Fresh Wasabi

 What are some of the reasons that we go out to a restaurant?  Is it to spend time with friends?  Is it to enjoy good food?  Maybe it is to get to know someone one, or we might know someone who owns or cooks at a restaurant, or maybe it is to try something completely different.  This Fun Frank Friday, I was fortunate enough to experience all of this. 

This week we are off to our friend, Rosemarie's favorite sushi/teppanyaki place located in Glendale called Fresh Wasabi.  We arrived at 5:30 (just before the dinner rush) and although some tables were already taken we were seated quickly.  While browsing through the menu, one particular item caught my eye, under appetizers they have "Monkey Brains".  It is not what you think.  I am not munching on the thought centers of our primate friends.  Monkey brains are mushroom caps stuffed with spicy tuna then deep fried and topped with special sauces.  The mushroom caps gave an earthy flavor to the spicy tuna mixture.  The tempura gives a nice contrast to the smooth texture of the dish.  The special sauces give it just the right accent.  This is a must try appetizer and I will be ordering this again.

We also decided to get the seaweed salad.  Put aside your prejudices and opinions of sea weed.  This seaweed did not taste oceanic or fishy at all and it wasn't slimy.  It was marinated in a sesame seed dressing.  The texture however is very different.  It is one of the few textures that is difficult to explain.  If you have followed my blog, a similar texture was the marinated jelly fish.  "The best way for me to try and describe it, is when you bite into a really good sausage and the casing provides a crisp snap.  You then pair this crisp snap with a limp noodle." 

Next our sushi started rolling out.  First was Rosemarie's: Guilty Pleasure, the School Bus, Crunch Spicy Tuna roll, and a Tuna avocado.    The tuna avocado was a simple roll with tuna and avocado of course surrounded by rice.  The Guilty pleasure is a spicy tuna roll, covered with Hawaiian white tuna and dressed with sliced jalapeno, garlic, tobiko, nuts, eel sauce, spicy mayo and creamy wasabi sauce.  This is another must order roll if you like something with a bit of a spicy kick.  The thinly sliced jalapeno gave it a nice fresh vegetable flavor which was paired nicely with the thinly sliced garlic on top of this roll. The School Bus is tuna and avocado roll topped with fresh salmon.  The Crunch Spicy Tuna roll is a spicy tuna with tempura flakes on the outside.  There is more to this roll than meets the eye.  The tempura flakes give an exciting crunch to this roll.  You don't have the deep fried taste that most tempura has but it still has the crunch.  This makes an excellent pairing to the smooth spicy tuna.

Next came the first of our rolls.  We chose to start with the Cherry blossom, the Guilty pleasure and Patti's favorite, Tootsie Roll.  The Cherry Blossom is fresh salmon and avocado covered in tuna and eel sauce.  This was a beautiful presentation of a roll.  The bright pink rose of the tuna gives it its name and contrasts with the yellow and orange of the avocado/salmon center.  The Guilty Pleasure was the same as Rosemarie's, yes it was that good we ordered two of them because we didn't want to share.   The Tootsie is crab mix, cucumber, avocado and shrimp inside, topped with tempura flakes and eel sauce.  You can't miss with any roll that has eel sauce.

Mark is not very keen on sushi and sometimes has a difficult time finding food that he enjoys when going out with friends that like seafood and sushi in general.  The first plate that was put in front of him was a tempura vegetables.  It had zucchini, sweet potato and a tempura onion ring and also happened to include a few pieces of tempura shrimp.  His first look was of skepticism when he saw the shrimp but he made quick work of the onion ring.  To satisfy Mark's appetite he opted for the grilled chicken salad.  Even though that we tried to entice him to try some of the raw food, he was quick to point out that he already had, most of his salad was raw.

Next came round two of our sushi rolls.  This round included the Climax which consists of shrimp tempura and cream cheese on the inside, covered with spicy tuna and dressed with sliced jalapeno, garlic, tobiko, nuts, eel sauce, spicy mayo and creamy wasabi sauce.  This one is similar to the Guilty Pleasure but it does have a different flavor and texture to the roll.  You will however still enjoy the same spicy kick.  The Booty Booty roll consists of shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, eel and spicy tuna topped with spicy mayo, creamy wasabi sauce, eel sauce, and nuts.  This roll is not only fun to say but yummy to eat as well.  There is just something about eel and shrimp tempura that really makes a great sushi roll.  Next was the Geisha roll which was smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and cucumber inside with flying fish roe and eel sauce on top.  Our version of it came with mango instead of cucumber inside.  I enjoyed the smoky flavor of the salmon paired with the smooth cream cheese balanced with the sweet mango.  The flying fish eggs gave it a snap crackle pop that made this an outstanding roll.  Last but not least was the One More Night roll.  This had lobster, cucumber, avocado inside and mango slices with eel sauce on top.  This is a perfect roll to end with as it is cool and smooth with the sweet and flavorful mango on top.

 When I heard that Rosemarie had never tried sea urchin before I found a perfect opportunity to test her sushi skills.  Those of you who know me, know that my past experience with the sea urchin resulted with a strong oceanic flavor.  So I put Rosemarie to the test and had her try uni with me.  She popped the uni in her mouth and I waited for the possible look of disgust on her face.  I was a little shocked when she said it wasn't that bad and gave me a questioning look.  So I took a bite of mine and I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh this sea urchin was.  My past experiences have made it very difficult for me to want to continue to order uni.  Either it hasn't been fresh or just not prepared very well. I finally found a place that was able to meet both.

 One of our highlights of the evening was when Mr. Kim, owner and chef of Fresh Wasabi, came out to greet us.  Previously, he had been invited to come camping with Rosemarie and us.  As he approached our table, he offered us something that wasn't on the menu.  He calls it "I'm sorry I couldn't go camping" roll.  It consisted of spicy crab mix and cucumber inside with salmon and kiwi on top.  To the side was a choice of eel sauce or spicy mayo for dipping.  This is a fantastic roll.  You could tell what a creative chef he is by the combinations of flavors and colors in this roll.  Mr. Kim, you are a true artist when it comes to sushi.  The kiwi was an excellent addition to the flavor.

 Rosemarie said there was no way we could leave this place without trying the tempura cheese cake.  This is great way to have cheesecake.  It was better than a cream filled doughnut.  There was light crunch of tempura on the outside with the warm sweet creamy cheese cake inside.  As each of us took our first bite, you heard an ecstatic moan in unison.  It is not too often that you get a chance to try tempura cheese cake or even monkey brains for that matter.


 This is an excellent and friendly place.  There is no need to waste your time with other sushi restaurants, so if you haven't tried Fresh Wasabi, you need to try it now.