What a week.

Does it make me a bad person that I am more upset that Sammy is leaving than about the $700 billion bailout?

It was not a happy experience to read about that in my RSS feeds this morning... *sigh*

I have some stuff in the works to talk about some other sushi places I went to recently as well as the season openers of both the SD Symphony (Lang Lang played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2) and the SD Chamber Orchestra (mmm, Mozart), but I'm not in the mood anymore.

Sushi Ota

I've heard multiple people tell me that Sushi Ota was a place for good, cheap sushi suitable as an inexpensive alternative to Sammy Sushi. So, M and I, along with M's sister T, and her boyfriend went to check it out earlier tonight.

It was pretty busy, even for a Thursday night, with about a half dozen guys working behind the bar and maybe 10 waitresses. Mmm, gender stereotypes. Somehow, we were able to get a table immediately.

For a first-visit, I opted to get a variety of favorites spanning the culinary range. (nothing from the kitchen, though)

Here's what I ordered:
- ankimo (monk fish liver)
- live amaebi (sweet shrimp, sushi-style)
- toro special (tuna belly tataki style)
- salmon belly
- soft shell crab roll



The ankimo was priced at $7.50, about midway between Sammy Sushi and Izakaya Sakura prices. The texture was a little too smooth, and the subtle exotic flavors I'm used to just weren't here. Sammy's version is pretty top-notch in my book, although expensive, and Sakura's version is a very inexpensive alternative. For the price, I thought it wasn't worth it.



At the same time, I got my toro special. When I ordered it, I thought it would still be sushi-toro, with some special garnish or something. Instead, it was just toro served tataki style. I don't know why they didn't just call it toro tataki. Anyway, it still had that creamy richness of toro, but after searing, it had more of a steak-like quality. I feel that this kinda defeats the purpose of having toro in the first place. Moreover, the slices were all fairly thin, so there was only a bit of uncooked meat on the inside. So, it was actually more like rare or medium-rare toro than tataki-style toro than anything else. Next time, I think I'll just have the plain toro sushi.


Our big platter of sushi came next, including various rolls, sushi, and my amaebi. For the price ($10.50), two amaebi is a pretty solid deal. I'm more used to the $10 or $12 apiece that Sammy and Sakura charge. Then again, those are much larger amaebi, and the heads are deep-fried after being dipped in batter, something that makes the head much more easily eaten. Anyway, a general complaint we had about the sushi was that the rice wasn't soft enough. Actually, it was pretty standard rice, I think we just are used to sushi rice that is a little bit softer and maybe a slightly higher fat content to make it a little creamier, as well. It could be that the rice we got was just dry, but that's a poor excuse, at least at these prices. The amaebi was good, but there is a reason why the larger ones at Sammy and Sakura are more expensive, just having the large cut of meat makes those a much more satisfying order.



And the deep-fried heads were all right, they came with a ponzu-soaked shredded daikon rather than a dipping sauce, which is perfectly acceptable. Actually, the best would probably be a ponzu dipping bowl with shredded daikon and green onions, but no place that I know of does that, though Sammy probably would if I asked...

The rolls as a whole were disappointing. I think the variety of textures just wasn't there, and neither were the flavors. The Diego (spicy tuna, cilantro, sesame oil, with serrano peppers on top) roll we had just wasn't spicy. There was a mild kick at the end, but I was pretty much scooping the minced peppers into my mouth to no real effect. The soft shell crab roll was also a little funky, being wrapped in tofu skin. It was also very different texturally, than soft shell crab ("spider") rolls I've had at other places. I expected it to be crunchy and loaded with flavors, not really needing any dipping, but this one was more on the soggy, falling-apart end of things. Disappointing, given the potential for combining the ingredients successfully.

Finally, the salmon belly, a sushi that I am in love with at Sammy's, was the worst. The cut resulted in more fish than expected, but in the lengthy direction, so you had this long piece of fish trailing behind the rice. The second piece I had was also chewy, which of course is a far cry from the firm, creamy goodness I expect. It's a little cheaper than Sammy's at $4.50, but I'd much rather spend the extra dollar to have a delicious version.

I will probably go back and give some other things a whirl, along with the kitchen, but I'm not terribly impressed so far.

Sushi Ota (reservations recommended, restaurant not so much)
4529 Mission Bay Drive
San Diego CA 92109
(858) 270-5047
(858) 270-5670

Sushi Siam - not a Sammy Sushi

Continuing the reviews of restaurants I visited 4 months ago, that may not even be around...

My mom and I tried Sushi Siam, a Thai / Sushi place recently opened next to the Target in the new Washingtonian Plaza. Funnily enough, she had described it to me as a sushi place (well, it does have sushi in the title), but never having been there before, wasn't aware that it also served Thai food. (This is what happens when you don't pay attention in geography class, kids. Maybe I should start speaking broken French when we go get pho next time?)

