Sapporo's in Scottsdale

 This Fun Frank Friday, I wanted to indulge in the full sushi experience.  So as we were looking for places to go, as there are actually many to choose from here in the desert, we received a high recommendation from a fellow sushi lover.  When you first arrive at Sapporo's you notice the crowds of people spilling out onto the patio and the towering flames that light your path to the front door.  Just past the flames is a waterfall that frames the entrance.  The architecture is a mix of ancient Japan and modern Tokyo.  There are several fish tanks with colorful fish throughout the restaurant, I was unsure if they were the catch of the day or there just for decorations.  Now I know that some of you are not avid sushi eaters so I plan to give you a rating of 1 to 10 for each roll.  A "1" would be considered the most palatable even for the novice sushi eater and a "10" would be for the true "foodie" that has a sense of adventure and experience with a variety of taste and textures.

So we sat down with four adults and two children and proceeded to give our drink order.  They did have Coke, so you know what I ordered.  Three others ordered water and Jeff who decided to enjoy a sake bomb.  A sake bomb consists of a traditional Japanese beer and a shot of sake (grain alcohol).   Typically one would fill the shot glass with sake and a beer glass 3/4 of the way with beer, then one would take the sake, glass and all and drop it into the beer.  This allows both flavors to intermingle with each other and create the sake bomb.  This is similar to the American "boilermaker".

So the kid's orders came out first.  From the children's menu,  Mikayla opted for the mac and cheese.  I rate this as a negative 8 on the sushi roll scale.  This is definitely for the non-sushi and non-Asian food eater.  The mac and cheese is a great comfort food which many people have enjoyed.  It must have been really good here as she did not even offer to share a bite with me.  Mikayla was also being very adventurous and wanted to share in the sushi experience with the rest of us.  She did try a few bites of different rolls but she ordered one specific roll, the California roll.  

The California roll consists of rice wrapped around imitation crab, avocado and cucumber.  I rate this on the sushi scale as a "1".  This is usually a "beginner" roll and was one of the first I ever tried.  There is no raw fish in this roll and the imitation crab is really a cooked white fish with crab flavoring.  The avocado is excellent color and the cucumber provides a crisp fresh flavor.  This is the roll I would recommend to anyone who has never tried but is willing to give sushi a shot.

Ryland chose the orange chicken which consists of pieces of chicken, lightly battered and deep fried then glazed with an orange sauce.   Served with rice and snow peas, this must have also been delicious as I was not offered a taste as well.  I would rate this as a negative 3 on the sushi scale although it is more adventurous than the mac and cheese and more appropriate for an Asian restaurant it is still for the non-sushi eater.

 The most enjoyable part (for Patti at least) when eating at a sushi restaurant with friends, is that you can order a variety of rolls, place them in the middle of the table and everyone can try pieces of each roll.  This is considered family style eating.  This is a social and adventurous eating environment.  It sparks more conversations as you interact more with each other and you are able to try a variety of foods.

So let's start off with one of Patti's favorites, the Tootsie Roll.  The question is...does she enjoy it because of the taste or because the name reminds her of one her favorite candies?  The answer is.. both!  This photo is actually of two orders of Tootsie rolls as Dana also enjoys this one.  The Tootsie is rice, wrapped around crab mix & cucumber then topped with tempura flakes and drizzled with eel sauce.  Again no actual raw fish in this roll.  Because of this it gets a low rating on the sushi scale but since it does include "eel sauce" I bumped it to a "3".  This roll is mild with a hint of sweet from the eel sauce.  This is great roll to have a bite from after any spicy rolls you may be adventuring through.

Next Dana is stepping it up a notch with the Scottsdale Roll. Again this picture is actually two rolls on one plate. This is rice wrapped around crab, spicy scallops, avocado & kaiware and topped with a dot of Asian hot sauce.  This combination of seafood and kaiware which is radish seeds has a spicy kick to it and I rate it a "4".

Another mild roll, although a bit more adventurous is the Alaskan roll.  It consists of rice wrapped around crab mix & avocado then topped with a piece of raw fresh salmon.  I give this roll a rating of "5".  Though it is a mild roll, it does contain the raw salmon flavor and texture that would make it more adventurous than the previous rolls.

One of our most favorite rolls of the evening was the MT roll.  This roll will stimulate all of your culinary senses and tingle every inch of your palate.  From the crunch of the tempura crab located in the center to the smell of the seared salmon, the creamy crab mix in the middle of the roll to the tang of the hint of lemon and finally the kick to your taste buds not just from the hot sauce but also the spicy mayo, this is a palate adventure to the max.  In addition to the above, this roll also has hidden in it cucumber, avocado and jalapeno all wrapped in a delicate soy paper.  This one was a difficult one for me to rate.  On the sushi adventure rating scale, I give it a "5" but on the flavor and texture scale this was definitely a "10" and a roll that you should not pass on.  Even the novice could enjoy this roll.

