Food review: Shiro maguro toro (albacore tuna)

Restaurant: Zushi Puzzle (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of white albacore tuna toro sashimi
Food rating: 2 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I took one look at this and immediately wanted to send it back. I was expecting it to look gorgeous like this. Instead, I was served this half-pink-half-brown, greasy-looking block of fish. I was already uneasy about having more albacore tuna after the first batch was old, but it was too late to cancel the order. I attempted to bite off a little piece to test it out, but there were such huge bands of tough tendony stuff that I couldn't bite through it. It was so bad, I chewed off what fish I could, and spit out the rest. Not the best thing, especially after just having my wisdom teeth out. And after all that work, the fish itself was nasty! It tasted even older than the regular albacore sashimi, and was so greasy it was sickening. There's a big difference between being fatty, and being straight up oily. It didn't matter anyway, because it was impossible to chew and was old. The whole situation was almost comical, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Whatever you do, never ever order this, please!!

Food review: Maguro sashimi (red tuna)

Restaurant: Zushi Puzzle (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of red tuna sashimi
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

You'd be surprised at how many sushi places butcher red tuna sashimi. Maguro is very lean and firm, so the cut is more critical than with a softer oilier fish. Luckily, Zushi Puzzle nailed the cut of this red tuna, which you can tell just from looking at it: the white tendony things are very thin and sparse and the color is deep red. My previous 2 maguro experiences were not up to snuff, so when this dish arrived, I was able to breathe a big sigh of relief. The flavor and texture was confirmed after the first bite--it was fresh, tender yet firm, and mild and clean. The tuna had lots of flavor and a slight metallic hint that is characteristic of maguro. Although I wasn't blown away by the tuna, I was very happy with it, considering that it's been a couple months since I've had decent maguro sashimi. However, I still think that the red tuna at Sushi Delight is better.

Food review: Shiro maguro sashimi (albacore tuna)

Restaurant: Zushi Puzzle (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of white albacore tuna sashimi
Food rating: 5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

The only other time I was at Zushi Puzzle was with a bunch of people who wanted mostly rolls, so this time I wanted to put the real stuff to the test. I realize y'all are probably sick of my same ole reviews of red tuna, white tuna, hamachi, and salmon sashimi, but it's my standard benchmark, a litmus test, if you will. I know what those things should taste like, so if they can't get something as simple as this right, I don't need to come back.

So first up, the albacore tuna sashimi: This fish had potential, but it was old. This is the second time in a row I've been subjected to old albacore tuna. It really pisses me off when sushi places don't throw out their leftover fish daily, especially for the prices they're charging. So, from now on, I'm establishing a new rule: if I get served old fish, I'm simply sending it back, and never ordering it again. No second chances, especially when they're putting my health at risk. Even though it wasn't old enough to start discoloring, the albacore tuna still tasted fishy, and had that granular texture indicative of old fish. What's worse is that we'd already ordered the albacore tuna toro, which I assumed would be cut from this same fish, and equally as old. You can read if my hunches were correct.

Food review: Seared tombo tuna salad ("the catch")

Restaurant: Coco500 (San Francisco)
Food description: Seared Pacific tombo (albacore) tuna atop salad of organic baby spinach, sauteed mushrooms and butternut squash, ginger, and sesame seeds
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Of all the things I tried on the lunch menu, this salad was the absolute best by far. The other dishes were overpriced and just so-so, but this dish made Coco500 worth my while. My biggest complaint is that they're ridiculously stingy on the portions, especially given their prices. This particular salad would work fine maybe as a lunch appetizer, but not a main course (unless you order the vacherin for dessert). Regardless, this salad was the best I've had in a while and I highly recommend it, despite the minute portions. Since it was the catch of the day, I'm not even sure when they'll have it again--it should really be a regular menu item. Anyway, the tuna itself was extremely fresh, ultra tender, and seared perfectly, leaving it warm on the outside and cool on the inside. It really was at its peak freshness and was a great cut with a mild lean flavor. The spinach and tuna were dressed in a light marinade of sesame, ginger, and garlic, and worked well with the mushrooms and butternut squash. All the ingredients combined together in harmony without anything standing out more or less than another. The resulting flavor was buttery, mild, nutty, and meaty. The spinach was just barely sauteed so that when you chewed it, its texture would blend with the other ingredients, rather than being all raw and crunchy. I thought this was a rather nice detail because it's annoying when you're chewing something that's all smooth except for that one ingredient that takes longer to chew than everything else. It was the cherry on top of an already great salad, and made a joke out of the last seared tuna salad I'd had. Nicely done!

Food review: Grilled ahi tuna salad

Restaurant: South Park Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Grilled peppered ahi tuna atop a salad of mixed greens, canellini beans, fennel, and basil
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

When it comes to lunch in South Park, I'm partial to the Butler and the Chef , but today I needed a change, and South Park Cafe is second on my list. It was warm outside, so I thought, hmm, do I really want something greasy and heavy and be asleep in an hour? The ahi tuna was the perfect solution, being the right balance between sustenance and healthiness. For me, the salad was all about the tuna. If they didn't get that part right, I wasn't going to enjoy it. I'd say they mostly pulled it off flavor-wise, but the tuna was overcooked to point of being dry, but not rubbery. Since I'm a huge sushi head, the rarer, the better. However, the tuna seemed like it wasn't a high enough grade to be served ultra rare. At the bargain price of $10, I wasn't expecting it to be either. Nevertheless, the tuna still tasted pretty good, but only if you like black pepper (I sure do). It was spiii-ceeee, and I'd say maybe even a little over-peppery for the average person. There was actually some green pesto sauce on top of the tuna, but it got seriously lost in all that pepper. There were plenty of greens in the salad to cut the pepperiness, and to me, that's really the only purpose for having them there at all (like I said, I'm not the pillar of health). I'm also just not a huge fan of eating canellini beans or fennel in this fashion. So basically, I'm rating the tuna--which was good, but could be great if it was cooked less and eased up on the pepper factor. Despite its flaws, I think it's an excellent choice for lunch for the price, and I'd have no qualms about trying it again.

