Fuji

[KatieLoeb]

...and face it if I were atempting to open a restaurant in less than 30 days, I doubt the website would be top priority.

I have no doubt Matt is waaaayyyy too busy to even be thinking about the website right now. No need to panic yet. I'm sure we'll get an update soon.

Any of you over on the Jersey side of the river, let us know what you see when you drive by, eh?

[rockhopper]

I walked by yesterday and it looks like the fire didn't harm their buildout.

They are still building and paper is on the windows; but I did peek in and workers were, um working. No signs or flyers were around stating an opening date.

So, it's coming but still don't know when. I'll keep checking.

[john b]

From todays Table Talk:

The opening of Fuji (116 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield 856-354-8200) has been pushed back to April 24.

[rockhopper]

From todays Table Talk:

The opening of Fuji (116 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield 856-354-8200) has been pushed back to April 24.

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I walked by just today and they are still on for April 24 - just a few days away.

Still working on the inside though.

[brucedelta]

I can report that Fuji is now open!!

Dinner only the first week.

We were out doing errends and in the area so we decided to see if they were openand grab a late light meal. Had a little trouble finding it mainly because I had a preconcieved notion that it was down in the little walk next to the CVS. We were ready to give up looking when I spotted a sign.

Started with Tuna Nutta ( tuna, cucumber avocado, white soy beans) and it was tasty. Scallops teriaki were tender and done just right. I am so used to this dish being overcooked everywhere that is was delicious to have a big tender scallop done correctly.

Had some rolls and sushi and found the white tuna to be outstanding. My wife wanted the Jewpanise Roll (Peppered salmon, cream cheese, & ?). It was good, but not my thing as I have never compleatly warmed to cream cheese in my rolls. On the other hand the cooked squash was a nice treat we never experienced before. A little sweet it had a nice flavr that I was suprised to like. Finished off with a tasty asian pear tart.

All in all I am looking to visit again. Then I will come prepared with wine and all.

Said hello to Matt who seemed to be in good spirits. I did not count tables or such, but I would say it can hold twice what the old place could. Sushi bar wall full when we came in so we sat at a nice table next to the back windows. Decor was asian style woven woods with a small waterfall upfront. Wood tables with white linens made the room look very nice and calming.

My only complaint was that the warm towels used to wipe our hads remained lying on the table until the plates were cleared. I am not sure why they did not leave the basket to put them back into, but that was removed when the towels were dispensed.

[dagordon]

My only complaint was that the warm towels used to wipe our hads remained lying on the table until the plates were cleared.  I am not sure why they did not leave the basket to put them back into, but that was removed when the towels were dispensed.

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thanks for the report, bruce! as you know we were worried for a while that we'd experienced matt's genius for the last time, so of course we're very excited.

as far as the warm towels -- some people (myself included) eat sushi w/ their fingers -- it's finger food, after all -- so in this case you keep the warm towel throughout the meal and dab your fingers on it every once in a while to clean them off. (unless you're in one of those places that actually provides a separate finger towel for precisely this purpose.) although if you're going to do this usually you neatly fold up the towel, to indicate that you want to keep it; if there were towels crumbled up on the table during the meal this is probably an indication that you wanted them to be cleared.

in any case, if this is the only complaint on opening night, i'd say they're in pretty darn good shape!

Edited April 25, 2007 by dagordon (log)

[brucedelta]

My only complaint was that the warm towels used to wipe our hads remained lying on the table until the plates were cleared.  I am not sure why they did not leave the basket to put them back into, but that was removed when the towels were dispensed.

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in any case, if this is the only complaint on opening night, i'd say they're in pretty darn good shape!

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They were indeed crumpled up on the table.

I kind of thought reporting that as a problem will make the point that things were better than expected opening night.

I think they were in good shape. I can not say I knew any of the staff, but some look familiar from the old place.

[KatieLoeb]

**Wild Happy Dancing**

Woo-hoo! There is sushi in my near future. Maybe even this coming weekend. Are they open on Sundays?

I've missed Matt and Fuji very much...

[brucedelta]

Decided to stop at Fuji again today since my wife said she was working late and I was passing through on the way home. At 6:20 I got the last seat at the sushi bar. The people next to me had traveled from Bucks county with their own chopsticks. Bringing your own chopsticks must be the thing to do these days since I observed two couples doing this last week when we were there.

