Mikado Sushi, NYC

Sometimes, a girl really gets a craving for uni, even when she has a fridge full of food.  Sometimes this happens when in another city, such as New York.  And thus, sometimes she seeks out said uni, even though not very practical.

This uni craving lead me to Mikado Sushi. They have several locations in NY, including one in Queens and one in Brooklyn, along with a couple in Manhattan.

The menu has a decent range of starters, besides the expected miso soup and edamame, there are more interesting creations like caviar dumplings, tuna toasts, sushi tacos, and more.  Entrees cover a slew of types of donburi, teriyaki, etc, but also some interesting dishes like truffle mushroom bacon fried rice, abalone noodles, and of course, the ever trend miso black cod.  I was there for the sushi however, which includes full line up of nigiri or sashimi, hand rolls, and make rolls. I appreciate that they do not have a slew of over the top rolls with sauces galore.  The nigiri/sashimi lineup isn't huge, and mostly isn't innovative, however they do have a wagyu topped with seared foie gras, and uni with truffle pate, and thus, you can likely guess why the restaurant hit my radar.

I ordered delivery on DoorDash, and it arrived quickly.  I can't comment on the restaurants themselves, as I didn't visit any.  I'll gladly order again.

Packaging.

My order definitely was a bit worse for the wear given however my Dasher transported it, but I appreciated that Mikado included soy sauce (not just a packet), a little condiment tray, and chopsticks on the side, along with generous amount of good quality wasabi and ginger in with the sushi.

Uni w/ Truffle Pate (sashimi). $26.

I had the choice of regular sushi, brown rice sushi, or sashimi for $1 more, which I opted for.  This seemed to mean it came in cucumber cups, although in my case, one of the pieces had been jostled around such that the cup was empty.

It was good uni.  Very creamy.  No funk.  Looked vibrant.  Very large portion, each cup had 3 big, in-tact pieces.  The truffle pate was just a dot on top, but it did have strong truffle flavor, and was a little something unique.

I really enjoyed this, although I took the uni and put it on top of truffle brioche toasts instead of the cucumber cups, and made it into a fantastic appetizer.  ****.

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Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya, NYC

I'm the type of person who always does bring home my leftovers from restaurants.  I actually love repurposing leftovers to create meals that I love at home later.  This applies even when I travel, and hotels by now know that I like to have at least one extra mini fridge and microwave in my room.  I travel with a personal panini press/grill or travel oven.  I'm that kind of person.

So this summer, when I was in New York for a month, I found myself with a bunch of side dish leftover, but no main protein.  Sushi seemed like just the answer: small quantity, just protein, and I could use up the other stuff I had around. 

I have my old favorites for sushi in New York, including Sushi Seki and Nobu if I'm being splurgy, but this time I was looking for somewhere open at lunchtime on a weekend, and neither of those were.  My research lead me to the well regarded Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya (which is not to be confused with Blue Ribbon Sushi - Soho, just a few blocks away, nor Blue Ribbon Brasserie, Blue Ribbon Chicken, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, or others in the same restaurant group).  The group also has location is Miami, LA, Boston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Philly. So, somewhat of a chain, but, not one that felt like it.  They do also have packages available on GoldBelly, which I'll admit was a slight detractment.

I was drawn in by the positive reviews of course, but also the really large assortment of options available for nigiri/sashimi.  They had a large daily specials list with unique items I don't see as often.  And better yet, the prices were quite reasonable (and even more with a $5 off discount on DoorDash).

I ordered on DoorDash for delivery, and my order arrived quickly.  It was well packaged, accurate, and included everything I needed (chopsticks, soy sauce, etc).  I'd gladly order from them again.

3 Pieces Sashimi. $26.73 (including delivery).

I went for a bunch of favorites: uni, crab, and the less common eel, anago.  I opted for sashimi for all, as I'm not really one for rice (yes, this is a very similar trio to my order from Sushi Seki last time I was in NY, with uni, anago, and lobster, just swapping out crab for lobster this time).  I appreciated that I could order each individually, and the prices were really quite reasonable.

The uni and crab came in cucumber cups, the anago just as a slice over some shredded diakon.  Standard ginger and wasabi were plated alongside as well.

California Uni (Sashimi). $11.

To satisfy my uni cravings, I went for the California uni.  Sashimi style, because all I wanted was the uni, no need for rice.  They also offer Hokkaido uni for $18.50.

The uni may have suffered a tiny bit in transit, as the top lobe was a bit no longer intact, but it was still delicious. For nigiri, it is a cucumber cup that is lined with a shiso leaf. I loved the shiso, it went very well with the uni. The uni itself was good, a more mild flavor uni, minimal funk. The portion was really remarkable for the price, I think there might have been five pieces? I'd be curious to do a side-by-side with the more pricey Japanese one, but I was very pleased with this. ****.

