Sumi Yakitori
For the previous review of this restaurant, please click here.
Hi Uncle Steve,
Too much food in too little time, after our meal at Brava the night before followed by Yo Yo Ma, I touched base with a friend who asked about dinner. I was picking Lauren up from work and, based on his request for sake, we suggested Sumi Yakitori.
It was a relaxed meal, if pricey ($75 pp, incl. tax and tip) meal, though admitted $62+tt was just for the two bottles of sake. It was however, extraordinary and far exceeded all expectations notwithstanding our prior visit. [Due to dishes coming in some haphazardly as we ordered throughout the meal, the following is in no particular order.]
As noted, throughout the meal, we went through two bottles of sake: a Kikusui Perfect Snow (a cloudy sake) and a Kikisui Brewery (a clear sake). Both were excellent bottles, the former in particular was the milkiest sake any of us had ever had (and my friend is a sake fan).
Ben and I started by ordering some yakitoris, including the previously reviewed Berkshire Sausage (again fantastic) and a new mushroom yakitori, which was delicious. Lauren began with a cup of miso soup, which was again great, and I had a small green salad, with avocado, shredded carrots, and a ginger dressing.
Near the end of the meal (I said this was out of order), this arrived:
I had ordered the Ika Maru Yaki, i.e., the largest eating squid I've ever seen grilled, sliced, and topped with spicy mayo. It was fascinating and delicious.
Somewhere in the middle of the meal, we had our highlight of the night: the mysteriously named Hotate Butter. As I am prone to do, I ordered it off the cuff: I knew it had scallop and the word butter was in the name. The intrigue rose when our waitress warned me that it wasn't just the scallop muscle, it was the whole scallop. Having never seen a scallop in shell or a whole scallop (and not really giving a damn), I told her I was fine with it.
Now, for some educational background, which I am just learning now, here is a photo from the Internet of a whole scallop in shell:
The part usually consumed in the USA is the pale pink circle in the middle, which is the muscle that holds the bivalve shell together. Our dish, though shelled, included the ring around that main muscle. For lack of a better description, the scallop was cooked in butter and topped with a dollop of spicy mayo. I wish I had a picture, because other than what I've described, I have no idea what I ate.
Holy shit. This was fantastic, unbelievable, a top-10, and as noted the highlight of the night. It is hard to describe, but the best I can come up with is that it had a bit of chewiness (more akin to beef than seafood) and the briny flavor profile of a raw oyster. At my urging, Ben tried one of the four to the plate and promptly ordered a second plate of them.
I'm almost inclined to end the review there (it helps I only had one photo). Suffice it to say, Ben had two nigiris a la carte and an Arizona roll, Lauren had a nigiri dinner, and I had a sashimi dinner. All of the seafood was fantastically fresh and we remain unwavering in saying this is the best sushi in Miami we've had. Doing a little background for this post, I saw there were a few news articles relaying something about daily fly-ins from Japan, but I'll leave that alone for now. Ben, notwithstanding my hype and my prior review (which I sent him), was thoroughly impressed. He spends a fair bit of time in NYC, where there is some excellent Japanese sushi, and he thought this ranked up there. He was half-inclined to bring his cousin (who is planning to open a sushi restaurant in Grand Central Station) here for inspiration.
Until next time...
Hi Uncle Steve,
Too much food in too little time, after our meal at Brava the night before followed by Yo Yo Ma, I touched base with a friend who asked about dinner. I was picking Lauren up from work and, based on his request for sake, we suggested Sumi Yakitori.
It was a relaxed meal, if pricey ($75 pp, incl. tax and tip) meal, though admitted $62+tt was just for the two bottles of sake. It was however, extraordinary and far exceeded all expectations notwithstanding our prior visit. [Due to dishes coming in some haphazardly as we ordered throughout the meal, the following is in no particular order.]
As noted, throughout the meal, we went through two bottles of sake: a Kikusui Perfect Snow (a cloudy sake) and a Kikisui Brewery (a clear sake). Both were excellent bottles, the former in particular was the milkiest sake any of us had ever had (and my friend is a sake fan).
Ben and I started by ordering some yakitoris, including the previously reviewed Berkshire Sausage (again fantastic) and a new mushroom yakitori, which was delicious. Lauren began with a cup of miso soup, which was again great, and I had a small green salad, with avocado, shredded carrots, and a ginger dressing.
Near the end of the meal (I said this was out of order), this arrived:
I had ordered the Ika Maru Yaki, i.e., the largest eating squid I've ever seen grilled, sliced, and topped with spicy mayo. It was fascinating and delicious.
Somewhere in the middle of the meal, we had our highlight of the night: the mysteriously named Hotate Butter. As I am prone to do, I ordered it off the cuff: I knew it had scallop and the word butter was in the name. The intrigue rose when our waitress warned me that it wasn't just the scallop muscle, it was the whole scallop. Having never seen a scallop in shell or a whole scallop (and not really giving a damn), I told her I was fine with it.
Now, for some educational background, which I am just learning now, here is a photo from the Internet of a whole scallop in shell:
The part usually consumed in the USA is the pale pink circle in the middle, which is the muscle that holds the bivalve shell together. Our dish, though shelled, included the ring around that main muscle. For lack of a better description, the scallop was cooked in butter and topped with a dollop of spicy mayo. I wish I had a picture, because other than what I've described, I have no idea what I ate.
Holy shit. This was fantastic, unbelievable, a top-10, and as noted the highlight of the night. It is hard to describe, but the best I can come up with is that it had a bit of chewiness (more akin to beef than seafood) and the briny flavor profile of a raw oyster. At my urging, Ben tried one of the four to the plate and promptly ordered a second plate of them.
I'm almost inclined to end the review there (it helps I only had one photo). Suffice it to say, Ben had two nigiris a la carte and an Arizona roll, Lauren had a nigiri dinner, and I had a sashimi dinner. All of the seafood was fantastically fresh and we remain unwavering in saying this is the best sushi in Miami we've had. Doing a little background for this post, I saw there were a few news articles relaying something about daily fly-ins from Japan, but I'll leave that alone for now. Ben, notwithstanding my hype and my prior review (which I sent him), was thoroughly impressed. He spends a fair bit of time in NYC, where there is some excellent Japanese sushi, and he thought this ranked up there. He was half-inclined to bring his cousin (who is planning to open a sushi restaurant in Grand Central Station) here for inspiration.
Until next time...
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