Thursday, February 5, 2009

Nara Sushi is the best sushi

I think I have visited American sushi Nirvana. It was actually pretty easy to get to, right off of Independence Avenue in Virginia Beach.

Drum roll please...........................

Nara Sushi

Jess and I went to Nara Sushi, highly recommended, for the Omagaze (Omakase) dinner. I've wanted to eat Omakase since I read the book, "The Zen of Fish" by Trevor Corson. This is essentially a chef's choice dinner. You sit down, tell the chef what you love or don't prefer and they serve up plate after plate of deliciousness.

First dish:
Nara Special Soup. This was essentially a wonton soup with a dumpling instead of a wonton and loads of cabbage, spring onion, mushrooms and carrots. Piping hot.

Second dish:
Cute lil' shumai.

Third dish:
Sashimi appetizer of thinly sliced Rockfish and Salmon. This was served with minced ginger and scallions with some lite soy.

Fourth dish:
Black Marlin Sashimi with soy sauce and touch of hot oil. Each slice had some fresh basil and minced ginger on it. I believe the chef hit this one with a little blowtorch before handing it off to us.

Fifth dish:
Tuna Carpacio served on a bed of mixed greens with capers, sundried tomatoes, a little bit of seaweed salad and a balsamic reduction. The balsamic was so sweet, it was delicious with the tangy capers and mellow tuna.

Sixth dish:
The Ragin' Cajun Roll. Our first maki roll of the night was wild. The kind of huge thing I don't usually go for but in this case adored. Let's see if I can describe it.
- The plate was liberally sauced with about 5 different things: mayo, cock sauce, wasabi mayo, and a couple of other sweet and spicy sauces.
- Asaparagus, tuna and maybe something else, rolled up tight.
- Topped with a large helping of tempura "crunchies"
- Topped with I think 5 different kinds of roe. I wish that I knew their names!  There was a red one, a green one, a yellow one, a black one, and flying fish roe.

Seventh dish:
The Tropical Stack. This monstrosity would have killed Kelly, but Jess and I enjoyed it on her behalf. It was so pretty, and looked just like the picture. Okay, picture this:
- A round presentation of Tuna on a spicy sauce
- Topped with Mango
- Topped with Avacado
- Topped with Lobster Tail
- Topped with Shredded Daikon
- Topped with Sprouts
- Topped with Bright Red Roe
Topped by the two of us drooling before we demolished this dish.

Eighth dish:
Second roll - Spicy Crab Roll. This probably has a very cute name, but I couldn't always understand Chef Eric. This inside out roll had spicy crab and avacado topped with alternating tuna and salmon. Jes liked the tuna best. I liked the whole thing in my stomach happily digesting.

Ninth dish (that's right NINE):
I have no idea what I just ate. It was some kind of inside out roll with loads of flying fish roe on the outside topped with some chunks of some kind of white fish, broiled with an amazing sauce on top of that. Holy Sweet Mother Mary. If I wasn't so stuffed by this point I probably could have formed more coherent thoughts.

Dessert:
We had a dainty little Creme Brulee and a sampling of Mochi Ice Cream in strawberry, mango and green tea.

Dessert #2:
The chef finished us off with an orange, arranged very prettily and topped with a little space ship made of orange peel.


If you made it to the end of this menu, you'll understand why I waddled out satisfied. We usually eat fast, but we spent a leisurely hour and a half or so over this meal. You'll also have noticed the single picture of the last dish presented to us. Sadly, all the while lamenting the lack of a camera, my camera was in my purse. Dammit.

I guess we'll have to go back and do it again, and get pictures this time.

Thank you, sugar, for an excellent early Valentine's Day dinner. You're the best.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That sounds like a lovely meal. I am sitting here drooling over my keyboard. One thing though...I assume you meant cocktail sauce when you said cock sauce? I've eaten some wierd stuff in my life, but I don't know about you two.

Jariris said...

No, I meant cock sauce. :) It's actually Sriracha Hot Sauce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha

It's a Thai-style hot sauce. There's a picture of a rooster on the bottle. I guess it's also called Rooster Sauce, but it amuses me no end to call it cock sauce.

But I'm simple like that.

Unknown said...

Ohhhh...Sriracha sauce! Well then I guess I love the cock sauce! I could put cock sauce on everything!

Jariris said...

Ahem. I was so tempted to say something completely inappropriate just now. I think I deserve a cookie for keeping it to myself.

*L*