Food review: Maguro sashimi (red tuna)

Restaurant: Sushi Time (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of red tuna sashimi
Food rating: 2 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

(Pardon me while I go off for a sec) This maguro had no business being anywhere near my stomach nor any kitchen nor any restaurant! I actually told the host on my way out my sentiments toward this barely edible dish. He blamed it on the fact that it was a sashimi cut rather than a sushi cut--but trust me--I've had enough sashimi in my life to know which cuts are just inappropriate to serve. (Ok, done ranting). But I think you get the picture. There were two major issues that prevented me from eating more than a few bites. First, you can tell just from looking at it that there's huge pieces of tendon cutting through each piece. You'd need a chainsaw for teeth in order to chew through that stuff, and I should've sent it back (I normally would have). The second issue was that half of each piece was discolored (see photo again), which meant it was getting old and tasted fishy. The shiro maguro sashimi also suffered from this problem, which is a bad sign for a sushi place when two of the fish you ordered are not fresh. This is a big problem and makes me think twice about coming back to this restaurant again. It's a shame because I thought some of their other fish was so good.

Food review: Shiro maguro sashimi (albacore tuna)

Restaurant: Sushi Time (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of white albacore tuna sashimi
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Wow, this dish was really tough to rate, so if I order it again, I'll have to revisit the rating. Eating this dish nearly turned me bipolar: one bite had me fantasizing about having it 24/7, and the next bite had me squishing my face up in anguish. Here's what was going on: if you look at the photo, you'll notice that the left half of each piece is slightly discolored. Guess which part that is? The part you don't want to eat. It has hit the air too long and tasted fishy and old. It's really a shame because the other half was exquisite, some of the best shiro maguro I've had. The texture was soooo smooth you didn't even need to chew, it just melted away. It was really impressive up until the point where the fishy aftertaste part kicked in. It was dark, so I couldn't figure out what was going on, otherwise I would have just eaten the fresh part. Overall I'd say the dish was more manic than depressive, so I've tried to balance the rating accordingly. It's tough because normally, if you know the fish isn't fresh, it's risky to even eat it at all. I guess since the rest of it was so good, it was a risk worth taking. But if it's like that again, I'll be forced to put it in the food poisoning category.

Food review: Maguro sashimi (red tuna)

(maguro is red)

Restaurant: Red Box Sushi (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of red tuna sashimi
Food rating: 4.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Ok... before you flame me for giving something from Red Box Sushi a 4.5, as you can see I've only ordered this once, so I will have to check it again and update the post / post a new message if it improves. First off, I had such high hopes!! It looked so beautiful - really the presentation here is exquisite. So after admiring the layout it was extremely disheartening to bite into the maguro and get... mushy flavorlessness? I mean you know when you sometimes get that over-refrigerated or twice frozen feeling about sashimi. I got it. It was mealy and tasteless and I really don't have anything else to say about it. If you have had the Red Box maguro sashimi and it was good, please post your experience in the comments so we can get an idea if this is common with them - thanks!

Also, note for those who like Kirin beer, they do not have it here.

Food review: Shiro maguro toro (albacore tuna)

Restaurant: Sushi Delight (San Francisco)
Food description: White tuna albacore toro nigiri sushi
Food rating: 8.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

This dish may not look like much, but it'll make you go mmm the whole time. Along with the bluefin toro, it's one of the best things at Sushi Delight, and some of the better toro I've had. Both of those items are specials, so they might not be available all the time. This toro is albacore, so its slightly less fatty than bluefin toro, but tastes pretty close. The texture is softer than bluefin toro so it still melts in your mouth nicely. I always try to prolong the experience of toro by eating it v e r y s l o w l y and hope more will magically appear, but it never does. Otherwise, I'd be sitting there for days gorging myself. Since we go to Sushi Delight regularly, the chef always hooks us up with something really fresh, this time it was the albacore toro, which was a special treat. I'm not sure if it's always this good, or if we're only getting it at its best, but you can ask the chef yourself what's really fresh and he'll recommend something good.

Food review: Maguro sashimi (red tuna)

(tuna on right)

Restaurant: Sushi Delight (San Francisco)
Food description: Raw slices of red tuna fish
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 10+

I order maguro sashimi pretty regularly here and it's one of the better tuna sashimi dishes that I've had. I enjoy tuna sashimi but I don't crave it as much as hamachi or toro. The color of the maguro sashimi is consistently good--it's always a sign of freshness when the color is a nice deep red, never brownish or pinkish. Thankfully, the cut is also great here-tuna that's cut from the wrong part of the fish has stripes of chewy tendony stuff. Proper chefs won't serve you this, and use it inside the rolls instead. I've sent tuna back at places like Sanraku for this reason. The flavor of this tuna is nice and clean, and actually has flavor compared to some other places (for amazing flavor, try the maguro at Sebo in Hayes Valley). The texture is usually very smooth, and doesn't require a lot of chewing. Overall, the maguro at Sushi Delight is pretty tasty and a great bang for the buck ($7 for 6 pieces).