Anago (Young Sea Eel) Sashimi $8.

When I was first introduced to sushi I ate a fair amount of unagi, as it was a bit of an easier segue into sushi being fully cooked and covered in bbq sauce.  I still like unagi, but in more recent years, I've definitely become a much bigger fan of anago. I see it rarely on menus, so I was very happy they had it.  I think the last time I had it was about a year prior, from Sushi Seki (where it was excellent).

This piece was ok.  Not very memorable nor flavorful.  A decent sized piece.  I'd probably skip it in the future.  ***.

Kani (Blue Crab) Sashimi. $7.50.

I don't think I've ever seen blue crab on a sushi menu before, so I was very interested to see how they would serve it as nigiri. It was cooked and placed into a cucumber cup, and was a bit of a shredded style, compared to when you get king crab nigiri for example that comes as a solid chunk, which I assume is simply due to the considerably smaller size of the crabs.

It too was just ok, but not particularly flavorful nor memorable.  I have not had all that much blue crab in my life, so maybe that is just how blue crab is?  I live on the West coast, so local dungeness is my common crab, or of course Alaskan king crab if I'm splurging.  I added a little okinomiyaki sauce I had left over which helped, the creaminess from the mayo really added something to it, as it was just pretty bland otherwise.  Another one I'd skip in the future. ***.

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Sushi Seki, NYC

In New York, there is no shortage of sushi options, spanning all price points.  It takes a lot for a place to stand out, but somehow, Sushi Seki did for me as I was browsing menus for delivery options on Door Dash.

Sushi Seki drew me in with the extremely large range of nigiri/sashimi options, with an entire section just for different tuna pieces (9 options, your standard chu toro, o toro, maguro, etc, plus a seared option, one topped with uni, and more), the same with salmon (5 options, inlcuding belly or king salmon, or seared, etc), same with yellowtail (7 options), shellfish (another 7), and so on.  The choices were extensive, and, key for me, I appreciated that you could order singles.  They also do offer a variety of of hot and cold appetizers, soups and salads, cooked entrees (such as miso cod, different teriyakis, katsu, tempura), a slew of rolls, and even carry Lady M crepe cakes (which I've reviewed before in Seattle) for dessert (along with others they make).

"Chef Seki along with his family of NYC’s finest sommeliers and sushi chefs are committed to the “never stop learning” attitude by creating and balancing the flavor of the fish with simple ingredients, a classic style, and expansive sake and wines, paired perfectly to each meal."

Chef Seki has a great story, starting in the industry as a dishwasher, and working his way up to cook, kitchen chef, and eventually, sushi chef, all in Tokyo.  He moved to NY city to further his craft.  He really does seem to embrace his mantra of "never stop learning".

Sushi Seki's first location opened in 2002 on the Upper East Side.  12 years later, the chef opened the second location in Chelsea, which is where I ordered from.  A year later, his third branch opened, which includes a 6-seat counter for omakase only dining.  

I ordered on Door Dash for delivery, and was quite impressed with the quality (and speedy service).  I'd love to try more of the lineup, and to visit in person sometime.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Hijiki Salad. $10.

"Cooked brown sea vegetable, watercress, tomato, cucumber, bean curd, carrot, daikon, and onion dressing."

There is a Japanese deli near me in San Francisco (Delica) that has a hijiki salad I adore.  I rarely see hijiki on menus elsewhere though, so I was excited to try Sushi Seki's version of the salad.  They also have a more traditional seaweed salad on the menu, along with a basic green salad and a snow pea salad, all with different dressings.  Salad didn't seem to be an afterthought here, which I took as a good sign.

I asked in the notes for the dressing on the side, I'm not sure if they normally do that for takeout or not.  The base of the salad was watercress, fresh, crisp, peppery.  Mixed in was a bit of shredded carrot, a few thin bits of bean curd, and of course, the hijiki.  All sprinkled with sesame seeds.  Mine didn't seem to have any tomato or cucumber, but I didn't mind.  I also didn't really find diakon, and I'm not sure about the cooked brown sea vegetable ... maybe that was lost in the mix?

It initially didn't look like it would be very hijiki forward, but the hijiki flavor was strong, and I enjoyed it.  I didn't find it needed the dressing (which was really quite thick, somewhat sour, and sorta an odd consistency, but did taste of onion as said it would), and just drizzled a little soy sauce over it.  Overall, very tasty, and I'd get again.  ****. 

Uni ($15), Lobster ($8), Anago ($10).

Uni:

Although this piece fell over in transit, it still stayed well put together, the nori wrapper holding it together tightly.  The uni portion was good, I think 4 lobes.  It tasted quite fresh, no funk to it, and was all an even color.  Sushi rice was an appropriate portion (not dominating), well seasoned, lightly sticky.  Overall, a very nice uni nigiri, and $15 price seemed appropriate.  ****.

