Everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely L.O.V.E. sushi. It's the one food, that if I had a choice of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be that and nothing else. The great thing about sushi is that I consider it the most creative food. You can have fun making it, and it will still taste exceptional while maintaining your healthy lifestyle. I find that the more intricate and artistic it is, the more better it tastes. I preferably like different sauces drizzled over the rolls. A good sushi roll with great sauce should be so pleasing to your palate, that you don't need to add soy sauce. I have been to many sushi restaurants (some good, some bad) and each one is unique in the way they present and prepare their sushi; right down to the freshness of the fish. Usually, I have one favorite sushi restaurant in Chico that I love to go to... Gen Kai. This restaurant is easy on the wallet and they provide excellent service with a great menu. The fact that they know me well from being in there all the time, makes no difference. :)
Yesterday, I decided to venture out and try a new place. I was never that fond of the sushi at the Rice Bowl restaurant. I felt is was sort of boring and unimaginative when it came to their rolls. It seemed to me that it catered to more of a beginner level sushi buff. In any case, I hadn't had been there for a while now (7-8 months, or so), when I had decided to give it one more shot. I mean, hey, everyone needs a second chance, right? So when I walked in yesterday, to my surprise the owner remembered me. Now that's GREAT customer service right there! Now usually I don't stray to far off their menu because I had been previously disappointed with the selection. I would only stick with one or two kinds of rolls because it was almost fool proof. When I opened the menu, I noticed that they had added a couple new rolls, and they displayed 5-6 new rolls on the day's special menu.
One roll in which they called the "Lion King" (sounds cheesy), looked pretty tasty. It was just a plain California Roll with a piece of Salmon on top, drizzled with a spicy mayonnaise sauce and baked until golden brown. I decided to try that and my usual "Rainbow Roll". I thought it would best not to jump off the cliff head first without a parachute by ordering a bunch of stuff I wasn't sure would taste good.
While waiting for my food, the owner and I chatted about how his old head sushi chef ended up having to leave the restaurant due to family illnesses and move to L.A. Since then, he had brought in a new head Sushi chef from the Bay Area where he worked at various successful sushi restaurants.
As the owner and I chatted a little more about his new chef, he allowed me to sample a roll from the special menu. I took one look at it, and was like, "Wow, um...not sure about this one". As I tried it, I was just about floored. It was the Salmon Pesto Roll, and it was priced at $15.00 per roll, which is only fare considering what you're getting. In my years of being an avid sushi consumer, I have never had a roll quite like this one. I can't quite put it into the right words the taste, but I can best describe it as 3 different tastes in one roll. It's like eating spicy tuna with a spicy pesto sauce. Now I know it sounds kinda fishy, :) but it really left me saying "Wow" for about 5 minutes after I tried it. My favorite part was the lingering taste it left in my mouth. I was in such awe about this roll, that I had to call back to find out what was in it.
"Salmon Pesto Roll" - shrimp tempura, ahi tuna, and sarachi sauce rolled inside out, then topped with salmon, a spicy mayonnaise sauce, pesto sauce and a sliver of green olive.
