*** On October 11th 2008 Sammy called it a day.
Welcome to mmm-yoso!!!, Kirk's blog on the wonderful world of food from San Diego and beyond. Sometimes, he lets one of his friends post here, and today, ed from Yuma will share some more salacious sushi pics.
A few weeks ago when I was preparing my first excursion into the fishy world of sushi pornography, I was surprised by how many of my favorite raw pictures were of items from Sammy Sushi, not Sakura.
After I thought about it for a while, I began to understand why. Ever since I first wandered into Katzra, where Sammy was then employed, on a rainy night many years ago, I have been impressed by Sammy's skills as an itamae. Not only is his fish usually fresh and tasty, but he creates an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness in his sushi bar. Over the last few years he has honed these skills (as well as a number of knives, I suspect) at his own place on Engineer, about a block away from Convoy.
While Sammy's kitchen does not turn out the wide range of tasty izakaya treats like Sakura, he does more than just sushi. For example, the salmon skin salad is a wonderful combination of crunchy, fishy, and smoky flavors:
In addition, Sammy's appeals to me because it is a great American neighborhood sushi bar (in the best sense of the term). The friendly atmosphere and reasonable prices attract a lot of regulars. If one wants to watch a World Cup game or a baseball playoff, Sammy has no problem turning on his television set. Similarly, Sammy's menu contains a wide range of America's favorite rolled sushi. Sometimes it's nice to tuck into something like a spider roll or rainbow roll, though in general, my taste in rolls runs to the more traditional, as in this beautiful albacore roll:
Sammy also creates pressed sushi, using the mold somewhat like a plastic ice cube tray to create oblong cubes of densely packed rice and raw fish:
As you can tell from this close-up, this version contains maguro and some crunchy items along with the rice, presenting a mix of flavors and textures:
Sammy also does a wide range of nigiri sushi. The salmon and mirugai shown here were both excellent:
Some days, the sushi at Sammy's crosses over the line into the obscenely good. This display of naked fishflesh (hamachi) makes me want to eat my computer screen:
Similarly, I cannot imagine any connoisseur of crustaceans not being aroused by this gorgeous display of amaebi, split wide open, its pearly moist luster beckoning the viewer into serious indulgence:
Of course, in my mind, no post on such an erotic and exotic topic would be complete without a look at some fresh uni. Here the sex organs of a sea urchin lie exposed above the rest of its body:
In the tradition of fine pornography (so I am told), I feel it is completely appropriate to end with a close-up of this kinky echinoderm, a picture that leaves nothing (except the rich creamy flavor) to the imagination:
Now that is truly obscene.
Sammy Sushi, 7905 Engineer Road San Diego, CA 92111
I need to find myself a sushi place. ;-( Talk about food porn.....
Posted by: nhbilly | Tuesday, 22 January 2008 at 09:46 PM
Wow. Looks fantastic. Thanks for the post. Gonna be in the area tomorrow, and will have to check it out
Posted by: Stephen | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 12:12 AM
What perfect timing! I'm heading over to Sammy's this evening for dinner. And those pictures are the perfect things to get my appetite going (not that it needs any help).
Posted by: Carol | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 01:35 PM
UPDATE: Guess I should have called first. I didn't
realize they were ONLY open for dinner. Oh, well, another time.
Posted by: Stephen | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 02:06 PM
Too bad about lunch. He used to be open lunchtimes.
Items like the live uni are not always available, but if you call Sammy a couple of days in advance (and it doesn't hurt to use Kirk's name), he will happily get special stuff for you. his number is (858) 560-1782.
Posted by: ed (from yuma) | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 02:13 PM
Stephen, I did the same thing a few months ago. Popped over for lunch but they were closed.
They're hours are:
Mon - Sat 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm Closed Sundays
Posted by: Carol | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 03:08 PM
I will definitely have to go to Sammy's. Is Yakata in National City out of business? :( I was by there the other day and there was some note on the door that their restaurant equipment had been seized and was going to be up for auction.
Posted by: Shan | Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at 03:38 PM
holy cow that is obscene, because it's Sunday and 9:30 in the morning and how am I going to get amaebi and uni right now?
Posted by: sandy | Sunday, 27 January 2008 at 09:24 AM