Sushi Nozawa   

People don't come here for the ambience. The tiny restaurant -- hidden away in a Studio City strip mall -- has a sushi bar, a few tables and not much else. And owner/chef Kazunori Nozawa can be a tad dictatorial, even going so far as to tell you how to eat his delicacies ("No soy sauce. One bite."). Regulars call him the Sushi Nazi, a riff on the draconian Soup Nazi of 'Seinfeld.' But there's a reason why the place is consistently ranked in Zagat's year after year as having some of the highest-quality food in Los Angeles (beating out snobbier establishments like L'Orangerie and Patina). Nozawa does not make California rolls. And he'll probably scowl at you if you try to order a salad, dessert or anything other than sushi, a drink or miso soup. But the man takes his fish seriously -- visiting five different fish markets a day and buying and serving only the very freshest catches. Dishing out picks at a lightning pace, Nozawa emphasizes quality over grace of presentation. Hand rolls are thick and nearly bursting with chunks of seafood; individual pieces sit splayed on warm rice balls that fall apart as you pick them up. For the best experience, skip the tables and sit down at the bar for the "Trust Me" special. You won't get to order. You get what Nozawa feels like giving you -- baby tuna sashimi in soy sauce; crab rolls stuffed with fresh crustacean, not imitation crab stick; silky albacore; parboiled sweet shrimp; uni that explodes in creamy sweetness as soon as you pop it into your mouth and toro rolls overflowing with fatty tuna the texture of butter. Nozawa is a bit pricey, and odds are that there's a line outside. But if you want the best sushi this side of the Pacific, it's worth waiting for -- if just so you can be told what to eat.