Now you have a friend in the diving business. Make that several friends. As Sushi Den shows, it's not enough to have fresh, exotic fish -- although this longtime winner has that in abundance -- you also need a staff that knows what to do with it. This jazzy, cool, see-and-be-seen scene has the best sushi staff in town. As a result, nowhere else is the sashimi better cut, the rice better flavored and molded, the tray more beautifully assembled. Sushi Den knows its raw materials inside and out, and those materials get more exotic every day, now that the restaurant is also a fish distributor, importing directly from Japan and even serving as middleman for restaurants on the West Coast. Although you can enjoy your sushi in the dining room, it's much more fun to sit at the bar and be part of the cutting-edge action.

Readers' choice: Sushi Den