's do it.
- [Chris] My dad wakes up every morning at 4 a.m.
to go to the fish market in downtown LA.
He handpicks all of our fresh fish and vegetables
and he drops it off at every restaurant.
- He drops it off?
- Yeah, he drops it off.
- He doesn't have some like low-end person do it?
- [Chris] That's how we keep our prices low
while at the same time,
keeping the quality of the fish high.
You guys are gonna be trying out the bluefin tuna sushi.
- [Keith] You can just see how tender it is
from how it's pulling away from the fat already.
- To best friends.
Holy smokes.
This is so fresh.
Wow.
- For $4 that is incredible.
- What constitutes quality sushi?
- Fresh fish isn't gonna have a fishy or a smelly odor.
When you eat the sushi, it's gonna be firm enough
to hold it's shape, but when you take your first bite,
it's just gonna melt in your mouth.
Now you guys are gonna have the spicy scallop roll.
- You ever had raw scallop?
- I don't think I have.
- It's like scallop, but not cooked.
- I imagine that that's exactly how it is.
This texture is really great.
And how much is this?
- [Chris] This is $2.95.
- This is $2.90-- - $2.95?
- [Chris] This is the last dish.
So this is a seasonal special that we have
in our restaurant right now,
the spanish mackerel from Japan.
- I don't wanna say this is the most beautiful thing
I've ever seen 'cause my girlfriend is beautiful.
- [Keith] It's looking back at you, so we might be
the most beautiful thing it's ever seen.
- [Steven] Oh man.
- [Keith] Whoa.
That's great.
Alright, I think we're done here.
I think we had a really great experience.
He's bringing more food.
- [Steven] More food.
Thank you very much.
Oh.
- [Chris] So I wanna show you guys this plate
before we make it into sushi.
Three live sweet shrimps.
We cut this and we make the tail part into sushi.
- [Keith] You are a slob.
Pretty perfect.
- And he's watching me eat his butt.
- [Keith] I've never had this good of food
for that little of a price.
So, oh God, Steven.
- Sushi fact.
Guess what the most dangerous sushi is.
- Is it the pufferfish?
- It's the pufferfish.
- I knew it.
I watch the Simpsons.
Now that we had really acclaimed, but cheap sushi,
what is really acclaimed good mid-tier sushi?
I'm hoping the sushi is better,
but it's gonna have to do a good job.
- Steven.
- Keith.
How long have you been a master sushi chef?
- Just started 16 years?
How do you guys determine the price of your sushi?
(laughs)
- Great, well I'd love to see those two hands at work.
Show us what you got.
The presentation element of this is out of control.
It makes me really, really want to eat this sushi.
- [Steven] Oh yeah.
- My tongue is just livin' in a sexy salt bath right now.
- I honestly don't feel worthy to eat a dish like this.
- [Keith] I do.
It's good.
I am worthy of good things in life.
- [Yoya] Here you go.
- [Steven] This is all I want in life.
- [Keith] You wanna start with the one that was on fire?
Oh, I see.
I love that there's an order to the madness.
- [Steven] Yeah, it's act one, act two, act three.
- Such a really good blend of flavors.
This little sneak of wasabi in there.
Every bite is just such a, like a little ride.
- And it comes out of nowhere too.
It's like you're eating it and eating it.
- It's outta nowhere.
- And then (exhales loudly). - And like (exhales loudly).
Visually, what I've been waiting for this whole time
is that soft-shell crab roll.
- [Steven] That's not traditional though?
But it's yours.
- [Keith] But that sounds good.
- [Steven] This is America right here.
- [Keith] Oh, it smells so good.
That pickle in there.
- Cajun spice.
That's like a drug, man.
All the details put together.
- [Keith] Yeah.
- [Steven] That make this elevated.
- Take your girl out, take your boy out,
have some fancy sushi.
- Who's your boy?
- Steven Lim.
(laughs)
- Yes.
Let's get out of here.
- I am so full.
I'm tired and a headache, Steven.
- Keith, I feel great.
Sushi fact.
Guess what sushi chefs do to octopus
to make it have a softer texture.
- I don't know, they hammer it?
- They give it a full body massage.
- They massage it, oh.
- Yeah.
- Get the elbow in there.
- This place, alright.
- I'm afraid of the third place.
- We are gonna get something called omakase.
- I can't have my mind blown anymore.
- Steven. - Yes, yes.
- [Keith] Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Yes, he work for me for almost 20 years.
- [Steven] Wow.
- [Nobi] Yes, he's trained very well,
so today I let him make sushi.
I just talk.
- My friend Keith has never had omakase before.
- Omakase mean you trust me how I can amaze you
the first bite, second bite, third bite.
- Let's do this.
- Yeah, I'm so excited to try it.
I'm ready to experience what you're gonna make for us.
(calm classical music)
- [Nobi] Pen shell.
Albacore white tuna.
- This is the closest to a mouthgasm I have ever achieved.
- [Nobi] Baby tuna from Baja, California.
- I don't know what it is about young animals.
They taste so good.
- [Nobi] Bluefin tuna from Spain.
- [Keith] Almost indescribable.
I am at a point where I have tears welling up in my eyes
about how good that bite was.
- [Nobi] Yellowtail and the salmon.
- [Steven] Here we go.
It's very strong.
Yeah.
- [Keith] What do you mean by that?
- I don't know.
- [Nobi] Halilbut and the Japanese snapper from Japan.
Bake mussel, sea oyster from Washington,
scallop and the shiitake mushroom,
sweet shrimp from Santa Barbara island,
jumbo clam, kinmedai, monkfish liver,
eel, halibut, butterfish, sea urchin, kampachi,
albacore, and this is a salmon egg from Canada.
- [Keith] That was the best bite I've had all day.
- [Nobi] Now you come to the end of the course.
Most sales in my restaurant is a blue crab roll,
so I make it blue crab.
- [Keith] Oh, great.
- [Nobi] We give you the handroll
because you have to eat right away.
(calm classical music)
- That's amazing.
As we were driving here,
Keith was like, "I don't know if there's anything
"that could happen where I'd be like that'd be levels
"above what we just experienced."
- I said that I needed to be treated like a princess.
(laughing)
And you did it.
- So who wins, is your input?
- Who wins? Who wins?
You know what, I'm gonna choose Sushi Stop.
The reason being is I will see myself eating there a lot.
- The foodie in me is screaming and saying, "Sasabune,"
'cause I mean I just never had an experience like that.
- But I do need to put a special shout out
for that Cajun crab roll.
- [Steven] Oh, baby.
- [Keith] That was amazing.
You know what, I gotta say, taking me to that last place,
you gotta be one of my best friends now.
(laughs)
- Woo.
What, what?
- Okay.
Alright, just don't ever laugh like that again.
- I could bring my girl, I could bring a date here,
not show them the bill and they would think--
- Why did you correct your girlfriend to a date, Steven?
Catch yourself.