For one thing, I don't like drenching my raw goodness and rolls with sauce because I feel that it covers up the flavor of the fish. Although the only two sauces I enjoy are ponzu and herb dynamite. Oh and of course soy sauce with wasabi for the dipping of choice. Love a little saltiness to go along with my fish.
I am a salmon fanatic. That is my raw sushi of choice, no doubt! I also prefer red snapper, ahi tuna raw, white fish, sweet shrimp, eel (freshwater moreso than saltwater; although both are just fine), and clam, just to name a few. Honestly, I'm really not a fan of the tunas. Albacore and Halibut, no thank you. A little too fishy for me. White tuna, I once enjoyed, but not so much anymore. I find it to be a watery fish. Love octopus and squid. Tried sea urchin once, against my past favorite sushi chefs wishes (he knew me pretty well at that time; what he thought I would like/dislike). Never again will I try it. Period. Overall, I'm open to trying new fish in any way. That's the only way you can learn and experiment.
So if I had to choose one sushi restaurant that I think is a must go-to place, I would pick Sushimi. Located off the 5 at Newhall Ranch Road next to the Industrial Center. Amazing fish! Great prices. Not an all-you-can-eat place, so you know the fish is good. The only downside---the service. But don't let that turn you off; they have nothing to do with the fish! I have tested out many sushi bars in my time and I find I always go back to this one. I even like how you can get information on their fish from the sushi chefs, if you find the right chef that is very social. After having a salmon conversation with one of the chefs, I found that they get their salmon from either Canada or Norway. I have tried both and I find I like Canada salmon better than Norway. Norway, to me, has a slightly fishy taste (more of the flavor, not quality of fish). No complaints, I love all salmon, wherever it comes from!
So I don't have anything to report from Sushimi but I do have two other places that I have tried--Kabuki and LOVE Sushi. Kabuki is the newest sushi restaurant to open up in SCV. I went there once to test it out a couple months ago. It was a quick and simple lunch so all I ordered was salmon.
Ah, makes my mouth water! Personally, for me, I still prefer Sushimi over Kabuki's salmon sushi. It was just slightly fishy here. But looking passed the salmon and overall, just looking at the menu, they didn't really have an abundant list of fish. My friend Jen wanted to order something as simple as white tuna, I believe, and they didn't even offer that there. If I was someone who wanted to try sushi for the first time, I would probably go to a place that had many different offerings so I could test out the many different types of fish to figure out what I like or what I cannot bear. Overall, besides all of the above, Kabuki is a very nice restaurant, clean, friendly, and I would go back just to sample other things off their menu.
LOVE Sushi. Not really a fan of it from the beginning but I went because it was my friend Paola's turn to choose the sushi place. For one thing, when you order sushi there, you have to consume it right away because for some strange reason, the fish gets warm pretty quickly. So I try to stick to the appetizers, rolls, or eel. It just seems like they forget simple requests, like how I would like eel without the sauce and how I don't think I have ever gotten eel there without sauce.
So besides all that, they added a new roll to their menu--the Sexy Mango Roll. It sounded interesting to me so I thought I would try it out.
It is a simple roll--Shrimp and mango on top and shrimp tempura, cucumber, and avocado inside, wrapped with soy paper and served with the house sauce on the side. What appealed to me was the combination of shrimp and mango. Sounded tasty and I love the flavors of mango and shrimp together. My opinion is that it is a great roll but the whole thing was wrong for me. They had salt on the shrimp and that alone killed my curiosity and tastebuds. I don't know if they did that on accident or this was supposed to be salty to counteract the sweetness of the mango--but it did not work for me at all. I ended up just picking around it. The saltiness was too much for me to handle. Overall a roll that could be quite successful in other sushi bars but unsuccessful in this setting. Fortunately I won't allow the unsuccess of this roll to prevent me from trying this again. But maybe not here.
Now something I absolutely love. So much that I believe it is even worth it to just order it to-go on a random day, in which I did just that!
Baked Green Mussels. The flavors are just simply satisfying. The equal sweetness with a touch of salty makes for an excellent dynamite-mayo sauce. Perfect with the salty-fishy touch of the masago and flavor from the green onion. The combination--flawless! I searched online and believe I have found the perfect recipe for me. I plan on taking this recipe and making my own that way I don't have to do a quick drive just to make a to-go order!
So I say, just eat it raw! Some may love the idea and others may still believe it isn't okay to eat anything raw; it being unsafe if not clean or fresh. All I know is that you go with what your heart and stomach tell you. If it isn't something you can do, there are plenty of rolls and dishes that you can get at a sushi bar that are not raw. Wait until you see a picture of one of my favorite rolls that uses cooked fish--Baked Alaskan Roll. My mouth is watering!
2 comments:
This post is making me hungry! Laura too, I am reading it with her. Laura says as soon as she has money we will have sushi party. We can even go to Sushimi since it's your favourite. :D
-Renee
We can do this! It's been awhile!
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