Lobster (steamed): 

The lobster is the only piece that let me down.  The flavor was actually quite nice, and it was a big chunk, but, it was extremely chewy.  It was steamed, so fully cooked.  Great flavor, but hard to get past the chew.  **+.

Anago: "Wild seawater eel."

Sushi Seki offers 3 different types of eel sushi, the more common unagi (barbecued with sweet sauce), a chopped version with tempura crunchies, and this, anago.

It had been a long time since I had anago!  I've gotten sushi a dozen or so times this past year, but everywhere always has unagi, and not anago.  Sometimes I love unagi, but sometimes, I just am not in the mood for the heavy unagi sauce.  I was thrilled to see anago on the menu, and even more thrilled when I tasted it.  Great flavor, great texture, not slimy, just, really nice anago.  Sushi rice good, as with the other pieces.  I'd get this again in a heartbeat.  *****.

I appreciated the generous portion of nice pickled ginger (not the pink kind!), and plenty of wasabi, no skipping on those.  ****+.

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KanaHashi Sushi, Brooklyn

Ordering sushi for delivery is not something I had ever done, nor even thought about doing, until this past year.  To me, sushi is generally an extravagance, and something I'd want as fresh as possible, so, just never something I'd even think of getting delivered.

And then I did it once, and realized the beauty of being able to just order a few pieces that I'm specifically craving, to round out other food I have at home.  I don't need to do a sit down omakase to enjoy the funk of some nice uni.  Or king crab legs.  Which is exactly what I did, when I ordered from KanaHashi Sushi, while recently staying in Brooklyn.

I ordered on DoorDash, and was quite impressed with both the restaurant and Dasher speed.  I placed my order as I boarded the L train leaving my office in Manhattan, and the order, and I, both arrived home within 2 minutes of each other, <15 minutes later.

Since I didn't visit in person, I can't tell you about the restaurant itself, but, I can tell you that I was impressed with my order, Yelpers agree, and the menu is extensive (which often isn't a good sign, but, it turned out fine).  I'd gladly return, to try more sushi, but also some of their interesting appetizers, and even desserts.

Manhattan.  $12.

I was pleased that KanaHashi offered their full cocktail menu for delivery, which isn't particularly common.

My cocktail came very well wrapped up.  I had to laugh at the cocktail stirrers on top, but, it was a nice touch.

Manhattan.

I was impressed with the drink in some ways.  They included the garnish of a slice of lime, and not one, but two maraschino cherries.  The ice level was appropriate (although I normally ask for no ice in delivery cocktails since they generally arrive watered down, luckily not a problem here since it was so fast).

But it was ... cloudy.  And tasted kinda fruity.  Not mai tai level fruity, but, fruity.  Yes, I could taste some booze, but, it really didn't taste like a traditional Manhattan.  I couldn't get past the very cloudy nature or sweetness.  **.

Jumbled Sushi.

My poor sushi!

Clearly, this suffered majorly in transit.  The restaurant wasn't far away, and it arrived quickly, but, wow, so jumbled.  I'm curious what mode of transportation my Dasher used.

Much like the cocktail, I appreciated the extra garnishes and touches KanaHashi included, such as the bed of shredded daikon swirls, a shiso leaf, thin sliced red radish, and a sculpted cucumber, along with ginger and wasabi mound.  Jumbled presentation aside, these components elevated the delivery experience.

King Crab Sashimi. $12.

Who orders king crab from a sushi restaurant?  Yes, cooked crab.  I'm not quite sure why it jumped out at me (I think because I was debating between ordering sushi, or a lobster roll, or crab cakes), but, I'm glad it did.  It had been ages since I have had king crab.  It really is, uh, the king of crab?

The serving was 3 pieces, one much smaller than the other two.  They were thick pieces, quite meaty, and tasted remarkably fresh, and flavorful.  I'm sure this is not a popular opinion, but, king crab > lobster.  It was like everything I always want lobster to be, but it never quite is.

For $12, this seemed pretty reasonable, and was a great opportunity to get to have some king crab in a smaller quantity.  Normally you have to order by the pounds of legs, and that is usually $$$.

I quite enjoyed it, and would gladly get again.  ****.

Hokkaido Uni. $16.

After a bit of searching, I managed to uncover my poor uni.  This was a seasonal special from Hokkaido, rather than the more local Maine variety.  I thought I ordered nigiri, but it came as sashimi, which was totally fine with me.

It was decent.  Creamy.  Good level of funk, didn't taste bad.  Not the best uni I've had, but satisfying, and clearly fresh as well.  

And again the price and portion were reasonable, there was more here than I expected, that mound goes pretty deep.  I think they may have incorrectly given me the sashimi portion, which generally is larger than individual nigiri.  ***+.

