Bay Area sushi secret revealed - Ocean Blue Lounge in Sunnyvale

To my wine friends, pairing wine with sushi is old news. They will often forgo Sake and opt toward extravagance - grand cru white Burgundy, Sancerre, even Pinot Noir (quite nice with tuna and unagi). I often stick with Sparkling. This full-bodied Ca'del Bosco Franciacorta "Prestige" Cuvée from Lombardy, Italy is wonderful and relatively affordable for a Champagne-quality sparkler (under $40). And here is a gem of a place that is a total hush-hush secret in the Bay Area... Even on Friday nights, you don't need reservations - there is plenty of space, a row of Japanese-trained Korean sushi chefs (who speak both Korean and Japanese), an army of good-looking Asian waitresses to take care of you, and even a mega-screen playing Asian pop videos. I know I will be kicking myself for revealing it, but for you my readers, I must!

The place is called Sushi Club Ocean Blue Lounge and is located on El Camino Real on the border of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in the hole-in-the-wall shopping area full of hall-in-wall ethnic (mostly Indian) joints. The trendy lounge belongs far more in Vegas or on a cruise ship or maybe Santana Row. But there you have it, in the middle of low-end plaza, with 6 fancy sushi chefs standing guard to serve you the freshest, fleshiest, most delicious nigiri outside of LA (which I consider to be a sushi mecca). I've tried a few other things at Ocean Blue (tempura, rolls, etc...) - not bad, but it's the raw fish that a self-respecting foodie must go for. Huge fish-to-rice ratio. Ask the chefs what's the freshest fish that day. And unlike many other expensive fancy sushi places around Palo Alto, this one is very reasonably priced.


Paired with Franciacorta, it's a "ahhh, get outta here!" good. Now I will never have the place to myself!