Favorite Sushi

The previous thread got to wondering what everyone's favorite sushi item is. My personal preference is California Rolls since they were the first I tried and the only kind i would eat for a couple years. What is y'all's?

My two favorites are sweet shrimp basically raw shrimp served on a rice bed with the head fried and the other is Tabico (flying fish roe with a raw quail egg served on top, it looks like a sunset.

Shrimp tempura roll!

Lisa

- A well made California roll.

- Unagi - Broiled eel with a sweet (teriyaki?) sauce.

- Ikura (salmon roe). I just can't get enough of it. I love the taste/feel/sensation of the little eggs exploding in my mouth.

I've also had something called a Philly roll - salmon and cream cheese. It's just too weird.

The salmon and Cream cheese, is the salmon smoked? I have seen the same thing listed as a Seattle Roll.

Ooh, sushi!

My favorites...

Individual pieces:
Yellowtail (Hamachi)
Eel (Unagi)
Mackerel (Saba)

Also, really amazing is tuna tatakki, raw tuna served in a bowl with spicy sauce.

Favorite hometown sushi: Katana, Wilkes-Barre, PA (so good, New Yorkers rave about it!)

All time favorite sushi: Sushi Sasabune, Honolulu, HI. Get the "trust me" special!!! The chef keeps feeding you course after course, you don't order, he prepares whatever is freshest---you just have to TRUST HIM! Your waitress will tell you what you're eating, where it came from and how to eat it (whether or not to dip in wasabi or soy). The Tuna was the best piece of fish I've EVER had! The Louisiana Blue Crab was heavenly. You just keep getting course after course until you say stop! Lunch was pricey---$125 for two, and the wife went ala carte, I had about eight different "plates" (about 20 pieces/rolls/creations over all), but it was our honeymoon and well worth it! An All-Time Top Ten meal of any kind!! Highly recommended!!!!!!!!!!

Oooh, my all time favorite sushi was at Nobu in Las Vegas. We sat at the bar and the chef just kept feeding us stuff. One dish Nobu is credited for inventing is "new style sashimi" which is sashimi with hot olive oil poured over it to cook it ever so slightly. So good. We ate there twice in 4 days. Couldn't get enough! Until we ran out of money.

Lisa

Jack Mackerel
Spider Rolls ( Soft Shell Crab)
Toro Nigri ( Tuna belly )

Toro, Toro, Toro

I'm sure there are many great sushi restaurants. The key for me is finding a place that is wiiling to serve only the freshest fish. Great fish will be better than imaginative rolls any day. Hatsumama in NYC is ALWAYS great. They always have a large number of Japanese clientele and a number of fish selctions you NEVER see in the suburbs. Also, they always serve fresh wasabi, which is sublime.

They have not given in to super-size sushi or hyper-rolls which resemble sandwiches. The freah flavor of the sea pervales. Gresat sakes as well...

Good Lord, i almost forgot to mention Yellowtail. GREAT stuff.

quote:

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Originally posted by vinelady

The salmon and Cream cheese, is the salmon smoked? I have seen the same thing listed as a Seattle Roll.

---

Yup. It's smoked.

I guess since I've listed my favorites here, I might as well list my least favorite: Uni (sea urchin). Yuk. I've tried and tried, but my taste buds refuse.

I got an order of sea urchin one time accidentally when I said 'uni" instead of "unagi" (the eel.) Yeah, I just couldn't take it. Pinky glittering fish jelly.

Although I did try a weird thing at the last place I went: raw tuna chunks covered with grated Japanese mountain potato, bits of nori and raw quail eggs. It was truly mouth-funky. Other things I often order:
-toro
-can't remember Japanese name, but it was a bit of flounder stuffed with umeboshi plum & shiso leaf, tempura battered & fried, served with coarse kosher salt. Wow. Not sushi, I guess, so sue me.
-tamago (I like the sweet egg thing)
-avocado handrolls
-and my newest obsession - white tuna

Here's my favorite sushi place - Konohana... http://www.sushiwithstyle.com

Hamachi (Yellowtail) is my absolute favorite. I do enjoy a good spicy tempura roll as well...who am I kidding :)...other than mackeral I pretty much like all sushi :)

I'll add a vote for sweet shrimp--------truly a variety of tastes and textures and absolutely delicious. And for those naysayers on uni (sea urchin)-----if you find a place that has the urchins live, try it-----it's taste is very different from the stuff they get out of the box. Other fasvorites include albacore tataki. and don't forget the sake!

quote:

Originally posted by EdSails

I'll add a vote for sweet shrimp--------truly a variety of tastes and textures and absolutely delicious. And for those naysayers on uni (sea urchin)-----if you find a place that has the urchins live, try it-----it's taste is very different from the stuff they get out of the box. Other fasvorites include albacore tataki. and don't forget the sake!

I'm willing to try the places with the fresh uni. Where do you go to get it?

-Yumbo (Seattle WA)

My favorite sushi is a simple fresh tuna roll with a little wasabi smeared on top...I love the egg custard, too and only recently went to a sushi place where, if you order it, they make it last to bring it out at the end of your meal because it's slightly sweet, like a dessert. Also the crab on top of rice is great. I think the simpler, the better when it comes to sushi.
Nat

I personally love uni. The best (since it has to taste really fresh) that I've had was at Sanraku in downtown San Francisco on Sutter St. That place is too good.