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Pabu Izakaya, SF

I remember when Pabu Izakaya opened in SF.  It was a big deal - a new adventure for star chef Micheal Mina, venturing outside the standard fine dining mold.  It got a lot of press, and along with being known for attracting talent in the kitchen, it was noted for fairly high prices, particularly for somewhere dubbed an izakaya, usually a bit more of a casual everyday sort of place.  But given the prime financial district location, perhaps that price point was considered "everyday" for those on expense accounts?

I didn't ever go to Pabu in those first few years, as reports were that it was fine, but not outstanding, and definitely not worth the price.  But I did attend a few events with Pabu making made to order hand rolls, which were always decent enough, and their sister establishment (Ramen Bar) offered up memorable Japanese style deviled eggs topped with crispy ramen.  Ramen Bar has since closed.  It was again, all fine, but nothing I'd seek out at their prices.

"A celebration of world-class sashimi, sushi, grilled meats from the robata, and a modern, seasonal cocktail menu. "

The menu at Pabu is definitely more higher end than traditional izakaya snack food, with expensive steaks and of course their version of miso black cod.  They also have a full sushi line up.

Pabu managed to survive the pandemic (although The Ramen Bar did not), with a pivot towards more takeout, bento boxes, and packaged cocktails.  So one evening, when I was really craving uni, just a few days after visiting Nobu in San Diego and finding them out of uni (!!!){TODO: LINK}, I decided to order delivery from Pabu, for exactly what I was craving: uni and a nice whiskey cocktail to go with it.  I ordered via Door Dash, and although Pabu is just a few blocks away, it still took over an hour for my delivery, I think because the restaurant was fairly busy.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I was impressed with the delivery experience, and I'd do it again if I really wanted pricey but reliable sushi.

Drinks

A great thing that came out of the pandemic is many restaurants offering cocktails for takeout.  While I can easily buy a bottle of wine to enjoy at home, mixing a cocktail takes a bit more skill, and I'm glad to be able to get a well made cocktail at home.  Pabu has a small cocktail menu available for takeout, but all are ones I'd gladly order, such as a classic Manhattan or Negroni, my regular cocktails of choice, a crowd pleasing margarita, and a signature cocktail.  They also have beer and sake by the bottle available.

Classic Lolita. $15.

"Suntory Toki Japanese whisky, Okinawa sugar, bitters."

I'm re-discovering the joy of a good cocktail.  I really haven't had many cocktails as a "real adult" - rum & cokes, Jungle Juice, etc in my college years, a few Lemon Drops when I first could order for real at a bar, and the occasional fruity slushy drink on an island do not count.  There were a few years where a co-worker did make me negronis on the regular, and sometimes when I went out frequently a few years ago I'd get a nice whiskey or gin based drink, but, it really isn't all that common for me.  At home, it is always wine.  But I was really craving a whiskey cocktail after my recent business trip, which, yes, did involve some cocktails, and thus, the signature house cocktail at Pabu sounded perfect.

I give Pabu credit for great packaging for takeout, clearly something they pivoted to during the pandemic, but I loved the adorable little bottle with clear label.  I was expecting a regular takeout cup!  I was amused however that the bottle was inside a regular cardboard takeout box of its own.  Heh.

Anyway, the cocktail was quite strong, but, balanced out nicely on I put it over ice (as instructed on the bottle).  Nothing earth shattering, but, a well made whisky drink.  ***.

Manhattan. $16.

"High West Double Rye, Punt e Mes, Angostura."

I was tempted to get my standard, go-to drink, the negroni, this time, as I got the lolita last time, but decided to be a bit more interesting, and opted for a manhattan.  Interesting only in that it isn't my standard drink, its my #2, lol.

It came packaged a bit differently from my last cocktail, this time split into two small bottles, rather than one slightly larger bottle.  Just like last time, I did kinda laugh at the bottles being placed inside a regular takeout container.

The cocktail was good - basically, exactly what you'd expect from a well made manhattan.  I had no qualms with it, and the two small bottles made for two perfect size mini cocktails, one I enjoyed before my dinner that night, as I paired my meal with a glass of wine, and one I had the next evening as a nightcap.  Value was good for $16.  ***+.

Sushi

The sushi menu at Pabu is fairly standard: a decent lineup of nigiri or sashimi, standard rolls, and a few house special rolls.  None too crazy, not too much in the deep fried heavily sauce department, as Pabu does trend a bit more classy.  Many restaurants don't offer uni for delivery, and since I was really craving uni, I was quite happy to see that Pabu does, even if it would be pricy.

Uni Nigiri. $20.

I selected the nigiri rather than sashimi.  In general, I prefer sashimi, but for uni, I did want a little bit of rice with it.

I give my Door Dasher delivery person some credit for this arriving looking, well, perfect.  Granted, Pabu is just a few blocks away, but, the sushi clearly wasn't jangled around.

