Fenikkusu Tapas & Omakase

When I first moved to San Francisco, many years ago now, I discovered sushi.  Yes, I hadn't ever had it before moving here.  In those first few years, I had a *lot* of sushi.  At least once a week at Sushi Zone, epic waits and all.  Once a month or so at Sushi Sam's for the omakase.  And a constant quest to try others as well.

And then ... I'm not sure why, but I stopped going to sushi.  Sure, I still got it every once in a while, but never as a regular thing.  I seemed to go more towards poke bowls for a while instead.  That is, until earlier this year, when I suddenly decided I wanted uni, all the time.  And thus, I started getting sushi again, regularly.

That said, I mostly opted for delivery.  One great side effect from the pandemic is decent quality restaurants, that never offered it before, now have takeout and delivery available.  My quest for good delivery sushi lead me to Fenikkusu, located in the Mission.

Fenikkusu has an extensive menu, and some fairly unique dishes, with a slew of "tapas" such has squid noodles with uni or dried filefish jerky, even baby back ribs.  Then of course, all the standard rolls and nigiri/sashimi.  I picked Fenikkusu for the high reviews, but also the fact that I could order nigiri by the piece rather than pair, letting me order just a few pieces, but have more variety.  

I ordered online using DoorDash, and my order was quickly prepared, packaged well enough, and delivered quickly.  No issues there.

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• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Nigiri & Wakame Salad.  ~$40.

I ordered a few pieces of nigiri, along with a side of seaweed salad.  The nigiri and seaweed salad came packaged separately, with fairly generic ginger and wasabi in one little bowl, and a single packet of generic soy sauce.  I didn't realize that some of the nigiri would be a bit more "new" style, with garnishes and unexpected flourishes added already.

The meal was mostly average, although the uni alone was good enough that I'd consider ordering again, perhaps getting the aforementioned squid and uni tapas plate.

Wakame salad. $6

The seaweed salad was fine.  Pretty basic, no different from grocery store seaweed salad really.  Sprinkled with sesame seeds.  The portion was enough to go alongside my sushi (and other stuff I was finishing up), but it wasn't particularly generous for the $6 price.  I wouldn't get it again unless I was really craving it for some reason. ***.

Nigiri: unagi, uni, blue shrimp, blue fin chu toro.

My nigiri definitely suffered a bit in transit, with the uni falling over, but, remarkably the toppings on the other pieces stayed in tact.  I thought sushi would be a safe bet for delivery since already not served warm, but I didn't realize that two of my pieces (the shrimp and toro) would be lightly torched.  I suspect that getting them at the restaurant would be a slightly different experience, as they'd be lightly warm.

I went for nigiri for all my pieces, as they were available in singles that way.  I normally opt for sashimi as I'm not a big rice person, but, sashimi came in 3 piece increments, and I wanted more variety.  Kudos to Fenikkusu for offering these smaller portions, rather than the standard nigiri pair and sashimi five piece.

All the pieces were well constructed, and the sushi rice was fine, lightly sticky.  They all seemed to come on rice that was pre-sauced, lightly sauced with soy in the rice, the rice was actually light brown.  Again, I wonder if that worked better in the restaurant?  Here it was a bit odd as they were a bit slimy from it.

Anyway, the sushi was a mixed success, but the uni really was stellar.

Unagi Nigiri. $3.

I forgot to take a photo of it alone, but the unagi was pretty standard - lightly bbq flavored, soft, and it hit the spot.  Only $3 for the single piece, a good price.  I'd get this again if I was craving unagi, although it is clearly better warm (I actually heated it up a minute in my toaster oven to revive it). ***.

Blue Shrimp Nigiri. $7.

I was very surprised when I saw the blue shrimp.  It ... was lightly torched.  Ok, that is fine, but, um, it also was topped with a creamy sauce and toasted pine nuts?  This I was definitely not expecting, but I went into it with an open mind, although, still a touch of apprehension, not because of the mayo-looking sauce or nuts on my sushi, but, because of the pine nuts specifically.  I was unfortunate enough to experience pine nut syndrome about 10 years ago, and it took me until just last month that I finally was willing to consume a pine nut again.  I did it once, I got over that hump, but I wasn't really eager to do it again, and certainly not to have pine nuts on my sushi.

Anyway, getting back to the sushi.  The blue shrimp was really, really chewy.  It was basically raw, as I expected, just lightly torched on top.  The result, well, chewy, chewy.  I didn't care for it much at all, although the flavor was light and sweet.

As for the toppings, the sauce seemed to be very creamy mayo, which I didn't think went all that well with the basically raw mild fish - I think it would go much better with cooked shrimp (or any other seafood really), or with a fleshier fish like red tuna, but here it felt like it was fighting with the shrimp and overpowering the mild fresh taste.  I didn't taste the pine nuts, but they added a slight crunch, although that was difficult given how chewy the shrimp was.

This piece was not a winner for me, but it did remind me of one of my favorite pieces from Sushi Sam's - a cooked baby lobster nigiri that comes topped with spicy tobiko mayo and slivered almonds.  So, same concept of a base langostine, creamy mayo sauce, and crunchy nut, just, the Sushi Sam's version is remarkably more successful, at least for me.

I wouldn't get this again, but it was unique at least. **.

Blue Fin Chu Toro Nigiri. $8.

Next up, I selected the chu toro.  For some reason, several years ago, I kinda stopped liking raw tuna.  It makes me sad, but, it is what it is.  That said, I still had hope that a nice piece of quality toro would revive my liking of raw tuna.  I selected the chu toro, rather than o-toro, because I actually often like it more.

Like the blue shrimp, it came lightly torched, but, very lightly.  It was ... fine.  Medium-fatty.  Topped with a tiny bit of wasabi.  It didn't really melt in my mouth the way I wanted it to, but it was fine.  Just not what I'm in the mood for these days still it seems.

***.

Uni Nigiri (Santa Barbara). $10.

Next up, the piece I was most excited for, the uni.  I love good uni, and the last few times I've had it, it wasn't particularly great (e.g. mediocre at Ozumu and really not very good at Pabu).

This piece fell over in the box, but I was able to re-assemble it.  I'll cut to the chase: the uni was excellent.  It was creamy, it had a strong but not funky flavor, and tasted fresh.  It was delightful, really.  I wish I'd just gotten a big pile of uni.  The portion was good too, the piece nicely loaded up.

I loved this, and would get more again in a heartbeat.  Best uni I've had in years really.  ****+.