homma's brown rice sushi

This quarter I've started taking pictures for the Daily, and one of my first photo assignments was to visit Homma's Brown Rice Sushi in Palo Alto. I didn't know who was reviewing the restaurant or what the review was like, so I didn't know what to expect when I came to the restaurant before they opened to take photos.

The restaurant is quaint. It's literally in a corner and if you don't look for the little over-hanging sign on the main street, you'll completely miss it. There are only three or four tables and while many people might see this as a bad thing, I loved how it all added to the understanding that this is a family business. Homma's has been in business for 24 years and now, with the help of his son, they run their little restaurant.

I asked if there was a specialty dish that I could take a photo of, and Homma (the sweetest, sweetest old Japanese man) made "chirashi." It's a medley of halibut, tuna, salmon, yellowtail, squid, flying fish eggs, egg, shitake mushrooms, shiso leaves, spicy sprouts and avocado all over brown rice. And it is amazing.* I love sushi, I love sashimi and I love this even more. I thought that the brown rice might be weird but it's perfectly executed and great sticky rice. I printed out an 8 x 10 of the above photo to give to Homma to say thank you for such a great meal, so when I go drop it off you can bet I'll be ordering another chirashi.

And it's beautiful. All of those colors? Food as art at its finest.

*Seriously, how did the food columnist only give them a 7? They're an 11 in my book!