Sushi with Steve
Last night I had quite the epicurious adventure. I went to Murasaki Japanese Restaurant with David, Kim, Brian (her research partner from San Francisco who was also in Hartford for work) and Steve. I'll get to him in a minute.
The restaurant website is: http://www.murasakijapaneserestaurant.com/ if you are curious. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this restaurant before, but it's my go-to sushi place in CT. It's in a little West Hartford neighborhood with a couple of streets full of small shops and lots of restaurants like Bricco's (Gayle and Oprah's famous lobster grilled cheese) and Max's Oyster Bar (the Max family owns several high-end restaurants in the area). There's the Elbow Room with the giant roof-top patio and live music. Places like that. Most of the restaurants are a little more formal and a lot more expensive. The "chains" like burger joints, ice cream shops and places like The Cheesecake Factory are in the BlueBack part of West Hartford. The area I am referring to is a quaint, small, "elite" club of restaurants…..a foodie’s dream. I haven’t hit them all quite yet, but I plan to!
Steve works at UBS with David in the Hartford office. (In fact, he’s recently started working closely with the IT department). I knew Steve from working in the Dallas office. There weren’t many people that I knew from the Hartford office when I moved here…..I knew some of the IT people and a few of the admin, but that was really about it. So, when I saw a familiar face, Steve’s, at the holiday party I was happy to stop and talk with him. Steve lived in Japan for 11 years. He taught conversational English and studied with a theatre group. (He later toured with a group performing in children’s theatre.) He’s a really interesting guy…..and obviously knows his Japanese culture and food. So, when I asked him about the best sushi in Hartford, he said hands down: Murasaki.
We made a date to go in January but, due to a heating issue , Steve wasn’t able to make it. Look, you can’t mess with heating issues in January in Connecticut! ;) David and I had a GREAT meal and loved every bite. We went back on Valentine’s Day in February and back again other time in April. It’s the BEST sushi I’ve ever had. But I still wanted to go with Steve, the Japanese cuisine expert. And after cornering the poor guy at the ballgame Friday night, I made a date for last night.
Most Japanese restaurants in America are owned by Chinese, Koreans or Americans
. This restaurant is owned by Japanese. Who better to know the authentic cuisine. (Although Steve said it’s still quite “Americanized”, it’s as close as you can find in the States.) We started with the traditional warm cloth towels to wash our hands. Then a complimentary sunomono salad of cucumber, wakame (a sort of seaweed) and octopus. The dressing was delicious! (Note: David and I have been there several times and never got this before. I'm fairly confident that it's because we were with Steve, who they all knew. It was fun to hear him order in Japanese.....we definitely got the royal treatment with him at our table! Hopefully they will recognize us as "Steve's friends" when we go back.) We all cleaned our small plates. Steve ordered several appetizers so we could try all sorts of things. We had my favorite, shumai (a steamed shrimp dumpling in a mustard soy sauce), gyoza (a pork dumpling – like a typical potsticker), negimaki (a grilled beef and scallion roll) and the adventurous age dashi tofu (a fried bean curd in a broth with benito and scallions). I enjoyed it all except the age dashi tofu. The flavor was good, but I can’t get past the tofu texture. It’s too soft and “custard” like for my taste. The broth was excellent though.
Then the sushi! David, Steve and I ordered our roll. Steve got the dragon roll. I got the fire roll and David got the black pearl. Then we had a selection to choose from: octopus, eel, tuna, avocado, etc. And for Steve and I: the sea urchin. Have you ever had this? Here’s what it looks like:
This is a great photo, because you can really see the "texture". Again, it wasn't my favorite, not because of taste, but texture. It had a slimy, fuzzy, custard-like texture. Much softer and mushier than a raw oyster (which I love). I tried to eat it slow to really experience the flavor. I was glad I tried it, but it will most likely be my only sea urchin experience. I tried the eel as well. I've seen David eat it, and whenever it comes out on an assorted plate, it's his. I'm always put off by the deep brown thick sauce. But in the spirit of adventure, I tried it last night. REALLY GOOD! I like it. Sorry David, we may be fighting over that one from now on. ;)
It was a fun night. Dinner with friends, new and old, a learning expericence and good food. What could be better. (I have NO IDEA why I didn't get the waitress to take a photo of us all.) Can't wait to do it again!