In any case it looked full the whole time and as I was leaving two parties walked in and it sounded like they were going to be turned away due to lack of reservation.

So if you want to go make a reservation is my advice!

Oh, the food. It certainly did not suck! The chef in front of me was working on something that looked like tuna with caviar, but I could not identify on the menu. Upon inquiery I was told it was tuna tartare and that it was not on the menu, and "did I want one" . I replied affirmative before the guy next to me offered a resounding endorsement, and It was delicious.

I also really enjoyed the white tuna, after all it was the main reason I stopped by as I had a hankering for more after last week. Also enjoyed Sake, Ebe, & Hamachi.

[dagordon]

The people next to me had traveled from Bucks county with their own chopsticks.  Bringing your own chopsticks must be the thing to do these days since I observed two couples doing this last week when we were there.

I think the BYOC is as much an environmental issue as it's an issue of not wanting to deal with the splinters that come with the break-apart wooden chopsticks that many places have. Disposable chopsticks are, after all, pretty wasteful.

Edited May 2, 2007 by dagordon (log)

[KatieLoeb]

I made it to Fuji for my Sunday evening dinner as planned. I hadn't made a reservation since I was coming from a theater performance I wasn't sure of a specific end time for. Luckily there was a table for us, but I wasn't able to sit at the sushi bar which would have been my preference.

In the move, the sushi bar gained all of two seats, so now there's eight seats instead of the six there were at the old Route 130 location. The dining room is very nicely appointed, although I must say that the waterfall decoration above our table was dangerously close to constantly splashing on my dining companion. Big wet spot on the banquette next to her by the time we left.

Service in the dining room is as it always was. Glacially slow and very forgetful. Thankfully the food was as great as ever. We'd brought a half bottle of the Chairman's Selection Gloria Ferrer Brut to start out and a bottle of a lovely sparkling Vouvray to finish out the meal with. I ordered the sushi sampler dinner (including soup and a salad) and an order of Tropical rolls (lump crab and mango inside out with roe) and an order of Amberjack (two pieces) as well. It was an assload of great sushi and I enjoyed every last bit of it. Chef Matt, was crusing the dining room and saying hello to the guests. When I asked him what he recommended, in his usual droll manner he answered, "The Fish is great tonight!" Nonetheless, I loved everything, even though my soup didn't arrive until I inquired after it, and I'm not certain the cold noodle dish I got was the salad I was expecting.

Fuji is as it ever was. But it's still the best sushi in the Philly area by a longshot, and I'll still pit Chef Matt up against Morimotosan in anything other than a Sumo cage match.

[dagordon]

Just got back from an omakase meal at Fuji for a very special occasion dinner. I fear that the old Fuji is gone forever. I would go into details but, quite honestly, I'm too heartbroken.

[john b]

Just got back from an omakase meal at Fuji for a very special occasion dinner. I fear that the old Fuji is gone forever. I would go into details but, quite honestly, I'm too heartbroken.

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You can't leave us hanging like this...

[dagordon]

You can't leave us hanging like this...

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We were immediately worried when we walked in and saw that Matt wasn't at the sushi bar. We recognized Chen from the old Fuji but the other sushi chefs were two new guys.

Nothing we had was bad. The meal was just completely mediocre, displaying absolutely none of the magic that we know Matt is capable of. And what was so sad was that it wasn't like they tried to acheive this magic and failed; there was no attempt.

The only offerings that we had from the sushi bar were three different kinds of sashimi (maguro, hamachi, and i think fluke) and a bunch of rolls. We went to Fuji for an omakase dinner and weren't served any nigiri!! This is unfathomable. None of that toro, that amazing salmon, that scallop with truffle oil, uni, etc...

And the sashimi and rolls came out immediately after an amuse. So we were pretty much stuffed with this stuff before any cooked dishes came out, which was odd; normally we end with sushi.

A soft-shell crab dish from the kitchen was good, but unexceptional (and the crabs could have been much crispier). A scallop and foie dish came out toward the end, at a point when, given the insane amonunts of maki we had been served, there was no way we could have eaten it; but apart from this it was in a way too sweet sauce, the foie didn't seem of terribly high quality, and the tendon on one of my scallops hadn't been removed.

Part of me says that they've only been open a couple of weeks, so it's way too early for any serious criticism. But --

They served us a rainbow roll.

