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Another Visit to Bluefin

Full-time restaurant reviewers make many visits to the places they review. I can't generally do that but I do like to revisit places, especially when the first visit was by invitation, and especially when my review uses words like "best." Was it really the best or was I in a good mood?

I visited Bluefin in San Jose last month and was very impressed, calling it the best sushi I had ever had. At the time, I said, "I will definitely be visiting Bluefin again," and today I did, this time with a friend, Francis, and on my own dime.

So, was it really the best sushi I ever had? And did Francis agree?

We arrived at 11:30 on a weekday. The owner, Jun, wasn't there, which perhaps was a good thing I could get a sense of the service. The host was very cordial, offering me water while I waited for Francis, and the waitress, Bree, was very gracious. We decided to sit at the sushi bar and the sushi chef delivered some gyoza which were, as last time, terrific. They make them from scratch and they're full of flavor. Here's the picture from last time:

We ordered an appetizer Jun had mentioned to me, the monkfish liver paté. Oh, my. It had a texture just like paté but with a seafood taste that reminded me of sea urchin roe (uni). This is a wonderful delicacy.

We also ordered some uni, which I find an excellent test of a sushi bar, because it must be perfectly fresh. Uni reveals even the smallest defect in handling. This uni was perfect.

About this time, Jun appeared and as last time, we shared in his encyclopedic knowledge of sushi. (He promises to let us know when some planned articles on sushi are available on his website).

His uni comes from Santa Barbara. He explained that American uni is often held to be the best. It is farmed locally and that product mostly goes to Japan, while the Santa Barbara product is what Jun buys.

Jun's charming wife, Yeon, who you will remember from the last article, gifted us with some beef teriyaki. I am glad, because I might not have tried this non-sushi choice. Their terikaki is grilled over a hot fire, creating crisped edges and a deeper, grilled flavor.

Next, we had chirashi, which is sashimi served in a bowl, atop sushi rice. There were many of the selections I enjoyed last time. Francis remarked — several times — how fresh it all was. And that's the primary hallmark of great sushi. Everything, without exception, tasted like it was caught a minute ago. 

There was tamago (egg), flounder, tuna, yellowtail, some amazingly sweet scallops, and the mackerel that changed my opinion last time.

Sorry for the picture, all I had was my cell phone.

I almost forgot the toro tartare, a slight spicy mix of tuna sashimi, finely minced and molded into a cylinder.

We finished with something one does not normally see at a sushi bar: dessert, of sorts. Jun is experimenting with some classic desserts like creme brulée, but in the meantime, we had an inventive dessert-like sushi roll Jun calls "japango," or Japanese mango. It's actually a maki, or rolled sushi. Instead of the traditional seaweed, it was rolled in a tinted soy wrapper that looked like lettuce. Inside was an unlikely combination of sushi rice, crab, scallop, salmon, avocado, and mango. Light, refreshing, and vaguely sweet, this strange mix harmonized wonderfully. I have to say that when Jun departs from tradition, he does it artfully.

I brought some home for better photography. It's been jostled a bit so if it's not perfect, that's my fault, not Bluefin's. 

 

So, is Bluefin really as great as I thought? Yes. Unprompted by me, Francis also proclaimed it the best he'd had.

We'll be back.

KFC Doubles Down

You can find a healthy meal almost anywhere, if you do a little research, even in fast food restaurants. One very difficult fast food place was KFC. (You may know KFC as "Kentucky Fried Chicken," but they officially changed their name years ago to escape the unseemly F word in their name.) Finally, a couple of years ago, they added grilled chicken to their menu and finally, they had some resonably tasty, reasonably choices.

But with one hand the Colonel giveth, with the other he taketh away. On Monday, look for their new "Double Down," reported in a NY Times blog:

"The sandwich contains no bread. Instead, two deep-fried boneless white-meat chicken filets act in bread's place. They contain a sandwich of bacon and melted cheese between them, with a splat of a mayonnaise product called Colonel's Sauce to moisten the whole."

I had to read that twice. Then I read the date. Surely this was April 1 news.

No, it's real. A sandwich between two pieces of fried chicken instead of bread. Surely Homer Simpson will be at KFC on Monday. Hey, I might be in line behind him, I'm no angel.

But probably not. This one is really over the top. In case you're wondering, it's 540 calories, the same as a Big Mac. These are nowhere near as bad as things can be. Burger King's Double Whopper is 920.

Fries with that?

Sushi, Well Done

When I was invited to review Bluefin, a new Japanese restaurant, I was thrilled. I love Japanese food in general, sushi in particular. But as I drove toward its address on the Alameda, not far from the HP Pavilion, I was wondering what to expect. I remembered this neighborhood for Schurra's, an old time candy maker, and other small stores that had been there for decades.