I hate to be simple, but the California Roll, wasabi and salty sauce and libation is great to me.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

we can all go on about what sushi we like and don't like but the other sushi purists will agree with me on this one. a california roll is *not* sushi. why spend the extra money when you can get the same thing at red lobster: fake crab meat.

the best rule to follow is if a place cooks food there, it's not real sushi. a real sushi chef will not offer kobe steaks or something like that also. the chefs that are committed to the artform do nothing but sushi.

anyone in atlanta, go to MFSushiBar to see what it's really about. the owner has turned away fish in the past because he thought it wasn't of the best quality and he wouldn't serve it to his customers. if you'd like to see the website, just add a dot com to the end of the name.

Inari. I love the simple sweet sticky rice in a little pouch of what I think is fried tofu.

There was a sushi house in Fresno that was ran by a Nissei Japanese family that were friends of mine from work. They made great Sushi and I used to eat there alot.

Uni,Hamachi,unagi--i love it all!!!Never met a sushi i didnt like---especially if its sitting next to some warm saki! Give me a slab of raw tuna,some dipping sauce and a glob of wasabi and im in heaven!

I'm all about the hamachi, although I'm perfectly happy to eat just about anything except sweet shrimp (allergies) and spider rolls (don't like softshell crab).

My favorite sushi is the Diatoro Oily Tuna. its sooooo rich and just melts like heaven in your mouth. I also love the Spider roll which is the soft shell crab with flying fish eggs. I love the way the eggs pop in my mouth its very sensual. As my name suggests i live for sushi....and i will try anything once. I have yet to find any sushi i didnt like!! great now im hungry maybe i will go get a couple of dragonfly rolls and some plum wine...

Raw salmon is probably my favorite, although it's closely tied with hamachi and tuna. On the rare occasions I've had fresh albacore and white tuna, those were also great. I love unagi, too. Hell, I love it all.

As for rolls, I don't mind the California roll, but it's really not my favorite. Good for initiating the squeamish to the wonderful world of sushi due to its non-threatening nature, though. I prefer hamachi and scallion rolls, and spicy tuna rolls.

Ariane

quote:

Originally posted by Caiman

we can all go on about what sushi we like and don't like but the other sushi purists will agree with me on this one. a california roll is *not* sushi. why spend the extra money when you can get the same thing at red lobster: fake crab meat.
the best rule to follow is if a place cooks food there, it's not real sushi. a real sushi chef will not offer kobe steaks or something like that also. the chefs that are committed to the artform do nothing but sushi.

Not to be contentious here, but as far as I know California rolls were invented by a japanese sushi chef trying to make sushi more appealing to US palates - and it obviously worked! While I'm not a real fan of surimi (fake crab),I've also had cali rolls with real crab meat that were just great. I also like spider rolls, etc., along with the freshest and finest of sushi-dom, and there's nothing wrong with that. I've also had wonderful amazing sushi at places that actually cooked things as well but happened to have a great sushi bar/chef. Cooking as a divinely-inspired higher-realm art-form for purists only is fine, but I've also had lots of great sushi in private homes where there was no elitism involved - it's all about ingredients and care of preparation, not necessarily about price, setting, and attitude.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhodes

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<div style="border: 1px #999999 solid; background-color: #DCDCDC; padding: 4px;">Originally posted by Caiman

we can all go on about what sushi we like and don't like but the other sushi purists will agree with me on this one. a california roll is *not* sushi. why spend the extra money when you can get the same thing at red lobster: fake crab meat.
the best rule to follow is if a place cooks food there, it's not real sushi. a real sushi chef will not offer kobe steaks or something like that also. the chefs that are committed to the artform do nothing but sushi.

Not to be contentious here, but as far as I know California rolls were invented by a japanese sushi chef trying to make sushi more appealing to US palates - and it obviously worked! While I'm not a real fan of surimi (fake crab),I've also had cali rolls with real crab meat that were just great. I also like spider rolls, etc., along with the freshest and finest of sushi-dom, and there's nothing wrong with that. I've also had wonderful amazing sushi at places that actually cooked things as well but happened to have a great sushi bar/chef. Cooking as a divinely-inspired higher-realm art-form for purists only is fine, but I've also had lots of great sushi in private homes where there was no elitism involved - it's all about ingredients and care of preparation, not necessarily about price, setting, and attitude.


That reminds me of a couple visiting from Japan that we got to know. They invited us to their apartment, where they had live lobsters. The "men" then started the preparation of lobster shashimi, which involved grabbing a live lobster and twisting off its tail then quickly cutting open the tail and scooping out the meat . The lobster torso was then tossed into boiling water. Then by tradition the "women" prepared the rest of the sashimi, while the "men" retired to the living to start drinking the sake.

Very different in some ways, but then again, not that different in roles and preparation to a dinner of grilling your food!

I like mackerel. I think of it as the stinky cheese of the sushi world.

Best sushi I ever ate is uni (sea urchin) topped with a raw quail egg yolk.........divine! Of course anything with tobikko or ahi is delicious too.

Didn't like it as a kid, but now I love mirugai (long neck clam).