A Uni-que Dinner at Sammy’s

*** Sammy Sushi has closed.

A few weeks back, I made mention of a Live-Uni meal at Sammy Sushi, my regular, neighborhood sushi joint on Chowhound. At that time I was thinking of a setting up a small "set menu", with Uni as the centerpiece. Well as things would have it, after exchanging Emails and discussion with Sam, we seriously expanded the menu. We still tried to keep the price down, and purposely tried to keep to a small party (9 or so). I knew that Ed from Yuma was going to make it. Due in part to the busy Holiday season, people started dropping out. Until in the end it was the wonderful Annie, fellow food blogger, from Green Beans in Writing, her Beau, Ed from Yuma, and Myself. No problems though, it is the busy time of the year! I arrived about a half hour early; to a "Ooooh, Kirk-San, I got some reaaallly GOOD Stuff!" Sam immediately started showing me the live lobster, and all the other "stuff".

Ed arrived and soon after Annie and Her Mister arrived, and the meal started. Let me just say that this was pretty funny. Every dish fell victim to 3 digital cameras. I finally felt a bit "normal"!!! I've always had problems taking photos in Sammy's, and this time was no exception. My photos really won't do justice to the food. I'm hoping that Annie's come out better, and she does a post, which I'll link here.

We started with a Salmon Skin Salad:

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A nice small portion of mixed greens with with toasted strips of crunchy, chewy salmon skin(think bacon), sprinkled with tobiko(Flying Fish "caviar"), dressed with the tangy, salty-sour Unidinner02_1 ponzu sauce. As we were eating the salad, we could see Sam and his Assistant "working" on the live Uni. First perforating the shell, then cleaning, and arranging the wonderful "gonads" on a Shiso leaf in the Uni shell on a bed of ice. Sorry for the bad picture; I'll go back soon and try to take a better photo! For all you Uni haters out there; the flavor of  "fresh Uni" is a far cry from "wood/styrofoam Uni". If anything, the taste is milder then w/s Uni, yet sweeter, and the texture is like a velvety custard. I watched Ed close his eyes tightly, as if to imprint the taste in his mind, he started raising his hand, almost to delici-yoso dance level, but he caught Himself in time. I'd mentioned the delici-yoso dance to Annie, so I guess Ed was feeling a bit self conscious. The bad thing about live Uni is, once you've had live uni, it's really hard to eat the "other stuff".

The next item was a portion of Misoyaki Gindara(Black Cod/"Butterfish"):

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The moist, buttery fish, had a very smooth and slightly sweet miso taste. The fish could have stood for another day of marinating, and perhaps a bit more carmelization. But as a whole pretty good.Unidinner04_1

Next up was the Awabi(Abalone) Sashimi, one of the items that Sam added to the menu. Ed & I shared a whole small abalone. I thought this was just ok. The abalone was very fresh, I saw Sam opening and cleaning it when I arrived. The taste was not as sweet and the texture, not as soft as I expected. Honestly, I'd have preferred Mirugai(Giant Clam/Geoduck).

The Nigiri started arriving, first with Maguro and Kanpachi:

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The Maguro was excellent, but the Kanpachi(Amberjack) was fabulous. Nicely ivory-pink in color, with a taste and texture that can be best described as a firmer Hamachi. Sam mentioned that this was Big Island Kanpachi, by telling me; "Kirk-san this Kanpachi swam all the way from Kona to have dinner with you tonight!" Ed actually did a three-quarter delici-yoso dance; he stopped when we started laughing, I'm sure it would have been a full delici-yoso dance had we not started cracking up.

Kaki(Oyster):

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Two plump Washington State Oysters with ponzu and tobiko, one of my "regular" dishes! Today I could really taste the brine and freshness.

More Nigiri:

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That's nice and fatty toro, sweet and crunchy Mirugai, Salmon rubbed with a bit of lemon. We Unidinner09 also had Amaebi(sweet shrimp), as well as the fried Atama(head), in my opinion, the better part of the shrimp. As we were finishing up, we started watching the show; a new reality series called Sammy versus the Lobster. At times it seemed that the lobster had the upper hand, but finally one, then the other lobster gave in, and the Lobster Sashimi arrived. I'd never had lobster sashimi before, but this really didn't "wow" me. There was the same faint essence of "cooked" lobster, with a very faint sweetness. The meat is quite dense and rich, and very filling. After trying several different flavor combinations, I settled on a squeeze of lemon.  This was a nice experience, though I don't think I'll have it again.

To finish up this decadent meal, we had a Lobster Soup:

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The head and claws of the lobster is simmered in a mild dashi-miso broth, and makes a rich, slightly salty broth. Now this is delici-yoso!!!

So the hits to me? Live Uni, Salmon Skin Salad, Kanpachi, Oysters, Toro, Mirugai, and the Lobster Soup. Just goes to show you that looks are deceiving, there are places that are hidden gems everywhere. Oh, the damage? Without alcohol about $70 a person!

Thanks for being great company Ed & Annie!!!! Hope to do this again in the future.