Fuji

[KatieLoeb]

Uh Oh, a serious contender to our resident food porn photographer extraordinaire.

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That was my first thought too!

Food Porn Smackdown!! Yeah!

[Fujito]

Those are gorgeous photos!  Fujito, are they from a professional photoshoot at the restaurant? 

Wherever they came from, they're very effective: I'm suddenly craving some Fuji sushi!

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No, they're my pictures. I'm Jesse Ito, the full time sushi chef and Matt's son at Fuji. I dabble in photography and other arts, so I thought I'd share.

[philadining]

Damn! Nice shooting, Jesse!

Edited June 8, 2009 by philadining (log)

[Fujito]

Those are gorgeous photos!  Fujito, are they from a professional photoshoot at the restaurant? 

Wherever they came from, they're very effective: I'm suddenly craving some Fuji sushi!

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One is almond encrusted and the other is made out of rice. I do not recall the name for that one, but it's the same idea as the pink mijinko used on the deep fried softshells.

[Fujito]

Damn!  Nice shooting, Jesse!

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haha thanks. I have a slight advantage being that I have better lighting in the kitchen and I can obtain a smaller DOF since I'm not cramped in my seat, 1 foot away from the food.

[percyn]

We went back to Fuji about a month ago. Everything was fine, but with the variety that I see posted here (and that I don't usually get to experience) I will launch an idea I had mentioned a while ago: how about organising a Fuji dinner-for-egulleters?

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Jesse's pictures and a Fuji Omakase dinner promise to a friend makes we want to resurrect Fabio's suggestion for an eGullet dinner featuring some of the highlights we have seen on this thread - and more!!

PM me if you are interested.

-Percy

[cdh]

Wow! Pretty pictures. It's been far too long since I've been to Fuji...

[Tim Dolan]

I have reservations tonight at the sushi bar and I might shamelessly start dropping names. I'm excited.

[Tim Dolan]

Dinner on Friday night was completely awesome. I didn't even name drop this website until after dinner and Jessie asked me how I'd heard about them. We sat at the bar and had a great time. There were 4 people to our left, and 2 to our right. They were all on a first name basis with eack other and said that they had been going to Matt's places for around 20 years. The woman sitting right next to me said that she hasn't even looked at a menu in 15 years.

Dagordon had wrote that there's no reason to not go there if you're within 30 miles of Philly, and for some reason I kept thinking about that during dinner. It's really just a short trip over the bridge, and you'd be halfway there by the time you found parking in Center City. It's totally worth the short extra trip. We didn't even get anything out of the ordinary and it was still great. I'm still learning about everything so what is considered standard by more knowledgable people is still interesting to me.

We both got the same thing, ordering the sushi deluxe combo off the menu. It was 10 pieces of nigiri with a Fuji roll (yellowtail, some type of root and tobiko), and we each ordered a piece of uni. Among the nigiri was sea bream, tuna, waluu (white tune/escolar), shrimp, amber jack, yellowtail, fatty salmon, eel, live scallop, and one more that I can't remember. The highlight for me was probably the live scallop with sea salt and truffle oil and the sea urchin, but really everything was excellent. The other people at the bar were great company and everyone was talking about their favorite resturants in the city. Jessie and another guy named Sam were rockstars and Jessie even encouraged us for next time to sit at the bar and just let him take care of ordering for us, like he had for the other guests. We wanted to turn around and come right back on Saturday. It's always great when you go into a place with high expectations and have those expectations exceeded. I have a birthday coming up and it's a no-brainer that I'm going back there. I mentioned to the other people at the bar that I had to bring some of my friends next time, and they were less-than-half kidding when they replied that they didn't want more people to come and take up their seats. I don't blame them.

[sunra]

If he was a big guy, then that was Sam who turned us on to Fuji over 10 years ago. He used to have the whole sushi bar reserved EVERY Thursday for himself and his friends. Sam know his food and drink, and we've had a few side spitting feasts with him a Fuji over the years. Great guy, and he is fun to eat, drink and discuss with.

We love Fuji, Matt and, now, Jessie!

[KatieLoeb]

That's definitely Sam if it's Thursday nights. And in fact, he's the one that turned me onto Fuji like 17 years ago. He has exquisite taste in food and drink and also was one of the first people to peak my interest in wine when he was one of my regular customers at my very first restaurant job in Philly. It was a small BYO restaurant at 20th & Chestnut Streets and Sam would always come in with excellent wine and insist that I taste it. I owe him a debt of gratitude for lighting that fire in me to learn more about wine and expand my horizons in my food choices.

[jmbrightman]

I had that deep fried softshell as an omakase course a couple weeks ago and I am still thinking about it...

[rockhopper]

Your "trip over the bridge" really can just be a 15 minute ride on PATCO.

Fuji is 1/4 mile from the station. (make a left, when you get to the Corner Beastro you are across the

street from Fuji)

I take PATCO from Haddonfield (I'm lucky to have Fuji right around the corner from me) to CC at night frequently so I wouldn't worry too much about whatever it is you might worry about.

[mhdousa]

Just curious: How much do the omakase tend to cost at Fuji?

[jmbrightman]

5 course $50 and up, 8 course $80 and up, minimum 2 people, call ahead to let chef know...

[Tim Dolan]

Went back to Fuji last night for my aforementioned birthday dinner. It was completely awesome. We just sat down at the sushi bar, I told Jesse it was my birthday, and he took it from there. Soon plates of incredibly fresh and delicious sushi came from behind the bar. First up was an app of gorgeous diced tuna with avocado, sea salt, wasabi and citrus oil. Next was a long plate of nigiri filled with about 10 pairs of all kinds of different, awesome stuff. Finished up with two rolls, one with eel and another with yellowtail. I didn't think I was a huge fan of rolls, but the roll with yellowtail, tobiko, and burdock root is easily one of my new favorite things to eat. Dessert of banana tempura came out on the house. There was another fellow at the bar who was getting entree after entree sent out to him from the kitchen. After talking to him for a few minutes he was probably the most enthusiastic fan of Fuji on the planet. It's wild that this place isn't jam packed every night.

[Fujito]

I'm glad you enjoyed your Bday meal Tim. Matt--the guy at the bar--is definitely our biggest fan.

I haven't posted any pics in a long long time because I haven't taken any. I re-edited two and I have a few new ones.