Crooked Kitchen

The Sushi Bar

One of the reasons I want to save money is to be able to splurge every now and then. One of the things I like to splurge on is good sushi. Eventually, I’ll be able to have my kidney transplant, and unfortunately, the resultant anti-rejection drugs will cause me to not be able to eat raw fish ever again. So before I have my transplant, I’m planning a huge splurge at a top-quality sushi restaurant.

Over the last couple months, I’ve visited a few sushi restaurants in the Santa Barbara area and had some of their best. I’d like to write about the sushi I’ve had.

Arigato

Salmon and Japanese Snapper Nigiri

One of my favorite fishes to start with is salmon. I have a love/hate relationship with salmon, in that I love it raw, but dislike it cooked. Even barely cooked salmon turns me off – it can’t be warm, it has to be cool or cold. I also enjoy the different white fishes, especially types of snapper with ponzu and negi garnishes, like this Japanese snapper.

Bluefin Tuna and Kampachi Nigiri

If I had to compare the more expensive and sought-after bluefin tuna with the more common ahi (yellowfin) tuna, I’d say bluefin is more meaty and less metallic tasting. Now, when I say ahi is “metallic,” I’m not saying it’s a bad flavor. It’s a quality that’s hard to describe – somewhere between tangy and fresh. Kampachi, on the other hand, is simultaneously fresh-tasting and buttery. Some places add garnishes to kampachi and hamachi, but oftentimes I like it better ungarnished.

Uni and Mirugai Nigiri

Living in Santa Barbara, sea urchin is plentiful, and it’s easy to get high-quality uni. This was the first time I’d had good uni at a time that I was prepared to enjoy it. It’s certainly a taste that’s inline with the other acquired tastes of sushi and Japanese cuisine in general. If you enjoy raw oysters, uni isn’t far off. Mirugai, also known as giant clam or geoduck, is another thing I hadn’t tasted up to this point. I’m not sure how good this sample was in relation to all the mirugai sushi out there, but I wasn’t terribly impressed. It wasn’t bad, but I’m betting it could have been better. (Note that I did get two pieces – I forgot to take the picture until I had already eaten a piece.)

Jalapeno Hamachi Sashimi

I don’t so often like to indulge in the Americanized new-style dishes at a sushi bar. By this I mean the kinds that combine a lot of untraditional flavors, especially mayonnaise-based sauces. However, sometimes I do order them, either to satisfy my curiosity, or to fill me up cheaper than going with all the exotic nigiri I usually like. Granted, rolls are better at the latter than sashimi, and indeed I ordered this sashimi to satisfy my curiosity over yellowtail with jalapeno, which seems to be a popular combination. Unfortunately, I found there was just too much mayo here.

Tobiko and Idtakko Nigiri

I’m a fan of fish roe on sushi, and I’ve had masago often in the past, but never tobiko, so I opted to try it out. I’d also seen idtakko (baby octopus), and it’s been on my list of strange sushi to try out. It was less chewy than regular cooked tako sushi, and since it was marinated and garnished, it was pretty flavorful.

Ankimo and Anago Nigiri

By this point in the meal, I was about ready to call it quits, but not before trying two more things on my list: ankimo (monkfish liver), and anago (sea eel). Ankimo is said to be similar to foie gras, and in texture it was. The flavor was different, obviously – closer to the flavor tones of sushi and fish than the savory notes of French cooking. The anago seemed to me just similar to unagi (freshwater eel), which I’ve had many times before, and to me it’s the teriyaki chicken of the sushi world.

Sakana

Salmon Sashimi

Like I said above, I enjoy salmon. By this meal, I’d realized how much I liked it, and went ahead and ordered some nice salmon sashimi to start. This was interesting, served on ice with thinly sliced lemon.

Modai Snapper and Otoro Nigiri

I like to order off the specials menu at a sushi bar – at a good place, often those are the freshest and best choices for the night. Here I ordered the special Modai snapper, and I went all the way and ordered the otoro, the fattiest, most prized part of the tuna.

Aburi Yellowtail Belly and Aburi Engawa Nigiri (mixed up sauces)

Here I went for another semi-Americanized indulgence, and a local delicacy that I’d enjoyed before: aburi yellowtail belly and aburi engawa nigiri. Apparently “aburi” refers to sushi that’s been seared with a blowtorch to bring out the fatty flavors of the fish. The aburi yellowtail belly was scorched yellowtail with habanero, chives, and roasted jalapeno yogurt sauce. Engawa is halibut fin muscle, reportedly hard to find, but with the abundance of local halibut in Santa Barbara, every sushi bar has it. It was topped with sliced negi and some sort of miso/ponzu vinaigrette. At least that’s how they were supposed to be. The making of my sushi was passed off to a second itamae because the one serving me was busy with other orders, and this other sushi chef must have gotten confused, because the sauces were on the wrong fish. Notice the crosshatched pattern on the nigiri on the left – that’s an identifying mark of engawa, yet the yogurt-based sauce is on top of it, and the miso sauce is on the other pair.

T&T Roll

After seeing all the special rolls being prepared for other patrons of this sushi bar (it’s a popular place and was crowded), I had to order one. This a T&T Roll – spicy tuna, crab meat, and avocado in the roll, topped with tuna and jalapeno. The jalapeno wasn’t as hot as it looks. One thing I didn’t enjoy was the oversaucing of the plate. The sauces weren’t listed on the menu for this roll, but by tasting and comparing with other rolls listed, I’ve guessed that they are eel sauce, chive oil, coconut curry sauce, and a roasted red pepper basil sauce.

Tamago Nigiri

Sometimes I like to end a sushi binge with a “dessert-like” sushi, and tamago usually fits the bill. The best tamago nigiri is made at the bar to order, but that’s hard to find. The second best is made in small batches throughout the day, and kept at the ready. Sadly, many places either make a bag batch early in the day and keep it refrigerated through service, or buy their tamagoyaki premade. This tamago tasted premade – it was served to me very cold, it was quite sweet, and tasted of alcohol like the mirin wasn’t cooked off. It was by far the worst sushi I’ve had in a long time.

Torching a Roll

Since this place had a lot of “aburi” sushi and special rolls, I got a good show all evening, with the sushi chefs using their blowtorches to sear rolls and nigiri. I thought my itamae looked a lot like Iron Chef Sakai.

Some of the others I’ve had, but didn’t get pictures of:
Nigiri: marinated ono, seared black pepper ahi, smoked salmon w/ cream cheese and kelp pickle, amaebi, squid, chutoro, Japanese sea scallop, octopus, halibut
Sashimi: wild salmon, oyster shooter
Rolls: MaMa Mia (yellowtail, salmon, avocado, cucumber, jalapeno masago, jalapeno, “grazed garlic”, spicy aioli, chive oil), BaySider (Japanese sweet scallop, snow crab, asparagus, masago, spicy aioli)

If there’s any other sushi that you think I should try before I run out of time, let me know in the comments!