Sunny Blue — Restaurant in Santa Monica

After doing the Barcycle, my friends and I needed a snack, stat, and some omusubi sounded great! I'd been wanting to try this place for ages but am hardly ever in the area, so this was my chance! My friend had been here before so I just let him order a variety for us to nosh on. The place is indeed TINY so if you can't score a seat you are SOL and will probably have to eat the stuff standing up outside. That said, at least it's easy to eat; you don't even need utensils! We did manage to grab some seats when a couple in front of us left at just the right time--lucky! We were sitting right in front of the person making the omusubi so we had something to look at while we were waiting. It took about 10-15 minutes for our order to come out, and I thought the omusubi were totally yummy--I forget what we all ordered but the ones I do remember are the spicy salmon and the miso beef. They don't put a ton of the filling into the rice balls but that was OK with me; I love the alchemy of the white rice/toasted seaweed and the fillings are just icing on the cake, so to speak. I don't imagine this would be everyone's cup of tea, but for those of us who grew up on food like this it hits all the right notes. I'd definitely need to hit this place up again if I'm in the area--too bad it's so...

Yums! Have been wanting to try this place for a while now! Came here for lunch around 1pm on a Saturday and there was a small line, but then again, the place is tiny!! I think Sunny Blue calls it omusubi, but I know them as onigiri - either way, very yummy and comfort-food :)

FOOD: pork ginger curry - oh yum! You get the ginger and curry flavor but not overwhelmingly so. spicy salmon - nice spicy kick! Not too saucy either tuna mayo - pretty much tuna salad as the filling. But really good tuna salad! miso mushroom - yums! Asian mushroom medley with really good flavors.

The onigiri are a little too loosely packed to be able to pick them up and eat them as you're supposed to, so we ate ours with a fork. Less fun, but saves you a mess.

COMPLIMENTARY MUGICHA! (Barley tea) So refreshing!

SERVICE: Friendly! You order at the counter, try to find a space to wait, and they call your name out when your onigiri is ready.

VENUE/PARKING: Sunny Blue is TINY! There's a narrow counter with space for 2, which we were able to snag. There's also a second counter by the entrance with 3-4 seats I think. So if you can't snag a seat, I guess you gotta take your onigiris to go?

I parked in the pay by space lot around the corner. $1/hours - not too bad! Street parking if you...

Sunny Blue is a dainty shop in the Venice area that sells a unique combination of yogurt and omusubi. It is located on Main Street, a few blocks from Abbot Kinney. If you are in the area, stop by for a delicious Japanese snack. You can dine inside the small shop or take food to go.

Each omusubi at Sunny Blue is prepared individually. The triangular-shaped rice ball serves as the base and the selected filling is impregnanted into the rice. Around 5-10 different fillings are available and the descriptions were listed along the wall. When complete, the omubusi are served on a taco-truck style paper plate, convenient for takeouts.

The texture of the rice was perfect, it did not fall apart after subsequent bites. The curry inside the rice possessed all the authentic flavors expected from a Japanese curry. Most importantly to me, it was not overly salty and it complemented the rice very well. I did not find any meat at all, but did not expect to. However, I did located a few small pieces of potatoes in the curry. Overall, the quality of the omusubi was excellent and the dainty portion qualified it as a delicious snack. If only it cost less ($3+), then I would stop...