Anyway, we started out with some deep fried tofu, because my mom likes it, but it was bland for my tastes. (agedashi tofu, this was not) I also didn't particularly care for the sauce, which was some sort of spicy nutty sauce (but very different than a chicken satay dipping sauce.

Not being quite in the mood for sushi, but being somewhat in the mood for greasy Thai noodles, I ordered the pad see ew. Overall, I think this is a safer bet than pad thai, since each restaurant does pad thai a little differently with different toppings. Personally, I'm not a fan of uncooked mung beans, but a bit of chopped peanuts and shredded carrots can really bring out the dish. Regardless, I am always pleased when Thai restaurants do NOT use chinese broccoli, but instead use plain old broccoli. This dish turned out pretty well, if a little greasy. I would say the balance of egg to broccoli to meat to noodle came out very well. I like veggies, but it didn't feel like they were skimping out on meat or anything either. The sweetness was also pretty well-balanced with the saltiness. Overall, I would say this was just a really well-balanced pad see ew.


My mom tried the sashimi sampler. Nothing spectacular there. Plating was also mediocre, but then again, it was pretty cheap, so what do you expect. It's a sign when even the sashimi comes with the pinkish ginger instead of the pale yellow ginger. (which is far superior. Much stronger flavor and crunch. I have a story about the ginger at Sammy's, but that should go in a later revisit post to Sammy Sushi.)


Overall, well-balanced Thai place trying to cash in on the sushi fad, but can you really blame them? Still, miles better than Tara Thai. (not the same as Thai by Tara. I still wouldn't go to either one.)

Sushi Siam
31 Grand Corner Ave
Gaithersburg MD 20878
(301) 417-0005

Sammy Sushi

For the first couple months in SD, I languished without the comfort of relatively close-by Sushi Komasa back when I was at 'Tech and the summer when I took the metro to Long Beach for work. (Sushi Komasa is in one of the main plazas in Little Tokyo, a couple blocks east of the Civic Center Red Line Stop and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Also, expect an upcoming post on Sushi Komasa.)

Googling for Sushi Komasa yields Kirk's website, which is lucky for me, since Kirk is based in San Diego. Hell, if his wife loves albacore as much as I do, then their sushi recommendation must be pretty good. They also love Ba-Ren, which dishes up some pretty good szechuan. (Expect that in an upcoming post, too.) [Edit: part 1 is up now]

Anyway, word has it, Sammy Sushi is on their regular rotation, so I decided to check it out. Overall, the feel of Sammy Sushi is more laid-back than Komasa, where there is what amounts to a musical chair-like rush for seats when they open. Sammy is slightly pricier, but on par for San Diego, where food is generally more expensive than in LA; in fact, I think Sammy might even be slightly cheaper than some other non-generic sushi bars. Regardless, I have always thought the nigiri at Sammy's is particularly fresh, especially whatever specials he happens to have. You can't go wrong with Albacore, Aji, or Toro when they're on special. Here is the Aji (Spanish mackerel, NOT to be confused with Saba, the standard mackerel) :


Aji has a creamier flavor, I think. Generally, I just don't like Saba, but Aji is totally different.

Because of his Korean ethnicity, Sammy also offers a Kalbi BBQ bento in addition to the standard teriyaki and katsu bentos. For $12.95, you get a lot of food. Here is the chicken katsu:


They ran out of pork, so my tonkatsu got turned into a torikatsu. It doesn't make that much difference to me, normally, but the chicken was overdone, not juicy, mostly tough inside, with a little too much crunchiness. I always enjoy the sesame-flavored salad dressing, the California rolls are standard, and the tempura was piping hot when this got served to me. This explains why there is half a tempura shrimp missing. :)

Oh yes, it also comes with miso soup.

I usually get the Tomato Roll (tuna on the outside, spicy scallop on the inside) since I am a fan of tuna, scallops, and spicy foods. I'm not sure who came up with this roll, as a friend of mine has mentioned that it is available in other sushi places, but it's not very common, but very very tasty. This time, however, I switched it up and went for #13 (shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber on the inside, spicy scallop and tempura flakes on the outside with a sweet sauce):


If you see this on the menu, you will agree with me that the picture in the menu does not do this roll justice. It is quite delicious, although a little sweet for my tastes. I also recommend the Caterpillar, although what exactly is in it escapes my mind at the moment.

Sammy is also famous for his "One Night Stand" roll, where he or Kira (his sous-chef) comes up with something new, with the promise to not remember how to make it the next day. :)

Of course, this means, Sammy will also do custom requests, so if you have a particular roll you like that is not on the menu, they will be glad to make it for you.

BTW, I also had an order of Toro, which was some of the best I've ever had, very very melt-in-your-mouth creamy. Alas, it was so good, I forgot to take a picture. :)

Sammy Sushi
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111