I wouldn't have expected to find sushi there.

And I didn't expect to have some of the best sushi of my life.

I found Bluefin in a new, brick-faced building.

Inside, I was first taken by the decor. Modern and spacious, with thick etched glass panels separating a busy bar — nearly full at 5 PM on a weekday when there was no game at the arena.

Hefty dark wood tables, with simple settings and neatly folded linen napkins were ready. Bluefin is elegant enough to take someone you want to impress but not snooty or intimidating. 

The kitchen, behind the small sushi bar, was visible from the dining room, and already busy with prep work.

I was greeted by owner Jun Chon, pictured here on the right behind the sushi bar. Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Jun went into restaurant work, for a friend in Sacramento. After several restaurant positions, he decided to open his own, Tomo Sushi, in San Jose in 1995. It was a major success and is now run by his brother.

Jun characterizes Bluefin as "upscale contemporary." He selected the location because it is adjacent to residential neighborhoods and to the downtown hotels, as well as to the arena. Placing it here took nine years. Shortly after the San Jose Redevelopment Agency approved his initial proposal, the economy took a dive and the deal was off. Last year, Jun came up with his own financing and in October, Bluefin was born. He runs Bluefin with his lovely (but camera-shy) wife, Yeon.

Many people would consider this a risky time to start a new restaurant. Jun sees it as opportune. "When everyone is scared, there is opportunity," he says.

But I was here, as I always am, for the food.

We started by talking about it. Turns out, Jun has a lot to say. The specialty here is sushi, and Jun is a sushi master. I have never met anyone who knows as much about sushi and he loves to share. (He promises some articles on the Bluefin website. I'll be watching for that!)

Mastery means being fussy about ingredients. Bluefin prepares ingredients that other places buy. They buy whole fish or, for larger fish like tuna, quarter or half sections.

"When I interview a sushi chef," Jun said, "I ask three things. How do you prepare your rice, how do you prepare tamago (the cooked egg used in sushi preparations), and how do you prepare the mackerel?" Few candidates have answers to those questions because most restaurants buy these ingredients. Jun talked about just the rice for five minutes.

I was especially interested in the mackerel. I confessed that I often say the only thing at a sushi bar I won't eat is mackerel. He immediately knew: "You find it too fishy, right?"

Jun said that marination controls the fishiness. You can't marinate using a standard recipe. The procedure and ingredients vary with the season, the cut of the fish, and its flavor. I was curious about how Jun's mackerel would taste.

I asked what he especially likes to make and he replied, "omakase." Omakase means, "it's up to you" and at a sushi restaurant, it's an invitation to the chef to work his magic. You are placing yourself in the hands of the chef. The chef will select what he knows is especially good today, and a good chef will include a few surprises.

In the plates Jun prepared for me were as tasty as they were beautiful. He included the favorites: tuna, yellowtail, mackerel. There was amaebi (sweet shrimp). Some squid was artfully carved to include a bright orange bit of carrot. There was a quail egg and tobiko (bright orange flying fish roe that pop with fresh sea flavor). Today, he had a flounder and a scallop wrapped with salmon. A piece of cucumber inside added a refreshing crunch.

 

Everything was perfectly fresh, tasting of the sea air, artfully arranged, and full of flavor. I've had a lot of sushi and this is probably the best I have ever had.

The mackerel was a revelation to me. Not fishy at all, it was salty and sweet, with a huge, meaty umami flavor. Jun was right. The marination had pretty much eliminated the oily, fishy flavor and brought out a symphony of interesting notes. I will definitely be having Bluefin's mackerel again.

Sushi, the original fast food, originated in its modern form some 200 years ago as street food, served from carts. Today's sushi has evolved, especially here in the United States, but still has the same elements. Many places have developed elaborate rolls with local names and a multitude of ingredients. Jun's menu is straightforward and changes with the available ingredients. He has some popular favorites for sushi newbies but you won't find many wild and crazy, trendy rolls named after local streets, as Jun focuses on quality and favors the classics. He also has a number of specialties. In the summer, he likes to include monkfish liver paté. He's also done a beef tartare.

Before I could go, Jun wanted me to try his gyoza. Gyoza are similar to potstickers but aren't browned in a skillet. Housemade from scratch, the gyoza are stuffed with a mix of meats and vegetables and they exploded with flavor. These were the best gyoza I have ever had!

I will definitely be visiting Bluefin again.

Update: I did visit again, and posted an additional review.