The uni was ... ok.  The portion was good, several large in-tact lobes in each piece.  One tasted a bit sweet like I like, but the others definitely had a bit of funk.  Not its-gone-bad funk, it still seemed fresh, but, just a bit of funk, and I suspect this was local uni, which tends to have that flavor I don't like as much.  Still, it seemed fresh and good quality, and, well constructed generous pieces.

The sushi rice was very lackluster - it didn't have any seasoning, and didn't seem to stick together very well.  For a restaurant of its calibre, I was quite surprised to have such mediocre sushi rice.

My nigiri came with soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi, all of which seemed very average quality - the wasabi in particular surprised me as it was clearly just paste, and not very flavorful.  Compared to the wasabi I had from Nobu two days prior, it was night and day difference.  Again, for a restaurant of this calibre and price point, I expected better wasabi, and better ginger.

So, overall, rice and condiments were lower end generic, uni was fine but not a variety I cared for.  ***.

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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!).

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• 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. ***+.

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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.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• 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.  ****+.

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Sushi from Okane

Update Review, 2022

About 4 years ago, I tried several items from Okane, the sister restaurant to the well known Omakase sushi restaurant.  I was underwhelmed, as you read in my original reviews.  I decided to give them another try when I was seriously craving uni one evening ...

I ordered on Door Dash, for delivery.  Ordering was easy, it took quite a while to arrive though (although within the time frame Door Dash quoted), just, longer than I expected given my small order, and how close by the restaurant is.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I wasn't any more impressed this time.

Standard condiments + their house ginger/wasabi. $2.50 each.

All orders come with a standard bag of Okane branded chopsticks, and very generic packaged wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce.  I knew this, and opted to upgrade to their "house" ginger and wasabi, the same that they serve in the restaurant.  Each upgrade was a pricey $2.50 each, but, particularly for ginger loving me, this was a worthy splurge.  I enjoyed both of these.

**** upgrades, although pricey at $5!

Hokkaido Uni. $24.

I was going through a serious uni phase, and had some fabulous uni from Fenikkusu Tapas & Omakase (although everything else was meh) a few weeks prior, and a novel uni bruschetta from Sushi Shio (with both local and Japanese uni!) just days later (both reviews coming soon!), so, even though I had not really loved uni from Okane before, I decided to give it another try.  After all, this place, and its sister restaurant Omakase, obviously get such accolades.

The uni came served with shredded daikon and a shiso leaf.  I'm not sure if the pieces toppled over during transit, or if they were thoughtfully placed on their sides, as it seems unlikely that they would have fallen back to back like this?

Anyway, the uni was pretty average.  It wasn't bad, no funk, but it wasn't particularly great.  Same with the sushi rice, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.  The portion of uni was reasonable though, and I enjoyed my pieces, but, I wouldn't really go out of my way for this again.

***.

Original Review, 2018

This is a review that I know isn't particularly representative of the establishment.  But ... it is what I had, so, it is what you get.

Okane is the casual Japanese sister restaurant next to Michelin starred Omakase.  It features more low key dining style, lots of small share plates at dinner, bento boxes and rice bowls at lunch.  Plus all the high end nigiri and rolls sourced from the same markets as Omakase.

And yet, I haven't actually been there to eat.  Hence, my "not representative" statement.

Still, I've had food from there twice - once I ordered delivery (no sushi) and once I stopped by for takeout sushi (which I consumed immediately).  Obviously not the same as eating at a sushi counter.  So take my reviews with that in mind.

My impression though?  Eh, its fine.  But pricey.  Not special.

Setting

Okane is located on Townsend Street, across from Adobe, next to Omakase.

Sushi Counter.

It does have a working sushi counter with some high seats for the lucky few who get to eat right there.

Seating.

The rest of the relatively small restaurant is casual tables for mostly 4, wooden, nicely decorated.  The place feels comfortable, modern, clean, mid-range.  Certainly a great neighborhood place.

Order #1: Delivery, April 2018

My first experiment with Okane was via Caviar delivery.  It is a long story, but, I just needed a couple small side items to supplement another meal.  What I got was fine, but, obviously not anything they highlight.  On the plus side, delivery (via Caviar) was fast and easy?

Stewed Hijiki. $7.35.

"Carrot, shitake, and lotus root." 

I ordered this expecting a chilled seaweed salad.  Instead ... I think it was served warm.  The container was filled with steam and water droplets, and the lotus chips were soggy, both indicating a warm serving temp originally (although not by the time it reached me).

It was ... fine.  Fairly standard hijiki, a few chunks of kinda mushy carrot, a few slices of shitake.  I expected more flavor, more marinade, more something.  It was quite plain, and I added my own ponzu to give it flavor.

On top were mushy lotus chips, that I believe were intended to be crispy.

