[Oh I think I accidentally hit "draft" instead of "publish". this was from monday.] koo sunset district, on irving near 6th I checked out this new sushi restaurant in my neighborhood last night. I'd noticed it when I walked by a couple months ago, and we actually tried going once in hopes of getting some ramen (we read the menu and learned that it was a sushi place, and moved on). I had forgotten about it again until last week, when I stumbled upon a review in the Chronicle about it -- it looked like a good review, I just didn't read it carefully. So we went on Sunday. The waitstaff was super nice, almost too nice, and extremely prompt in taking our order and bringing our food. Is nigori inappropriate with dinner? The waitress seemed confused when I ordered it. I probably should have picked something else, as I felt like it didn't really go with food -- but it's the only kind of sake that I really like. Also, can someone explain the box thing? The sake came in a glass in the box. Am I supposed to drink it out of the glass or out of the box? The food came quickly once we ordered. We started with the standard wakami (seaweed salad), and the nigiri came soon after. We ordered kani (crab), toro (tuna belly), and inari (stuffed tofu). I wasn't too impressed -- for some reason I was having real difficulty tasting them. It might have been just me and my lagging cold, because A. seemed to like them. The first two rolls we had were the "Best roll" (Asparagus tempura inside, salmon on the outside with a thin sliver of lemon wedge), and a Philly roll (lox and cream cheese). They were both excellent -- I'm always a big fan of the hint of lemon. And the Philly roll was creamy and delicious. A. commented that they use "really good cream cheese," whatever that means. We had one of the "shared plates" -- stuffed jalapeno with hamachi and an aioli dipping sauce. I liked this one a lot, A. thought it tasted a little tunafishy and not nearly as good as he was hoping. The last two rolls were the Rock n' Roll (eel) and an Azteca. I can't even remember what was in this roll. It was an almost-California roll, with some sort of fish on the outside and a slice of jalapeno on top, with some sort of dab of sauce on top, baked and sprinkled with tobiko (flying fish roe) and scallions. It was really busy, but by far my favorite. The hit of jalapeno really made it for me. (When I said "hit of jalapeno" A. started agape at me across the table. He thought I said "tit of jalapeno.") Koo has a small dessert menu that I really appreciated -- everything is $3. We had a couple scoops of ginger gelato, which came with mini cookies -- shortbread and almond. I think we overordered by one roll -- or we should have left off the nigiri. Although the Chron seemed to like the nigiri, maybe we'll just be more adventurous next time. The bill came to more than I was expecting, but was certainly worth it -- I'm excited to have such a nice restaurant nearby. My neighborhood is filled with really great food, but mostly of the cheaper ethnic variety. I tend to foray into other neighborhoods for fancy dinners, so I'm glad this is just blocks from my house.