Sushi in the Sky

My coworkers and I were invited to dine at Takami, the new trendy sushi joint in Downtown LA. The grand opening is this Saturday.

On the 21st floor of this building, one side sits Takami and the other Elevate Lounge (same website). Elevate already opens last Friday. But we'll get to Elevate later.

But Takami? Oh, we are soooo going back with our own dime next time. And perhaps even for happy hour!

Takami looks sleek but cozy. We were treated to a limited special menu but we pretty much get a very good idea of what they have to offer.

First, we started off with Takami edamame. It's the usual steamed edamame tossed in butter, garlic and soy sauce. Oh, wow. That was tasty.

Then the first course was a selection of the Robata, grilled skewers. We were so hungry I didn't even get to take the picture before we ate everything. Haha!

2 of us had the asparagus. Nothing special there. One had the shrimp which was not too bad. My other coworker and I had the New York Angus and oh my god that is something to crave later on. The meat was moist and VERY tender. The marinate wasn't typical teriyaki sweet syrup but soy sauce based something magical.

Next up was the sushi course. While the ladies ordered the rolls, I ordered halibut sushi. I usually don't do halibut but just for the heck of it. And the fish was sweet and fresh. The spicy tuna roll wasn't overly spicy and that scored well with us.

On to the main course. We ordered three things. All of them pretty to look at presentation. All of them was the right portion for lunch especially after the Robata and sushi. All of them delicious. I'll let the pictures and captions speak for themselves.

What I ordered: Pop Art Crab. Tempura Style Dungeness Crab & Avocado wrapped in Soy Paper served with Rainbow Sauce. (And the sauces are dynamite sauce, mayo with hot sauce, wasabi cream, and teriyaki sauce.)










Seared Yellow Tail. Topped with Onion Ponzu Sauce Sliced Jalapeno& Garnished with a Micro Sweet Corn. This one 3 ladies ordered. Oh, and the red and green on the side? Those are seaweed salad.










Grilled Angus New York, Teriyaki Sauce served with Mixed Mushrooms. AND mashed potatoes.












Apple spring rolls over fresh fruit and sorbet (passion fruit, I think). This one we didn't get to pick. It just came in. But boy was that spring roll light, crispy and tasty. Not too sweet.










After we stuffed ourselves silly, we walked over to check out Elevate next door. It's an open-air lounge. Smokers paradise! And spacious. Another coworker went to the grand opening last Friday. She said the earlier evening was slow, but suddenly things got picked up in a hurry and the dance floor was packed, music rocking. She had a great time and is looking forward to going back.

Hours of these two place work out like this. Takami opens for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. weekdays, 5 p.m. - midnight Saturday and 5 p.m. - 11 p.m. Sunday. They have two Happy Hours, earlier in the evening, 4 p.m. or so and again to draw the late night crowd, 9 p.m. or so. Elevate opens at 9 p.m and goes on until 3 a.m.

Yep. You go for dinner and you waltz over to the lounge. Perfect timing.

We are thoroughly impressed with both joints. Now, only if I can have hall pass and an escort to stay up till 3 a.m. on a weekend night to check out Elevate for myself, that would totally rock.

Any takers?

ETA: Pricing for Takami was moderate. It's not cheap eats but it won't break your bank. Their lunch menu is very affordable in the mid to to high 10s. Dinner can go higher.