Sushi Shio

Sometimes, you just crave uni.  No?  Just me?  Well, it happened to me, randomly in the months of August and September, when San Francisco had a bit of a heat wave, and, accordingly, I stopped wanting hot food, and opted for a lot of sushi.  And the thing I really wanted? Yup, uni.

It all started when I had some really fantastic uni at Fenikkusu, and from there, I just started seeking it out.  However, I didn't venture all over the city for my uni goodness, opting rather for delivery.  While browsing around on DoorDash, I quickly narrowed in on Sushi Shio.  A well rated establishment (which, matters more for sushi than other things!), and in particular, they had a fascinating uni ... bruschetta.  I had to get it.

Ordering online was easy, packaging was attractive, food was good, and I'd definitely consider exploring more of their menu (or, really, just getting that bruschetta again!).

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• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
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• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Delivery Packaging.

When I opened my bag, the first thing I noticed was the unique packaging.  No standard sushi takeout tray here.  Instead each item was in a cardboard box, with a clear plastic lid.  It seemed considerably more attractive for some reason.

No soy sauce was provided with my order, although additional ginger, and chopsticks, were.

Appetizer: Japanese Bruschetta with Uni and truffle. $23.

"Toasted sourdough with 2 kinds of uni, truffle and ikura."

Ok.  Yes, I ordered totally ridiculous uni toast.  Or, as they dubbed it, "Japanese bruschetta".  This was a very creative dish, that did kinda make sense.  After all, uni is soft and luxurious, why serve it just on rice?  Toast makes nearly as much sense, really.  And many fancy restaurants will shave truffle on top of uni dishes, and many Japanese places will have a "spoon" with an oyster, uni, and ikura, so, yeah.  I haven't seen something like this before, but, it all made sense.

I was also drawn to this because the toast, er, bruschetta, contained both local-ish Santa Barbara and Japanese hokkaido uni.  I was originally planning to order both as nigiri, so I could do a side-by-side comparison, but, why not get them on toast, where they would, literally, be side by side.  It was the same price as two pieces of nigiri anyway.

The bruschetta survived delivery just fine.  The visual of the uni, separated by ikura, was fascinating to see the difference.  The hokkaido uni was on the left, darker, much smaller tongues, about 6 pieces laid out horizontally.  The santa barbara uni on the other hand was only 2-3 pieces, laid vertical, as they were considerably bigger.  And they tasted entirely different.  The hokkaido uni was very consistent - strong uni flavor, but no funk.  Pretty classic uni taste.  It seemed fresh enough.  The santa barbara uni on the other hand had one piece that was really sweet (and creamy?!), and one that was kinda all funk ... the taste that I think makes people not like uni.  I liked the sweet piece the most, but, overall, definitely preferred the hokkaido because the other was so funky.  Anyway, it was great to try them side by side and realize that I truly did have a preference (which, wasn't a first, after all, I did visit Uniholic in Tokyo and have an entire meal made of of uni tastings in all various forms ... swoon, that uni ice cream, unforgettable!).

The toast base was a thin slice, lightly toasted.  It was crisp when it arrived, but did soften up pretty fast, so, beware if you are getting delivery.  I really did like having uni on toast, I think I preferred it to having it on rice, it reminded me more of pate this way.  Also, it was quite easy to eat in this form!

The ikura was marinated, so it incorporated some soy flavor in it.  It was intensely salty, and added fun pops to the bites.  Uni and ikura, a totally fine pairing.  There was a generous amount of it.  I liked the freshness the shiso leaf brought as well.

And then, the truffle.  In addition to the two pieces shaved on top, I believe there was a drizzle of truffle oil, as I tasted it in other bites.  It definitely made it taste fancy, for lack of better word, but I'm not sure it really added anything to the dish.  I think I'd prefer gold leaf if I wanted to just bling it up. Sushi Shio lets you add on truffle to any item for $6, if you please.

Overall, I was quite glad I got this.  It was unique, it was fun to eat, and it was a great assortment of textures and flavors.  And now, um, I just want uni toast, rather than uni nigiri.

****.

Scallop Sashimi, Hokkaido. $12.

The sashimi came in its own little box, with a bed of shredded diakon, a shiso leaf, ginger, and wasabi.    I guess it must have been pre-sauced, but, kinda lost in delivery as it likely rolled off and soaked into the box?

The garnishes were all fresh and clearly good quality.  The scallop was sweet and refreshing.  Just a nice fresh piece.  I tend to prefer seared scallops, but this was a nice fresh compliment to the heavier, stronger tasting uni dish, exactly why I ordered it.

Average for a good sushi restaurant, which makes it above average overall. ***+.