So, overall, fine.  More interesting than the standard seaweed salad you get at most sushi restaurants, but, not actually anything special, and the small portion seemed over priced at $7.35.

Fried Lotus Root Chips / Wasabi Mayo. $7.35.

Ok, these I got because I just love fried root vegetables.  Or really, any fried veggie chips besides basic potatoes.  Taro, yucca, plantains ... bring it on.  I couldn't resist ordering the side of lotus root chips too.

I think they may also have been served warm, perhaps freshly fried?  I only say this because they weren't particularly crisp. They were nicely seasoned though, with salt and some green herbs I didn't quite identify.

The wasabi mayo had kick to it from the wasabi, for sure.  And I love dipping fried things in mayo/aioli/etc.  But it actually was a bit too mayo forward to really feel like an appropriate dip for me.  I liked the idea of it inside of rolls, slathered on as a spread for a something, etc, but as a dip, it was just a bit to much like dunking into just mayo.

The lotus chips were tasty enough without the dip, and I gladly used it for other purposes the next day.

So overall, again, fine, but pricey at $7.35 as well.

Order #2: Takeout, April 2018

After my original delivery order of a couple sides from Okane, I decided to actually really test them on high end stuff, this time with takeout, because I just needed a small snack.  Except, I didn't just get a simple cucumber roll, nope, I went all in: crab and uni.  This girl knows what she likes.

Takeout Accompaniments.

My order came with basic wooden chop sticks, and packets of soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.  I assume they use higher quality for dine in, but these did the job, and I was glad they were included.

Sushi Snack. $20.51.

1 nigiri.  1 hand roll.  >$20.

This was not a cheap snack.

Prices via Caviar, even for pickup rather than delivery, are 5% more than in the restaurant, not entirely sure why, as Caviar still charges additional tax and service fees on top of that, but every item is listed on Caviar with an upcharge already applied.  The restaurant can do this though, Caviar has no rules that they need to charge the same prices for the convenience, I just haven't seen it done before.

Uni Nigiri. $12.60.

Of course I got the uni.  And I consumed it immediately.  I knew better than to let this get old!

The portion was standard nigiri serving of 2 pieces.

It was ... fine.  Which is a sad way to describe uni.  The pieces were each generously filled, and the structures of rice and seaweed held integrity.  But it didn't really scream out "fresh amazing uni!".  It was just ... fine.

I did appreciate the little bit of daikon on the side, which filled the remaining space in my box.  Presentation matters!

The $12.60 price is fine for high end uni.

California Hand Roll. $6.30.

"Snow Crab and Avocado."

I also wanted my second favorite seafood, crab, but nigiri or sashimi didn't really make sense.  So I went for the California hand roll, just, no avocado because I'm allergic.

I was a bit sad when I saw its small size, but it turns out, this thing was *loaded* with crab.  Certainly the best value item I had from Okane.  There was a little rice (more here on top than throughout the rest actually, I honestly think it was 90% crab!), good texture and seasoning on the rice.

The crab was fresh snow crab.  Lump meat.  No shells detected.  Not fishy.  Very fresh.  Very good.  They also added tobiko for some pop.

I added the rest of my wasabi mayo from the lotus chips, which was great (creamy and zing!), but it wasn't necessary since the crab was such nice quality.

Overall a great item, and wonderful price for the ridiculous amount of crab I got.  Not sure how much they include in a normal roll with avocado, but, they clearly loaded me up.

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Sushi @ Kabuto Sushi

Update Review, September 2022

10 years ago, I went to Kabuto sushi.  I was drawn in by the creative menu, but, didn't really love it, as you read in my original review.  And yet, here I am, 10 years later, getting the sushi again, and this time. delivery of all things.  You see, I was on a quest for good uni.  This was the 3rd sushi restaurant I had ordered from in a week, seeking out uni everywhere.  I also wanted to give one of their signature items, the baby lobster, anther chance.

I easily ordered on Door Dash, as Kabuto fully embraced delivery offerings during the pandemic.  That said, the Door Dash delivery wasn't great, as my Dasher batched up a bunch of orders, and thus picked up my sushi 1 hour before actually heading my way.  It made me question ordering sushi delivery in the future, as it was 84* out (yes, really, in SF), and that was a long time for uni to be out in that heat ...

Packaging.

My order came in a generic cardboard takeout box, with a very small amount of ginger (not nearly enough!), a tiny bit of wasabi, and a packet of soy sauce.  The uni was in its own little cupcake wrapper, which was a unique way of packaging that did work to isolate the pieces.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Signature Sushi

The "Signature Sushi" is what likely drew me to Kabuto years ago, and much of that menu remained unchanged.  10 years, and still signature!  And I was again drawn by so many of the options.

Baby Maine Lobster. $18.

"Seared lobster with spicy sauce."

