We have been checking out the special high end food offerings and pop-up restaurants added to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Eatery: KAZU NORI
From: Los Angeles
Menu: Sushi in the desert sounds like a recipe for disaster, but this fish is high-quality. Items include 3 hand roll set ($15), halibut sashimi ($9), bay scallop hand roll, ($6) other various hand rolls and combinations ($6-$25)
Related to the famed Sugarfish sushi bars in Los Angeles, the fish is driven from Los Angeles at 6 a.m. to the Empire Polo Club daily, where skilled chefs make the sought-after hand rolls, in a pop-up sushi bar setting.
It’s one of the more exclusive venues at Coachella, because it’s only accessible to VIPs in the Rose Garden area. The bar gets jam-packed after sunset and there’s a line to get in and get some sushi.
Diners get a seat on a stool and a place set up that includes a small white pitcher of soy sauce and a tin to pour it into. Each roll is made fresh, just like sitting at a traditional sushi bar.
The hand roll has fresh, crisp seaweed on the outside and delicately flavored, sushi rice, that’s fluffy and not hard-packed and of course, the delicious fish.
There’s even a daily hand roll, which can change between toro and yellowtail. Saturday’s option was velvety fresh toro, ice cold and a fresh pop of flavor.
Kazu Nori is certainly high-end, but it is a better deal than dining in Los Angeles–the service charge is included and you don’t have to find a place to park.
–Vanessa Franko