We asked, you answered: Readers say this restaurant makes Sacramento’s best sushi

The Sacramento Bee’s readers voted Southpaw Sushi the best sushi in the area, with 632 out of 2,844 total votes (22.4%), in a poll conducted over the last week.

The year-old restaurant marries inventive rolls like the “Woodlake” (tempura sweet potato, avocado, seared tuna, Brussels sprouts and sweet garlic/ginger ponzu) with traditional techniques chef/co-owner Lou Valente honed working at Sacramento sushi restaurants over the last 20 years, such as tamago made from scratch in-house.

Valente opened Southpaw Sushi in August 2019 after an ugly split with his business partner Dan Walsh at Lou’s Sushi, which rebranded as Midtown Sushi in October 2018. The longtime head chef apprenticed under Shige Sushi chef/owner Shige Tokita in the two years prior to opening Southpaw. Shige Sushi finished eighth in The Bee’s poll.

A few years down the road, the Valente/Walsh divorce seems to have been for the best for both parties. Midtown Sushi has made a name for itself thanks in part to a robust vegan menu, and finished second in The Bee’s poll with 547 votes, or 19.4%.

Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, known for its $125-per-person omakase dinners and sneaky good happy hours prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, finished third with 402 votes (14.3%). Mikuni (11.5%), Silver Sake Sushi (8.7%) and Shogun Sushi (4.5%) all received more than 100 votes.