Now, I don't mean to sound snobby. I don't mind eating rainbow rolls. But it's the kind of thing I'll get from Whole Foods, if I have a sushi craving and that's the only thing available. I do not go to Fuij to be served rainbow rolls. Matt knows us; he knows we're not rainbow roll people. We go to Fuji to be wowed. No one has ever been wowed by a rainbow roll.

There was also a spider roll. In fact, the sushi bar was like a spider roll production line. Massive amounts of the soft shells would arrive from the kitchen fried in an oddly red batter to be put into rolls. Again, the spider roll was fine. Not what I go to Fuji to eat.

The point is that the whole concept of our meal bore no resemblance to the omakase meals of the old Fuji. I don't see how this sort of thing is a kink that's going to be worked out as the restaurant gets its footing.

It was like finding out that a close, genius friend of yours had been lobotomized.

Has anyone been to the new Fuji and seen Matt actually working at the bar for an extended period of time?

Edited May 12, 2007 by dagordon (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Honestly, over the last several years I saw less and less of Matt behind the bar because he was in the kitchen producing the amazing cooked foods. There was always an able apprentice or two behind the bar slicing the fish that Matt so carefully procures. I was never worried that Matt wasn't slicing my fish.

I sincerely hope your experience was an aberration. As I said, my meal there was fine, although I didn't order an omakase this time out - just straightforward sushi and sashimi. And it was delicious. And the service was as bad in the dining room as it ever was. Maybe worse. But the fish was delicious.

I'm going to have to go in and sit at the bar one night (with an advance reservation, of course) and be a bit more observant.

[Capaneus]

Honestly, over the last several years I saw less and less of Matt behind the bar because he was in the kitchen producing the amazing cooked foods.  There was always an able apprentice or two behind the bar slicing the fish that Matt so carefully procures.  I was never worried that Matt wasn't slicing my fish.

I sincerely hope your experience was an aberration.  As I said, my meal there was fine, although I didn't order an omakase this time out - just straightforward sushi and sashimi.  And it was delicious.  And the service was as bad in the dining room as it ever was.  Maybe worse.  But the fish was delicious.

I'm going to have to go in and sit at the bar one night (with an advance reservation, of course) and be a bit more observant.

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Huh. Went to Fuji last week, and... well, we started with sushi, which was fine, not terribly original, but fresh and well-prepared. For an entree, I had the lamb loin. That was also good-quality, and essentially unharmed by preparation (which is higher praise than you might think). But the sides were... well, unpleasant. I forget exactly what they were, but I have a clear memory of overcooked vegetables.

At the time, I blamed the problem on a) going on a Friday; b) the much larger space being something the kitchen needs top grow into; and c) that I should have ordered the omakase.

a) and b) may still be the case, but dagordon's experience certainly makes me wonder about c).

Also, there's the fact that the omakase has wowed me progressively less and less over the last few years. I flattered myself that that was because of my increasingly sophisticated palate. Now I wonder about that as well.

[dagordon]

Honestly, over the last several years I saw less and less of Matt behind the bar because he was in the kitchen producing the amazing cooked foods.  There was always an able apprentice or two behind the bar slicing the fish that Matt so carefully procures.  I was never worried that Matt wasn't slicing my fish.

Well I actually do prefer it when Matt is preparing the sushi himself, not only because it does matter who is preparing it, but much more importantly because omakase should really be an interactive experience. Sushi should come out a couple of pieces at a time, so that the chef can see how you respond to it. The truly great meals we had at Fuji (which, by the way, I would count as some of the best meals of my life) prominently featured this interaction with Matt himself.

But my point about Matt being behind the bar wasn't at all about this -- my point was just that if Matt is behind the bar then he'll see what's going on and will have more control over what's going on at the bar. Had he been there last night it would have been impossible for him not to have seen the abject horror on our faces when we were served maki after maki. He'd have noticed that we were not our usual ebullient selves. He'd have noticed that something was very wrong.

That is, I find it very hard to believe that omakase at Fuji with Matt somewhere behind the bar wouldn't be great. It just seems like he's no longer at the bar.

[cinghiale]

I was there last night as well. Probably sat down as dagordon was finishing up (was one of your party from RI?).

I concur with dagordon that Fuji is now sadly history.

First, the location is odd, to say the least. It's not unlike going to a doctor's office in some commercial building (the old location's funkiness made a trip there feel a tad like an adventure)

The room is much larger, the woodwork nice, the sushi bar also roughly 50% bigger.

