Mori Nozomi easily rates as the most exciting sushi arrival of 2024. Chef-owner Nozomi Mori grew up near Osaka. She began her career in luxury retail before moving to L.A. in 2017. She landed a job making sushi and knew she’d found her calling. In her Sawtelle space, the former location of Mori Sushi (no relation), she and her all-female team serve eight guests per night. Sweet, sharp, buttery, chewy, briny: Their selection of rarer, seasonal Japanese seafood hits all the top-flight omakase signifiers. The meal follows the very L.A. sequence of kaiseki-inspired small plates before nigiri, with some choices — an elegant kegani ankake (hairy crab with rice, presented in the shell), an assertive red miso soup, a finale of dashimaki tamago straight from the pan — that punctuate Mori’s individualism. The tea geek in me hopes that the restaurant’s cool idea for a tea pairing will eventually include more freshly steeped examples and fewer chilled brews or sips diluted with sparkling water. That detail aside, this should be the next place where L.A.’s sushi lovers vie for reservations, which already book out in a digital blink. — B.A.

11500 W. PICO BLVD., LOS ANGELES, (424) 273-1146 l MORINOZOMI.COM