This is going to be a rather short article.
We might be based in Japan, but we know when a restaurant has good sake on their menu, and a smidge of research led us to a few places we would drop by in L.A. Please note that none of these businesses are affiliated with us; we simply did some looking around for the good stuff.
Sake Secret
Okay, it’s not a restaurant, but this place has a ton of sake, and it’s purported to be the only sake shop in L.A. County! At a glace, we saw that they have Abe, Dassai, and Shichida in their fridges, but there were so many bottles in the video they posted to Instagram that we could hardly keep up! Honestly, this would probably be our first stop.
n/soto
Their menu mentions bottles from Kaze no Mori, Abe, Toyo Bijin, Kokuryuu, and Jikon, which are among our favorite brands. Although we haven’t yet tried it, they serve a sake from Tedorigawa by the glass, which is another highly rated option. However, if you’re not willing to pony up the five extra dollars for Tedorigawa, we’d also recommend Dewazakura as a by-the-glass alternative.
Ototo
A Japanese restaurant focused on sake, Ototo has quite a few tasty options from what we can see. They have a “seasonal + nama” menu, and we saw brands like Taka, Kiddo, and Kaze no Mori in our digging around, all of which are fantastic choices. What’s more is that it seems you can order anything by the glass!
Tsubaki
Located right next to Ototo, they have a “seasonal and nama” section in their menu that boasts great names like Kaze no Mori, Senkin, and Amabuki. Just like their little brother next door, they offer sake by the glass (ototo ostensibly means “little brother,” but we suppose it might mean “fish,” or even a sound people make when pouring sake — or maybe all of them!).
There it is; a short list of spots we’d definitely check out if we were in L.A. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Until next time!