On the recommendation of a couple I met at the Krug Room the night before, I decided to check out this, "moderately priced sushi joint." Compared to starred sushi places, this is indeed moderately priced, but by no means cheap. I arrived early enough to get one of the only two seats open on a packed night. Asking for anything that might not be on the menu, I happily learned that kinmedai (alfonsino) was available, which was so amazing at RyuGin cooked that I had to try it as sashimi. This is also my first encounter with the small black fish, mijina. Then I ordered a few things that looked good as they passed by.
Shou Zen is a nice place to go early to check out the selection of daily specials items. Given their rice style, go with sashimi over sushi. If they aren't slammed, they do a pretty good job at deep frying. And while I didn't try any, the flaming beef dishes looked good with the pieces served rare on hot slate.
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1. Garlic: marinated in dashi and sprinkled with bonito, these have lost most of their garlicky flavor but not the garlic crunch.
2. Aji Belly, Swordfish Belly, Toro Sushi: All of these used medium grain rice that's a bit overcooked. Without the textural separation of great short grain, the overall experience suffers. At least it's well-seasoned. Aji/ This close to the skin, there's a bit of crunch before the beautifully fatty interior on this cut of aji. Swordfish/ Scored to increase the perception of tenderness, this still has a bit too much crunch. It's flavor profile is close to hamachi but fishier. There's a fair amount of oil here, but it's not very refined. Toro/ Nicely melty fat make this some kind of wonderful. Sadly, there's an untrimmed strand of silverskin in this piece.
3. Mijina and Kinmedai Sashimi: Mijina/ Slices of translucent white mijina resemble fluke. They have a fairly neutral taste with a little crunch (thus necessitating the thin slices) and pomelo sac grain. Kinmedai/ After the spectacular rice-crusted kinmedai at RyuGin, I had to try this ingredient raw. It's not on the menu, but that's the reward for dining at 6PM before everyone else arrives; you get to inspect the best of what's come in before the masses. Well this certainly did not disappoint. It's richer and fattier than the mijina in a aji meets red snapper kind of way. It doesn't have the initial crunch of the fattiest part of aji (which I don't consider a great attribute on a fatty fish anyways). And it has cleaner oil than either aji or red snapper. The flesh pulls apart beautifully with a slightly lighter flavored collagen and more bite than chutoro. Could this be the turbot of Japan?
4. Mijina Bones: The head and bones from the mijina get whisked away and return deep fried. They're perfectly seasoned and the light batter works well here. The head and gills are great, but some of the bones aren't fully cooked through. Delicious, but caution required.
5. Botan Ebi Sushi: Beautiful, medium sweet shrimp. It's not as sweet as amaebi. It's closest to langoustine with a slight bitter edge and a gummier texture. This would have been better torched to alleviate both issues.
6. Botan Ebi Head: Overbattered compared to the mijina bones but still good. The head fat resembles a cross between Dungeness crab back fat and amaebi head fat is hot and juicy under that crunchy shell.
High res photos and ratings at tastecompendium(dot)com
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