Ok, so I have a thing for baby lobster sushi.  It started at Sushi Sam's, where they serve it with a spicy mayo and slivered almonds on top, and it used to be one of my favorite pieces of their omakase.  I knew from my previous visit that the baby lobster at Kabuto was an entirely different style, but, I still went for it.  I wanted to give it another try.

Let's just say, it didn't please me.  At some level, this was due to the long delivery time, I'm sure.  This is seared lobster, so it was presumably hot when originally served, but, an hour had elapsed, and it was cold.  Cold lobster is fine, some styles of lobster rolls are made that way after all, but this was just oddly chewy and really not very good.  After kinda chocking down the first piece, I took the second piece and threw it on my indoor grill for a minute or two, and it actually was much better that way.  That said, grilling it basically lost all the sauce, and the sauce really as quite tasty.  Not spicy as described, more sweet actually, but it was creamy and unique, and it did go well with the lobster.

The sushi rice was also a let down.  Again, perhaps something that suffered in transit, but it broke apart and was rather mushy.  It didn't seem particularly seasoned.

So, overall, besides the tasty sauce, this was not good, and I wouldn't get it again. *+.

Nigiri

The regular nigiri are priced per piece.

Uni - Japan. $17.

As part of my uni quest, of course I had to get the uni.  They had both local and Japanese on their online menu, but Door Dash only had the Japanese, so, Japanese it was.  This was a very pricey piece, $17 for the single piece, but, I hoped that meant it would be great quality.

This piece definitely suffered from my Dasher driving all around for an hour before bringing me my sushi.  I almost didn't eat it, as I really was worried about it being out in the heat for so long but ... uni!  The portion was my biggest disappointment.  This piece was majority rice, there was just a very, very little bit of uni on top as you see here.  There was no uni under it.  I ordered uni from several other sushi restaurants that week, and this one had remarkably less uni.

So, portion size aside, how was it?  The rice was again not very good - mushy, falling apart, not seasoned.  And the uni ... was fine.  It had a slightly odd taste to it, that I hoped was just my brain warning about warm uni, but, I couldn't quite ignore it.  It didn't taste bad exactly, just, slightly off.

This piece was definitely not worth the $17, particularly with such a small amount of actual uni. **.

Original Review, February 2012

We went to another new sushi restaurant tonight, as part of my quest to try out new sushi places. This one we knew was going to be an "interesting" experience, as the sushi menu was full of things like foie gras, lamb, duck, and fruits. I read through a bunch of the Yelp reviews and knew that the lamb and duck weren't supposed to be great, but reviews for all of the other unique sushi were good, so I had high hopes.

Protip: don't trust the Yelpers!

In all seriousness, I'm glad we tried this place, as it really was a unique experience. The presentation of the dishes was generally quite nice. They were trying very interesting things. And they take reservations!

Unfortunately, the quality of the fish was just not there, and all the creamy sauce just couldn't mask that fact. It was mostly mediocre quality, with one piece being actually good (the live scallop) and a few pieces being really awful (hamachi, oyster). The fruit was even lower quality than the fish. I know I'm spoiled by eating pretty much exclusively farmer's market fruit, but this stuff was pretty flavorless, and it just didn't go with the fish well at all. I also have no problem with fruit in my sushi, as I love a lot of the rolls at Sushi Zone that include mango and papaya, and one of my favorite pieces at Sushi Sam's has kiwi on it. So, it isn't just that I don't like fruit + fish. There were a number of execution issues as well, such as the fruit being sliced too thick and the ratio of rice to other ingredients being off in a few of the pieces.

The pacing of the meal was also off. The first 6 or so dishes arrived rapid fire, faster than we could finish the ones before it. Since some of them were hot/seared, this was overwhelming. The waitress recommended things to us that were really not good and did so unsolicited, definitely trying to upsell and get us to order more. And the price certainly was high for the poor quality, $70 per head for 12 pieces of sushi each. I don't mind paying a lot for good quality fish, but this was very high for what we got.

I most likely will not return here. See photos for individual reviews.

Hamachi jalapeno.

We ordered our sushi, and then the waitress talked us into ordering this. She said it would be a great appetizer.

It was the worst dish of the night. The quality of this hamachi was horrible, some of the worst fish I've had in recent memory. The little slice of jalapeno on it was nice, as was the dot of hot sauce, but this was pretty bad.

I sorta wonder if she was just trying to upsell us, I forgot to look on the bill to see how much this item was.

Gross.

Ceviche: Halibut and salsa wrapped with deep fried seaweed and served with lime and sea salt.

This was a cute idea, a play on ceviche. To eat it, you wrapped it in the seaweed and ate it taco style.

The halibut itself was decent, but I didn't really get any flavor from the salsa and definitely didn't get any lime or salt flavors. The strangest part was that the seaweed was dripping wet. I think it must have been with oil from being deep fried.

