I was so sure that I had posted about the partial re-birth of Cafe Sushi before, but danged if a feller can’t find it. While he (the feller I mean, not I) still looks here are my comments.
I composed my own delivery omakase tonight:
Branzino (straight up)
Branzino with iced onion slivers, sesame sauce, and daikon sprouts
Salmon belly with ponzu
Santa Barbara uni (unadorned, clean, sweet, excellent)
Sea bream with wasabi oil, a touch of lemon and a grain or two of rock salt
Cured tuna, with yuzu kasha and scallion
Spicy scallop handroll, a cone with slivered cucumber, scallion and sprinkled tobiko
That was the order in which I, on sober refection, ought to have eaten the food. Greedy pig that I am I ate things randomly. [But, in my defense, I did engage in culinary cogitation – or what substitutes for thought in my case – those of you are experienced thinkers: is the feeling similar to passing gas? – after.]
Everything was exceptional. To quote our great @Amandarama “I am sadness” at the passing of the original.
But, hey, if some of you can get off your fat wallets and spend a buck or a hundred here, perhaps we can get them back to their previous glory.
Talking sordid dollars: With dropping $55 on an excellent bottle of sake and $24 on the uni, the price was $140. [ETA: before tip and delivery charges.]
I remain sad at its passing. I don’t suppose they deliver as far as Waltham . Your meal sounds fantastic though! Had some very solid DIY omakase sashimi delivery from Umi here in town - sayori, kinmedai, salmon, toro, and uni with some rice on the side. Hit the spot!
I have no actual knowledge of anything. I was merely expressing the hope that sufficient demand for their “signature sushi” compositions might suggest to them that the market would support such a re-opening.
I get stuff from Cafe Sushi off and on, and it’s always very good. Most recently on Friday. I also happened to get some food from Sugidama in Davis square the very next day. The fish from Cafe Sushi was hands down better – better cut, better texture, better taste, especially their “signature” compositions. Interestingly their chu-toro also won over Sugidama’s toro.
Sugidama does have an excellent soft-shell crab tempura, though. I recommend it highly.
As a long-term member of the Culinary Historians of New York I attended a zoom talk tonight on Japanese serving dishes, table arrangements, and suchlike.
What better food to have with it than another round from Cafe Sushi? I focused on their composed salmon and branzino sushi. On the salmon side I had sesame salmon, lightly torched, melting salmon belly, and 12-spice salmon (in all honesty, I couldn’t identify the 12 spices – rather as one might not be able to identify the individual ingredients in a good garam masala – but the whole was beautifully harmonious). The two branzino offerings were with iced onion and sesame, and – my favorite of the evening – kombu-cured with wasabi oil.
Dessert was their large, spicy scallop handroll. (If you get nothing else from them, get this.)
. Your meal sounds fantastic though! Had some very solid DIY omakase sashimi delivery from Umi here in town - sayori, kinmedai, salmon, toro, and uni with some rice on the side. Hit the spot!
