There are plenty of bona-fide soosh chefs in STL, real life imports from Japan that spent years in internships and shit...
If that's the case in STL, I'd imagine going to the right places in SD and in FL would produce similar results.
I'm calling bullshit on not being able to produce the similar quality products simply due to geographic differences. Certainly there is a difference in atmosphere which does count for something... but you can't really do much about that if you don't live in Japan. And yah, the menus are certainly more americanized with rolls and shiat for pussies... but all the good soosh is there too.
Also, my balls are fresh... I put lotion on them. Followed by baby powder.