The restaurant website is: http://www.murasakijapaneserestaurant.com/ if you are curious. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this restaurant before, but it's my go-to sushi place in CT. It's in a little West Hartford neighborhood with a couple of streets full of small shops and lots of restaurants like Bricco's (Gayle and Oprah's famous lobster grilled cheese) and Max's Oyster Bar (the Max family owns several high-end restaurants in the area). There's the Elbow Room with the giant roof-top patio and live music. Places like that. Most of the restaurants are a little more formal and a lot more expensive. The "chains" like burger joints, ice cream shops and places like The Cheesecake Factory are in the BlueBack part of West Hartford. The area I am referring to is a quaint, small, "elite" club of restaurants…..a foodie’s dream. I haven’t hit them all quite yet, but I plan to!
Steve works at UBS with David in the Hartford office. (In fact, he’s recently started working closely with the IT department). I knew Steve from working in the Dallas office. There weren’t many people that I knew from the Hartford office when I moved here…..I knew some of the IT people and a few of the admin, but that was really about it. So, when I saw a familiar face, Steve’s, at the holiday party I was happy to stop and talk with him. Steve lived in Japan for 11 years. He taught conversational English and studied with a theatre group. (He later toured with a group performing in children’s theatre.) He’s a really interesting guy…..and obviously knows his Japanese culture and food. So, when I asked him about the best sushi in Hartford, he said hands down: Murasaki. We made a date to go in January but, due to a heating issue , Steve wasn’t able to make it. Look, you can’t mess with heating issues in January in Connecticut! ;) David and I had a GREAT meal and loved every bite. We went back on Valentine’s Day in February and back again other time in April. It’s the BEST sushi I’ve ever had. But I still wanted to go with Steve, the Japanese cuisine expert. And after cornering the poor guy at the ballgame Friday night, I made a date for last night.
Most Japanese restaurants in America are owned by Chinese, Koreans or Americans
. This restaurant is owned by Japanese. Who better to know the authentic cuisine. (Although Steve said it’s still quite “Americanized”, it’s as close as you can find in the States.) We started with the traditional warm cloth towels to wash our hands. Then a complimentary sunomono salad of cucumber, wakame (a sort of seaweed) and octopus. The dressing was delicious! (Note: David and I have been there several times and never got this before. I'm fairly confident that it's because we were with Steve, who they all knew. It was fun to hear him order in Japanese.....we definitely got the royal treatment with him at our table! Hopefully they will recognize us as "Steve's friends" when we go back.) We all cleaned our small plates. Steve ordered several appetizers so we could try all sorts of things. We had my favorite, shumai (a steamed shrimp dumpling in a mustard soy sauce), gyoza (a pork dumpling – like a typical potsticker), negimaki (a grilled beef and scallion roll) and the adventurous age dashi tofu (a fried bean curd in a broth with benito and scallions). I enjoyed it all except the age dashi tofu. The flavor was good, but I can’t get past the tofu texture. It’s too soft and “custard” like for my taste. The broth was excellent though.Then the sushi! David, Steve and I ordered our roll. Steve got the dragon roll. I got the fire roll and David got the black pearl. Then we had a selection to choose from: octopus, eel, tuna, avocado, etc. And for Steve and I: the sea urchin. Have you ever had this? Here’s what it looks like:
This is a great photo, because you can really see the "texture". Again, it wasn't my favorite, not because of taste, but texture. It had a slimy, fuzzy, custard-like texture. Much softer and mushier than a raw oyster (which I love). I tried to eat it slow to really experience the flavor. I was glad I tried it, but it will most likely be my only sea urchin experience. I tried the eel as well. I've seen David eat it, and whenever it comes out on an assorted plate, it's his. I'm always put off by the deep brown thick sauce. But in the spirit of adventure, I tried it last night. REALLY GOOD! I like it. Sorry David, we may be fighting over that one from now on. ;)
It was a fun night. Dinner with friends, new and old, a learning expericence and good food. What could be better. (I have NO IDEA why I didn't get the waitress to take a photo of us all.) Can't wait to do it again!
Comments
(The giant sea urchin picture was just gross! I totally get what you mean about the texture. I need to go brush my teeth after looking at that!)