THE BAR – HANDROLLS BY SEABUTTER

ADDRESS: 720 S Allied Way Suite B, El Segundo, CA 90245

WEBSITE: https://www.thebar.sb/

My friend Mark ended up being in town for a work trip, so we made some plans to meet up down in the South Bay for dinner one night before he flew back out east. We looked around at a few different restaurant options before deciding to go with Japanese handrolls at The Bar – Handrolls by Seabutter. My wife Cami and I are big fans of Japanese handrolls, so I was certainly excited to try out a new place offering them.

The Bar was located inside a small shopping mall area called The Works, which also housed a number of other restaurants and shops. This made the parking area a bit packed if it you’re here at primetime hours, but if you end up not finding a space, the Plaza El Segundo parking lot across the street is much bigger and you can park there and cross the street back over.

Inside the restaurant itself, the space extends deep to accommodate the handroll bar, but isn’t too wide overall. I didn’t count out specifically, but I think they might only be able to seat around 24 people at a time, so if this place starts getting popular, be prepared for a bit of a wait. We got there around 5:30PM on a Saturday and ended up being able to be seated right away.

One thing that stood out to me about their menu was a number of their Seabutter Original Handrolls, which featured combinations of different ingredients. This supplemented the traditional single-item basic handrolls, along with sashimi, donburi, and appetizer options. It was a lot of information to take in a once, so it took a bit of time for me and Mark to decide on exactly what we wanted. I ended up going with an ambitious set of seven different handrolls: Seabutter, H.Y.E, Miss Crab, PCH, Amberjack, Negitoro, and Spicy Salmon.

To help with consolidating my thoughts on all of the seven handrolls, I’ll list them out in the order that I got them:

1. Seabutter Handroll: toro topped with uni, ikura, kizami wasabi, and nikkiri sauce. It was definitely an intense blend of savory and umami flavors, along with some slight spiciness coming from the wasabi. The stack of ingredients made it slightly difficult to get a bit of everything in one bite, but it was rich in flavor.
2. H.Y.E: my favorite handroll of the set. Minced yellowtail belly topped with minced truffle, kizami wasabi, and finished with sesame oil and lava sea salt. The earthiness of the sesame flavor matched really well with the yellowtail, while the wasabi and sea salt helped to bring savory and spicy to round out each bite.
3. Miss Crab: blue crab with seared chopped scallops, masago, and finished with sesame seeds. The scallops seemed to be mixed with a slight bit of Kewpie mayo, providing a bit more savory flavor that balanced with the slight sweetness from the blue crab.
4. PCH: prawn and chopped scallops, topped with kewpie mayo, rice pearls, scallions, and masago. I liked the combination of the different flavors where you could really taste the prawn and scallops, and nothing overpowered the other. The prawn, however, was slightly difficult to not pull the whole thing off with the first bite.
5. Amberjack: the first of the basic style rolls after going through all the Seabutter Originals. Surprisingly, this one ended up being my second favorite of the night. The amberjack worked extremely well with the slight acidity and peppery flavor of the yuzu kosho with each bite.
6. Negitoro: the minced tuna was accompanied by scallions, nikkiri sauce, and sesame oil. Very clean flavors that let the toro shine, with the sesame flavor as the closer with each bite.
7. Spicy salmon: minced salmon with cucumber and sesame oil. A classic pairing with the salmon and cucumber, and the slight earthiness from the sesame oil was an interesting touch.

This was the first handroll bar that I’ve been to in LA that had a larger selection of the combo handrolls, and it certainly lived up to the billing. I like the fact that it provides a variety of flavors that you can choose from, even on return visits depending on what you might be feeling at that moment. The one suggestion I would have to improve the experience would have been to mix the Seabutter Originals and basic handrolls when serving them. I feel like that would have helped to provide a more balanced experience through the whole meal.

I’m definitely glad to have discovered The Bar, especially as I’ve seen more Japanese handroll places pop up around the city. I think that the variety of the options are really nice to give you a mix of different flavors, while the pricing on the handrolls still seems really reasonable. Especially for the Seabutter Originals, it seems like they give you a good amount of seafood for what you’re paying for. Cami and I have already checked out their location in Studio City, and we’re excited about the fact that we can still get this experience closer to where we are. If you are also a fan of Japanese handrolls, this is certainly a spot that you should take a look at to see how it stacks up against the rest.

Let’s now take a look at The Bar – Handrolls by Seabutter Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.

** Seabutter Handroll **
Toro topped with uni, ikura, kizami wasabi, and nikkiri sauce.

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** H.Y.E Handroll **
Minced yellowtail belly, topped with sesame oil, minced truffle, kizami wasabi, and lava sea salt.

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** Miss Crab Handroll **
Blue crab with seared chopped scallops, masago, and topped with sesame seeds.

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** PCH Handroll **
Prawn, chopped scallops, kewpie mayo, rice pearls, scallions, and masago.

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** Amberjack Handroll **
Chopped amberjack with yuzu kosho.

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** Negitoro Handroll **
Minced toro with scallions, nikkiri sauce, and sesame oil.

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** Spicy Salmon Handroll **
Minced salmon with cucumber and sesame oil.

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** Sake Sashimi **
Salmon sashimi with ponzu and yuzu kosho, topped with cilantro. Pictured without jalapeños.

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** Salmon Truffle Handroll **
Seared minced salmon with artichoke truffle, citrus juice, and lava sea salt.

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And finally, here are my rankings for The Bar – Handrolls by Seabutter:

Food: 5 / 5

The fresh seafood really shined through with each of the handrolls, and the combination of flavors within the Seabutter Originals definitely impressed me. Each one that I tried was really on point, and everything felt really well balanced with each bite.

Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5

Despite the restaurant feeling a bit on the narrow side, it’s not an issue once you’re seated at the bar. The décor felt sleek and modern, with nice use of lighting to help elevate the space.

Service: 4.5 / 5

The waiter who took our order seemed really knowledgeable on the menu, along with helping to give a few recommendations for our first time trying things. The handrolls were also paced out really well by the chefs, even with the place getting more crowded throughout our meal.

Price: 5 / 5

All of the handrolls, both the Seabutter Originals and the basic ones, seemed to be priced very reasonably for how much they had inside them. Along with the quality of the ingredients and mixture of flavors, I have no hesitation to pay those prices again.

Overall:
19 / 20
(95%)

Categories: California, Restaurants

Tagged as: blue crab, handrolls, handrolls by seabutter, japanese handrolls, prawn, restaurants, salmon, scallops, seafood, the bar, toro, yellowtail, yuzu kosho