Glendale’s Eden on Brand, which opened over 10 years ago as a gastropub and relocated to its current building in 2016 with a more upscale American menu, has split into a new restaurant called Umi by Eden. Featuring an array of upscale raw sashimi and sushi dishes, Umi by Eden opened on Eden by Brand’s former first floor in March 2024, adding higher-end sushi to a city that otherwise offers just Sasabune for upscale Japanese.

“Glendale residents understand food. They were ready for this,” says owner Erik Khojoyan, who aimed to create a dimly lit lounge atmosphere decorated with black, plush velvet chairs and sofas. “We want people to feel a little bit more luxury than any other sushi place,” he says. With black marble countertops and green accents, Umi by Eden’s ambience takes a strong page from other Japanese lounge restaurants in LA, like Nobu, Katsuya, and Koi, that offer sleek interiors with pricey sushi.

Umi by Eden is helmed by chef Hoon Kang, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate who worked under Michael Cimarusti at Hollywood’s two-Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant Providence for seven years. Kang was so passionate about seafood that he even honed his skills by breaking down and slicing fish on his days off. He sources the majority of Umi by Eden’s fish from Japan and then cures the fish for up to a week. “Japanese fish have a different fat content. They treat them with seawater, and then they have a special technique when they cut the fish from the boat,” says Kang, referring to the ike jime and shinkei jime methods of dispatching fish.

Umi by Eden

Kang sometimes adds dash of his knowledge of French cuisine to the sashimi dishes. One standout is the golden eye snapper sashimi, which changes to red snapper depending on the season. Presented on a bed of creme fraiche panna cotta and nori, the delicate raw slices are topped with kumquats and placed next to a mound of airy yuzu foam.

For the bluefin tuna, Kang uses the zuke technique of curing the fish overnight in soy sauce to help preserve it and add umami. The final dish is presented on a bronze plate over yuzu custard and comes with halved green grapes, pickled pearl onions, and blistered tapioca squid ink chips. The psychedelic-looking squid ink chips were a popular childhood snack of Kang’s, something his classmates once made fun of for eating in school that he’s redeemed into a stylish sashimi presentation.

In addition to those sashimi courses, Umi offers inventive appetizers like ceviche miso cones with chopped salmon, halibut, tuna, and albacore, and a starter of beef tartare using A5 Miyazaki wagyu with truffle vinaigrette over truffle toast. It’s for anyone who thinks there’s no such thing as too much truffle. The rest of the menu features more typical Japanese sushi dishes like hand rolls, sashimi, and rolls using spicy tuna, baked crab, and salmon skin.

Those who might want more options can always ask if something on the menu at Eden on Brand can be brought to them, though it’s not common for people to mix and match their meals, like adding a tomahawk steak or filet mignon to a table full of sushi. Khojoyan seems more than happy to accommodate if the situation arises: “Mixing them together was a very high-risk situation, but it’s almost like they’re meant to be together. It just works.”

Umi by Eden is open at 214 N. Brand Boulevard, Glendale, CA, 91203 from Tuesday to Sunday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Umi by Eden