We also had the omakase, yet a much different one than described above. However, I share dagordon's disappointment that Matt was not wielding the knife. He has been the show at every meal I had at the old Fuji. He appeared out from behind the draped kitchen entrance only briefly during the meal, usually as the hot items came out. When I asked about his absence, he said he had "many new toys to try out in the kitchen." As far as I understood, in addition to Chen, the new knife master hails from an NYC sushi bar. Annoyingly, he answered every query about the fish being served with a *jokey* "I don't know."

Also, as dagordon comments, the sushi came out PRIOR to the last two hot items, and I was sorely annoyed.

Finally, I agree with dagordon that the meal didn't sing. There were a few standouts, one surprise, a number of acceptably rendered standards, and a few disappointments. Not what I'm used to with Matt. The rundown:

Fluke with miso

This dish was rather weak, with the miso overwhelming the fish

Salmon tartare, salmon roe, creme fraiche

Good. Very fresh, roe perfect saltiness

Gobo root, snapper with wasabi, almond-crusted shrimp shumai, asparagus w/miso (apologies for the focus)

The gobo was terrific, the snapper was fine. The shumai was nice, but no longer hot (if designed to be served room temp, it didn't work), the asparagus was ordinary.

White tuna with passion fruit

Best cold dish. Tuna was great, paired really well with the passion fruit, which was garnished with a terrific sea salt.

Shad roe with fiddleheads:

Worst dish. The roe was terribly breaded and poorly cooked, ending up distinctly mealy. The fiddlehead were, on the other hand, perfectly prepared.

Live scallop, yellow jack, salmon, snapper, toro

Toro like butter, amazing. Yellow jack was also very good. I'm no fan of scallop. Salmon and snapper completely acceptable. Also, there appeared to be wasabi sandwiched between each fish and its rice bed, which we found odd, to say the least.

Uni souffle

Hands down best dish. Very rich, silky, awesome. I could eat this often.

Squab with wild asparagus

A old standby, always good. This did not disappoint.

I can't be sure, but I think prices have gone up. This one ran $80 a pop, and that seems higher than anything I paid previously.

[dagordon]

I was there last night as well.  Probably sat down as dagordon was finishing up (was one of your party from RI?).

Ah, that's my soon-to-be father-in-law. He's, um, memorable.

Part of my disappointment was that my folks and my fiancee's folks were in town, and I really wanted this meal to blow them away.

The only dishes in common between our meals were the salmon tartare and the gobo root + snapper + shumai + we had fiddleheads instead of the asparagus w/miso.

As disappointed as you were with your meal, it looks substantially better than ours. Would really have appreciated some uni souffle.

The breaded shad roe is actually not new -- we had that a year ago (to the day, I think!). It stood out as perhaps the only bad dish Matt had ever served us.

[philadining]

I think you folks overlapped a little, I think I can pick out the Gordon party, weeping quietly in disappointment...

Thanks for the pix, cinghiale. Sorry to hear that both parties were underwhelmed.

[brucedelta]

I think you folks overlapped a little, I think I can pick out the Gordon party, weeping quietly in disappointment...

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I thought the same thing.

The Tuna tartare I had a few weeks ago that I loved looked much like the salmon pictured here, but with traditional dark caviar instead of the salmon roe.

I was there on a weeknight and Matt was behind the bar the whole time, but the first time I was there (opening night) had him out and about as far as I could see.

[cdh]

The lukewarm reception is kind of disheartening. I hope that Matt and crew get their act together again and the new bigger place becomes manageable for them... but maybe I'll hold off on visiting for a while until they've had a chance to get past their reorientation phase. Sad, since I'd wanted to trek down there and try the new Fuji soon.

Hopefully good things will come to those who wait.

[ishkabibble]

Well, we only visited the old location once shortly before it closed, so we can't compare it to the new one. My wife and I visited on Thursday, 5/17. We liked the atmosphere/decor. Service was pleasantly professional. The food was great. We'll be going back.

Bill

[brescd01]

My wife and I tried Fuji and we were very impressed. I do not think I ever tried excellent sushi until tonight. Plus the owner is a real charmer. We sat at the bar and spent $45/person without drinks.

[Andrew Fenton]

Finally getting around to mentioning that il dottore Shack and I had lunch at Fuji last Saturday. I really don't have too much to say about it, other than that we sat at the bar, and had great sushi and a great time chatting with the sushi chefs. The sushi, at least, remains the best I've had in this area.