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:

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 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"):

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.

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:

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):

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:

That's nice and fatty toro, sweet and crunchy Mirugai, Salmon rubbed with a bit of lemon. We 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:

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.

Comments

[Rachel]

Hi Kirk !!! I am so jealous you go to try so much exotic sashimi and other dishes as well !! Count me in next time *drool* I will be a bit hesitant about the lobster though because when i have cooked lobster it makes me itch. I have yet to try the sashimi so I would probably give it a whirl too. What a bargain for so much seafood !

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Everything looks great and I'm glad you had a nice get together with some of the other food bloggers. I hope Annie and Ed enjoyed the food as well!

[Kathy]

Hi Kirk!
You were all qualified to do a delici-yoso dance judging from the pictures of the food! Everything looks so good!

[clare eats]

YUM!!!!
That looks fabulous. I keep thinking I should just pick a sea urchin up whilst snorkling... what do you think?

BTW I have dissected them before... but only for my invertebrates classes!

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

That meal looked wonderful! What a nice meal and I am sure the company was awesome. :)

[ed]

As always, your description does the food justice. I thought the meal was wonderful and interesting.

I did a complete delicioso dance in the privacy of my room later in the evening. The meal demanded it.

Sometimes, in fact, the evening was almost like the lab section of an invertabrate zoology class. We each had an echinoderm, a gastropod, two bivalves, a couple of crustaceans, and some fish (including some vertabrates was only fair, I guess).

The company was fine as well. It was nice meeting Annie and Owen.

Your photos are much better than mine. I need to work on my close-up technique.

Thanks again to you and Sammy for the great experience.

ed

[Kirk]

Hi Rachel - The comapny and food made this a wonderful dinner. I think I'd stay away from Lobster totally if I were you, or at least bring an Epi-Pen with me when I try it! BTW, the Uni was the star IMHO!

Hi Reid - Annie & Ed were great fun. Though I think we(Ed &I) may have been a litte strange for normal folk like them.

Hi Kathy - This was a pretty Uni-que meal, in that everything we wanted was available fresh and on the same day.

Hi Clare - When we were kids we used to eat the small Sea Urchins we caught(we called them vana), but they were purple inside - I don't know if I'd try it with one of these monsters though!

Hi Mills - Yes, it was alot of fun!

Hi Ed - Good to know you made it back(once again), so I'm guessing you're doing private delici-yoso dances now! LOL! See you in a few weeks.

[elmomonster]

What would we do without your amazing reports! Those few days when Typepad was down were agony!

Really loved the commentary on Ed's delici-yoso dance! Do you have a movie setting on your digital camera?

[Kristy]

Hi Kirk! Mmm...I LOVE butterfish! So ONO, for sure! Wow...what a most decadent dinner! I'm already hungry! ;)

[Jack]

Wow Kirk, that looks like a great meal. It sounds like a good time was had.

[Candice]

Hi Kirk - What a delicious post! Was the live uni a special request or do they have it readily available now? What did you think about the cost of your meal? I had dinner at Shirahama for $125 a person that was not nearly as spectacular as yours looked.

[Kirk]

Hi Elmo - Yes there's a movie setting, but it may be too intense for Younger Audiences!

Hi Kristy - This was a fun dinner, and alot had to do with not only the food, but the lively conversation.

Hi Jack - Yes, it was alot of fun!

Hi Candice - Sam doesn't usually have Live Uni as a regular item. But if he's in the mood to order, or has one of his regulars request some, he'll have a bunch. I thought this dinner was very reasonably priced. You could just have a dinner with some Nigiri, Live Uni, and Oysters for around $40-50/person. not including alcohol, which would really increase the bill quickly. Sam is willing to do something like this with advance notice.

[Jo]

Did I miss part of the read? (quite possible these days) It didn't seem like the uni was a major point of the meal? ::grins crookedly:: Or am I just reading to many real estate ads? The progression of dishes is outstanding. While I don't think I would be terribly keen on a lot of those items, I would love for Mike to be able to experience them.

Clare, I triple dog dare you to "grab" a couple on your next trip down! ;o)

[Jo]

Did I miss part of the read? (quite possible these days) It didn't seem like the uni was a major point of the meal? ::grins crookedly:: Or am I just reading to many real estate ads? The progression of dishes is outstanding. While I don't think I would be terribly keen on a lot of those items, I would love for Mike to be able to experience them.

Clare, I triple dog dare you to "grab" a couple on your next trip down! ;o)

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - No in the beginning the focus was Uni(as I noted in the first paragraph), but as things would have it, after listening to others - who in the end didn't attend, it became alot larger - but it was the Uni that was the star! No doubt about that. So in my mind, Uni was still the "centerpiece".

[howie]

Wow, what a fantastic spread! My head is spinning. I can't wait to go back, but I'll probably have to wait for a special occasion to order some of these!

[Kirk]

Hi Howie - Let me know when you're ready.....

[Jo]

yep, to many real estate ads! ::wink:: Still, I think uni makes a better lamp decoration than food item. Next time you eat them, save me the shells and spines? ::smiles sweetly::

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - Don't sit or step on them! BTW, I think you'll like live Uni.....

[clare eats]

LOL
if I can find one that isn't buried in the rocks and I have some gloves I will ;)