The floor at Parkwest Bicycle Casino in the southeastern Los Angeles County city of Bell Gardens looks like many other California casinos: lively baccarat and poker tables, security milling about to make sure everything is on the up-and-up, people taking a break from gambling to grab a bowl of pho or an order of xiao long bao at one of several on-site restaurants. 

But the Bike, as it’s locally known, offers something a little extra. Tucked into one side of the main floor — right out there in the open, mere feet away from the gaming action — is an unassuming 13-seat sushi counter. By day, it serves affordable hand rolls and Sugarfish-style bento boxes, some of which are wheeled out to players on slow-moving delivery robots. 

At night, though, the counter transforms into what might be one of the most exciting new omakase experiences anywhere in greater Los Angeles, helmed by an ambitious young chef with Michelin-level talent.

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Sora Sushi is the vision of Parkwest Bicycle Casino owner John Park, who also owns a handful of casinos in Northern California and has operated the historic LA County casino (technically a cardroom, meaning limited games and no slot machines) since 2023. After dropping out of college and working for a car dealership, Park got his start as a professional poker player in the mid-1990s at what was then simply called the Bicycle Casino, which opened in 1984 and has undergone its fair share of scandals and ownership changes over the years. 

For the surprising new Sora Sushi, Park tapped Chris Suh, who cut his teeth at his uncle’s restaurant in Huntington Beach before working at Michelin-starred Sushi Zo’s now-shuttered Downtown LA location. Park was a regular at Sushi Zo, often making the hour-and-a-half drive from his Pacific Palisades home to the DTLA location once or twice a week.

“I would drive during rush hour for a 6 o’clock reservation,” Park says with a laugh. “Chris was always the most consistent chef there; I could tell when someone else........

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