Oh Crap! It’s November 29th and that means it’s Applecheeks’ birthday and here I am without a plan. “Dinner!” I thought, “That’s always a good idea.” So I thought back to earlier in the week when she said she had been craving sushi. Now all I had to do was narrow down the search. I didn’t want to break my wallet in half, but figuring it’s her birfday, I may as well do just that. Ignoring cost I searched around for relatively nearby sushi restaurants until settling on Seito Sushi is Dr. Phillips. According to various internet sources, they were pretty good. So let’s go check it out.
We arrived to a restaurant whose sign was unlit, luckily they had a bright blue open sign. We were greeted by one of the nicest hostesses I’ve dealt with in a while. She was polite, made conversation with us, and even put up with our request for a booth. (Even though the booth given to us could have sat 6, sometimes that can put servers at odds with hosts.) After perusing the drink and wine menu’s, I determined this place prides itself on fancy martini’s. Works for me. Applecheeks requested I make a selection for her, I settled on a little number they called Pearl, as I recall, it had pear flavored something with muddled lichi fruit. The few sips I could sneak away from her were very tasty. For myself I wanted a cocktail, specifically the White Flower which contained Bombay sapphire Gin, muddled cucumber, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, lime and soda. I was enchanted with the idea of a liqueur that tasted of elderflower. The aroma was the first thing I tested and let me tell you, it was amazing. With a floral scent and sweet, citrus flavor the drink was mad good.
Next up, we ordered an appetizer. It was the Sumai, a shrimp dumpling served with a spicy ponzu sauce. They gave us the option of steamed or fried, we opted for the crispy texture of fried. This bad boy was ready pretty quickly, I’m always happy to see quick service, not rushed, but quick. Next thing to impress me was the teamwork. “Impressed by teamwork?” you say? Well yes, it always feels awkward when you have dirty plates on your table or some such and have the other servers/bussers/managers/hosts pass your table because it’s not their job. I’m happy to say Seito was boss in this respect. The teamwork trait was further cemented when I ordered a martini for myself later, (Lava Lamp a fantastic concoction with more of the St. Germain, Van gogh pomegranate vodka, pama pomegranate liqueur and champagne. Really tasty, a tad on the sweet side so be prepared for that.) The deal with this… the drink had shards of ice chips, a texture and visual choice. The second the drink was created, clock started ticking. If the ice melted, it would taste off and watered down. Here is where the team work came in again. (I got to see all of this by having a good seat in view of the bar.) The bartender himself realized the drink was sitting and would be compromised. He ran it to the table himself AND cleared some of our dishes. Now THAT is awesome.
For dinner we settled on four rolls and Spicy Ginger Pork, which is thinly sliced pork, mixed and cooked in a soy-sesame-ginger blend with sweet sauteed onion served on a hot stone slab. At this point i would like to remind you readers that we were very, very hungry and it was a party, right? yeah… party… Anyway, the pork was quite good, served with a small bowl of rice, I believe was intended to be poured on top of the sizzlin pork. The menu says stone slab but our slab was metal, either way it kept the food hot till we were finished devouring the sushi. Speaking of the sushi! The four rolls we picked (in order of importance) were..
The Distinguished Gentleman: Maine lobster meat, avacado, masago wrapped with steak tataki, the thinnest jalapeno slices I’ve ever seen, wasabi aioli and truffle salt.
My opinion – HOLYCRAPOMG OM NOM NOM NOM. The way the steak added a whole new chew to the roll, along with the meaty mouth-feel of the lobster. Definitely winner of the best roll that night.
Mexican Roll: Shrimp Tempura, Avocado, Cream Cheese, Jalapeno, Spicy Mayonnaise and Masago.
My opinion – I am always a fan of crunchy tempura even inside sushi, traditionally a raw seafood ordeal. This roll was on a roll.
Spicy Lobster Roll: Spicy Crayfish, Tempura Flakes topped with spicy baked surimi lobster.
My opinion – K, so here’s the deal, surimi, buyer beware, is fake lobster, K-rab style. Surimi in Japanese means ground meat, in this case ground fishmeat. Meaning the lobster shaped nuggets on top were shaped pollack. Not bad, but not lobster. That being said, the nuggets were tasty and the roll was flavorful.
Eel: Broiled eel, cucumber and eel sauce
My opinion – Well, it’s an Eel roll. Well executed but overall wasn’t my favorite.
On a final note, I’d like to mention the incredibly hip soundtrack we had in our evening meal. We walked in and when I heard Deadmau5 I knew we were in for a good night. Go check it out sushi lovers with a wallet of reckless abandon.