Not to be outdone in the spicy arena, comes the Cougar roll.  That jalapeno with the dot of Chinese hot sauce on top just screams "Burn!".   The rice is filled with crab mix, avocado, and cucumber.  Of course you see the Jalepeño but it is also topped with seared Yellowtail, garlic butter sauce & Sriracha (Chinese hot sauce).  I rate this one as "6".  When this roll came to the table, I quickly grabbed my drink because it looked like it would set my mouth on fire.  But I was brave enough to close my eyes and take a bite, jalapeno and all.  I was pleasantly surprised that even though it had a good spicy kick, the fresh jalapeno gave off more of a vegetable flavor than heat.  But the creamy crab mix in the middle, helped put out the 6 alarm fire in my mouth.

Jeff has a weakness or should we say extreme fondness for the salmon nigiri.  This is a small filet of fresh salmon, served raw and placed on rice.  On the side of the plate is also some rose ginger and a dollop of wasabi.  On the sushi scale, I am rating this a "7".  This is what non-sushi eaters typically think sushi consists of, raw fish on rice.  But the actual name of this dish is sashimi.  When you are ready to adventure off to this level, there are a couple of tips I think might be useful.  First, if it tastes fishy, it is not fresh and exercise caution.  Good sashimi will have a cool smooth texture with a minimal oceanic flavor.  This is why the restaurant will give you a small dish for soy sauce.  The sauce plus the ginger and/or wasabi (whichever you choose to use) helps add flavor to this dish.

I consider myself an experienced sushi eater and I enjoy the different textures and flavors of all types of dishes.  Although I did enjoy the nigiri that Jeff ordered, I also decided to bump it up a notch and ordered a sashimi combination plate.  This one contained no rice and just fish with the ginger and wasabi garnish.  There were four different types including salmon, white fish, blue fin tuna, and yellowtail tuna.  I'm going to rate this one a "7.5".   You may think that all raw fish would have a similar taste and texture, but on the contrary, each one had it's own unique flavor and texture.  For this dish, I like to take the wasabi and mix it in some soy sauce.  This gives it a salty, horseradish flavor to each piece I dip in it.



 Here at Sapporo's they have their sushi menu AND a favorite's menu.  Off of their favorite's menu we ordered the Blue Fin Special.  The tuna is lightly seared and served with masago (the orange smelt eggs), garlic wasabi  and drizzled with soy sauce.  The seared tuna is one that I like to order no matter what sushi restaurant I go to.  There is just something about the smoky flavor from the searing paired with the cool of the raw tuna that I have an extreme fondness for.  The masago adds an interesting texture and sensation of popping, not unlike PopRocks for those of you who remember PopRocks.  The garlic wasabi brought out the flavors of the tuna and added a little heat to each bite.  Placed in the center of the dish were marinated cucumbers.  With the intense flavors and textures from each bite, the cucumbers were a cleansing, cooling respite when enjoyed between each piece of tuna.  I would rate this one an "8".

The Citrus Yellowtail dish will take us to the next level of sushi adventure.  This dish is sashimi style Yellowtail tuna in a citrus ponzu with miso sauce and served with a thin slice of Avocado.  The red dot of Chinese hot sauce finished off the color and temperature of the dish.  I gave this a rating of "9" because the texture of the smooth Yellowtail and the smooth nutty flavor of the avocado is an interesting combination but not for the faint of palate.  The part that I found quite interesting was the citrus ponzu.  The tang of the lemon sauce is not often found in sushi dishes.  But the tartness actually complimented the smoothness of the yellowfin. While the cool of the avocado was complimented by the heat of the hot sauce, a yin-yang in true Asian fashion.


WARNING!!!  If you are sushi novice, now would be a good time to stop reading.  I need to add this disclaimer for those who are faint of heart.  This next dish is not frequently found on menus and I had to try it one more time.  I mentioned to Jeff that I had tried it once and I explained my initial experience at a previous restaurant.  I live by a rule that even if you don't like something, if given the opportunity you should try it at least twice in case the first experience was a true representation or not. 

Our last and final dish, I am rating as a "10+" (Patti says I should rate it a "13" to better represent the negativity of it).  We ordered Uni, also known as Sea Urchin.  A sea urchin is a small spiny creature that lives on the bottom of the ocean and is often found if you venture into tide pools.  This was Jeff's first experience with Sea urchin and as you can tell in this photo, the skepticism almost won out.

 The uni is wrapped in nori, and a small mound of rice is under the body of the sea urchin.  The texture starts out as smooth and creamy, then an explosion of oceanic water follows.  It was quickly washed away with the next sensation of a squirt and it can only be described as if I had just taken a big gulp of sandy ocean floor.  This left a strong marine aftertaste in my mouth.  This was actually the better of the two experiences.  I could tell this uni was fresh.

 The look on Jeff's face was priceless!  Although I had tried to prepare him as much as I could for this experience, he obviously was not ready for the squirt and strong aftertaste.  I hope this does not impede any further sushi adventures with him.  I do now have a new found respect for Jeff and I tip my hat to his willingness to try something new.  I'll never ask him to eat Uni again. 

So out of all the food, we experienced here at Sapporos, we found many that were enjoyable and we found some that we most likely will not be eating again.  But at least we tried it.  So if you haven't tried sushi, try it now!