TBA
Joe's Birthday
As Mike said, completing the cycle. First his birthday at Sasabune, my birthday at Masukasu, and now Joe's birthday at Sushi Tsujita.
The food- which is more than just sushi- is delicious, the chefs clearly take great pleasure with their jobs, the decor is masterwork imported from Japan, and the company is, as always, enjoyable!
Dessert down the street at Matcha-cha was good, too. Soft serve with surprisingly good waffle cones. Happy Birthday, Joe!
The menu:
Shark skin flounder fin - cooked soft atop spinach (?), great way to start the meal.
Golden eye snapper - slightly buttery and very smooth.
Shark skin flounder (Hokkaido) - a hint of salt, so good.
Pine mushroom soup - very limited season, was excellent, more intense than merely delicate.
Bluefin tuna - we thought this was wow...
Smoked king mackerel - smoked was a unique way to do this as nigiri. A little intense smokiness followed, it was quite good.
Smoked Japanese mackerel - then they pulled out all the stops! More of a traditional mackerel type but smoked, not quite as dramatic a difference here to regular saba, but still have to admire their creativity.
Ama ebi marinated in kelp (live sweet shrimp) - solid.
Oo-toro - from medium toro (bluefin tuna belly) earlier, which we thought was wow... this was so fatty it was over the top, yet still flavorful.
Sockeye salmon (Hokkaido) - slightly different than the usual King salmon, but not the same as Alaskan sockeye. Solid addition to show off the breadth of their selection of fish.
Aji (Spanish mackerel) - delicate yet the intensity typical of mackerel remains in the background. Also nom.
Soft roll tempura with shisito pepper - quite good, much better than the average tempura around here, but yet clearly not their focus.
Squid - holy cow this was good.
Pike mackerel - yes, more... but still so good. Had no idea there were this many varieties of mackerel in sushi!
Japanese kasugo (young snapper) - something about the skin and the slightly meatier texture, delicious.
Buri (yellowtail, Hokkaido) - a cut above the usual yellowtail you get. Yum.
Uni ikura bowl - ikura from Hokkaido - a great balance between the intensity of ikura vs. the creaminess of uni.
Miso soup - of course.
Tamago - more like a cake than eggy, just right for dessert.
Yuzu juice with sparkling water - as a finisher, was lovely.