Uni is all the rage in Southern California these days, and it is becoming a pillar of our region’s local seafood fare due to its abundance in Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.
Bill Esparza over at Discover Los Angeles offers some recommendations on where the best spots are in Southern California for uni, including Japanese (Hamasaku, Marugame Monzo), Mexican (Petty Cash Taqueria, Rivera), and Italian (Il Grano) restaurants. He also recommends Maruhide Uni Club in Torrance, which according to the Los Angeles Times, is the first American sea urchin specialty store. Eater LA also has created a list of top uni places in Los Angeles including Picca which offers uni served atop fresh scallops and Locando Portofino, known for their sea urchin spaghetti.
For those daring enough to attempt to prepare the delicacy themselves, Chef David LeFevre of Fishing with Dynamite, shows us how to open, shuck, and serve live uni (watch below). Jonathan Gold reviewed LeFevre’s restaurant last weekend in the LA Times.