Set inside a strip mall that is chockful of stores, crowded & busy in detail, Sushi Iki with narrow frontage is almost lost in the jumble of this clautrophobic mini mall. The interior is small yet serene w/ tables in front & a stylish sushi bar in back that reflects details from Nordic/Japanese design elements that date back to the 1980's.
The "action" is at the bar which has only 10 seats where you have a ring side seat with Chef Eddie doing his culinary legerdemain. There is a lot of pride of showmanship & mastery of his craft. Chef Eddie is not afraid to let you know in a nice way.
Two Japanese words come to mind describing the Omakase (oh mah kah seh) at Sushi Iki: Go-ka, luxurious, gorgeous, sumptuous; Yu-ga, exquisite, carefree. The highend ingredients & fish used are not for the parsimonious, frugal, & penurious at heart.
To eat the kind of Sushi/Sashimi that is presented, one must be able to let go & go whole hog without hesitation nor thoughts of timidity. Chef Eddie gives you the "sky diving" version of his updated, totally & uniquely decadent style. Emperor Caligula, Nero, members of the Ottoman court would be eating at Sushi Iki if they were alive today.
1) I was started off with Hirame (halibut) Sashimi w/ a dollop of Osetra caviar that was rolled around a paté that includes Uni (sea urchin) & white truffles swimming in a light Ponzu (pone zoo) sauce.
The most interesting flavour sensation was the paté which simulated the taste & texture of Ricotta cheese w/ a slight acidic humus/mushroominess & Ko-ji (Sake lees) fermented Umami undertones. Two dainty pieces for $49 so latch on the seatbelt cuz it's gonna be a wild ride.
2) Two pieces of Hon Maguro tuna Sushi were meaty, full of the taste of blood w/ faint hemato-minerality & a faint gaminess from a curing process like eating a well aged prime steak. Unsophisticated Sushi eaters should avoid this dish.
3) Engawa of Hirame Sushi is the chewy meat found around the base of the dorsal & ventral fins of flat fish. The flesh was seared to give it a cooked char & rougher texture than just raw. Artfully the Engawa is split down the middle to expose a fresh emerald green Shiso leaf underneath. The green & the brown/white of the Engawa complement each other visually. This an exercise in discerning subtle textures & meaty flavours as well as the richness of the natural fattiness in the Engawa.
4) Live Hotate Gai (scallops) Sushi is topped with Osetra Caviar resting on bright green Shiso leaves. The scallop is gigantic, velvety but densely packed w/ sea sweetness & whisper of ocean minerality.
This can not be eaten in one bite. I ate 1/2 of the Hotate as Sashimi using the Ponzu sauce in the dish so the other 1/2 could be put in my mouth as Sushi. A small cooked side dish of Himo or internal organs with sweet pickled seaweed was eaten as the concluding act.
5) Visually the pièce de résistance of this Omakase was the live Uni presentation. The spikey, purplish/black half shell of the Uni was the vase garnished w/ snow white finely julienned Japanese Daikon creating a cushy bed for the Shiso & the 5 orange/darktan leaves of the gonads of the Uni.
Who could dream that sex organs could taste so good? Well, maybe that is why there was a commercial from years back that said, "Eat out more often." Obviously the freshness was there, The Uni was plump, large, generous, & tasted of an elegant sea custard that melts in the mouth like Ambrosia of the Gods. Truly orgasmic in taste & appearance. This was a tour de force by Chef Eddie.
6) Back to reality with the Kuro Dai or black snapper Sushi slathered w/ Yuzu Kosho-. The texture is denser, slipperier, smoother, cleaner tasting than the red. Yuzu Kosho- citrus/chile paste enlivened the light flavours.
7) Mutsu Sushi is from a fish that lives down 1000m near the bottom of the seabed. It was seared to create a meatier texure & tasted like cod.
8) O-toro Sushi with Toro "bacon": The O-toro was ever so slightly seared, blessed w/ sea salt. Simple flavouring to emphasize the fatty richness. The skin near the belly is salted down like bacon & baked to a bacon-like finish.
9) Seeing a group order the Wagyu- (wah ghee yu) Sushi, I ordered just the 2 slices of Ko-be (koh beh) style ribeye from the Miyagi region. The beefy taste absent in many American beef was there, but the texture of this Ko-be was out of this world. Soft yet chewy, marbled with tasty beefy fat, melt in your mouth goodness. Next time I will order this Shio Yaki (salt roasted) instead of the sweetened Sho-yu (soy sauce) which may have hidden more of the nuanced flavours in the beef.
All the above was perfectly paired with Harushika Cho-karakuchi Sake (sah keh) which was super dry w/ light hinoki wood, white florals, astringency to clear the palate, sweetness in the final attack.
10) A dessert of coconut granita dressed w/ fruit syrup put the final curtain to this Epicurean debauch. read more