The west has better sushi than the east in general, but SF still beats Seattle for sushi.

This is the true comparison I want to see in data and fancy charts.

California, really LA, has the best Asian food in the country. Seattle's food scene is, for lack of a better term, white.

I will agree that for the most part LA has SF beat on Asian food, but Cantonese/HK style Chinese is better in SF, and the rest is probably on par, just fewer options in SF.

But you nailed in on the head -- you have to find ethnic food made by people who know how it's supposed to taste and making it for people who know how it's supposed to taste. If I go into an ethnic restaurant I know it's good if the majority of the customers are that ethnicity.

Seattle seems to be more authentically Japanese than other places. I found a ramen booth place in Capital Hill like Ichiran where everyone eats inside a curtain.

SF Japantown feels old and rundown like nobody's moving there anymore.

I would put Honolulu over LA, as a former resident of both.