Cute idea, but was lacking in the promised flavors.

Hamachi Pear - Yellowtail sushi topped with sliced pear and kabuto fruity mustard sauce.

The "fruity mustard sauce" was pretty tasty and it worked surprisingly well with the pear and with the yellowtail. The hamachi was fairly decent, far, far, better than the hamachi used in the appetizer. The pear didn't work though - sliced too thick, and lacking any flavor, it just made it hard to eat and weird.

Foie Gras Sushi - Seared marinated goose liver served with balsamic raspberry sauce, raspberry, chives, roe.

The piece of foie gras was pretty tiny, particularly given the quantity of rice, so the flavor was drowned out by the rice. This is too bad, as it was decent foie gras and did go quite well with the raspberry and the raspberry balsamic sauce.

This either needed more foie or less rice. I guess there is a reason why you don't normally have foie gras sushi ... Still, it was interesting and I'm glad I got to try this one.

Baby Main Lobster - Seared lobster with spicy sauce

Very nice presentation!

I liked this - decent quality lobster, seared in a way that gave it a grilled smokey flavor. It was nothing like Sushi Sam's baby lobster though, which totally sets my standard for baby lobster dishes (at Sushi Sam's, it is not seared, a much smaller baby served almost whole, and covered with amazingly delicious mayo sauce).

I have no idea why there was a random piece of seared fruit on the plate. Or more dried cranberries. They so did not go with it.

Ono grape - Wahoo sushi topped with grapefruit and basal basil cream sauce.

I didn't like this one. The flavors just did not come together at all. Why was there grapefruit on my sushi? Why the cream? The grapefruit was pretty flavorless, poor quality. And the fish wasn't particularly good. Meh.

Shrimp & Crab Tartar sushi - Chopped shrimp and crab mixed with Kabuto tartar sauce served with egg yolk, capers, anchovy, cilantro, and grape.

This was probably my favorite dish of the night. Basically, a shrimp and crab salad, on top of some seaweed, on top of rice. It was kinda impossible to eat though. You can't see it in the picture, but there was nigiri rice under the nori, I'm still not sure how on earth you were supposed to do this.

Although I thought the flavors were great and really enjoyed the crab/shrimp salad, it didn't really make sense as a piece of sushi, and I'd just prefer to have the tasty salad on its own.

Live scallop - scallop nigiri, scallop chowder.

The scallop was just standard nigiri but very good, tender and fresh. My second favorite piece of the night.

The scallop chowder wasn't good. I couldn't really determine what anything was, just that it was probably some sort of chowder base and the somewhat chewy stuff in it must have been scallop, perhaps cooked?

1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

Close up of 1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

This is one of their special famed dishes. It reminded me of the "Spoonful of Happiness" we got at Koo a couple weeks ago (that was uni, quail egg, roe, ponzu), except the spoonful of happiness was MUCH better.

The name comes from the gold leaf, cute idea, but pretty gimmicky ...

There was a lot going on here. The uni was decent, but the quantity was so small you didn't get to taste it that much. I'm not a huge roe fan, so all this roe didn't thrill me, but it did add to the experience to have it popping in your mouth as you took this all in. The quail egg added a richness. I can't say I tasted or noticed the gold flake :) But ... my oyster was pretty nasty. Very fishy and not in a nice briny way. If the oyster had been better, I could see this being pretty ok, but as it was, it left a horrible taste in my mouth.

Hot Apple - Seared Scallop served with apple and fruity mustard sauce (says the description ... this was a creamy sauce instead).

This was similar to the baby lobster, seared with a nice smokey flavor. But the quality of the scallop was poor, and it was tough and way overcooked. It didn't go with apple at all.

The description said it had a "fruity mustard sauce", which the hamachi pear piece also said, but the sauce on these was not even remotely the same. The hamachi pear one did have a fruity mustard sauce ... this one had a fruity sauce and a cream sauce. I definitely did not taste any mustard. And like the hamachi pear piece, the apple was sliced too thick and was poor quality. You can't see it, and the description didn't mention it, but there was a piece of shiso leaf under the apple, that was actually really nice and crisp and refreshing, and went really well with the apple.

We had one of these left over at the end since no one wanted to eat it, and I deconstructed it to have just an apple-fruit sauce-shiso nigiri, which was kinda ok, and made for sorta a dessert ...

Wild buri

At the end, we wanted to give them one more chance, and decided to order nigiri off the fresh fish of the day menu. This SHOULD be the best stuff they have, and we were sick of the "special" sushi with its cream sauce and bad fruit. We ordered the butterfish, but the waitress told us this was the freshest thing of the day and the best.  So we got it instead.

Again, she led us astray. This was the second worst thing of the night for me (after the hamachi jalapeno she recommended).  Seriously, do not take her recommendations!

I didn't even bother trying the tamago.

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