Raw Sushi Resaturant and Sake bar

[CherieV]

Great pic's philadining!!! I am so glad a few of you made it. I knew that you all would appreciate the level of cuisine and I LOVE the Saki list! I am going again tonight and can't wait!!!

[Rich Pawlak]

(So what am I supposed to do with the wasabi, anyway?)

Everyone knows you're supposed to put it behind your ears. Just ask to make sure.

[Greg Ling]

...You won't have to worry here about offending the chef by putting wasabi in your soy sauce. (emphasis added)

You mean to tell me that I've been committing a major culinary faux pas for all these years?

I'm mortified, I tell you. I'll just have to cover the soy sauce dish with my overcoat while I engage in illicit activity henceforth, I guess.

(So what am I supposed to do with the wasabi, anyway?)

←

Scandalous!!! Next thing, you're going to tell us you dip the rice side of your sushi in the soy sauce!!

What the writer is referring to is that the very common American custom of loading the soy up with wasabi and then soaking the rice in it, is frowned-upon at the most traditional, high-end places. Of course those sushi chefs are too scrupulously polite to poke you in the eye with a chopstick as punishment, but it'll peg you as an unsophisticated sushi-eater. A little wasabi and/or say on the fish, as needed...

In the end, one should do whatever makes it tastes good, and this reviewer was indicating that they're pretty laid-back at Raw, and probably won't scold you about things like that. But loading up your soy with tons of wasabi and then soaking the rice in it is the culinary equivalent of shaking tons of salt and pepper on your food before tasting it, or dousing your plate with ketchup: one would hope that at any nice restaurant, no matter the ethnicity, that kind of thing isn't necessary!

←

Actually, I never realized that one wasn't supposed to do it that way, but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense.

Great pics, philadining. Dare I ask how much a dinner there will set us back?

←

We use fresh wasabi root, not the powdered junk, so what you should do is put the amount of wasabi you like on the piece of fish and then you use a slice of ginger to apply the shoyu.

[mochihead]

Why are you all the way in Philadelphia and not here in Hilo?! You would think with being in the middle of the ocean, we'd have better sushi here. Grrr.... I guess visiting your restaurant is yet another reason for me to travel there!

How are your sweetbreads cooked and seasoned? I didn't realize you could sous vide that, too! Also, if it's not a total house secret, what is your gyoza dipping sauce based upon?

[Greg Ling]

Why are you all the way in Philadelphia and not here in Hilo?!  You would think with being in the middle of the ocean, we'd have better sushi here. Grrr.... I guess visiting your restaurant is yet another reason for me to travel there!

How are your sweetbreads cooked and seasoned?  I didn't realize you could sous vide that, too!  Also, if it's not a total house secret, what is your gyoza dipping sauce based upon?

←

a lot of things can be prepared by the sous vide method

I am really diggin mangos cooked at 90c right now.

As for the sweetbreads they are soaked overnight in a few changes of lightly salted water,than mid 60s for a few hours,(still working it out,alot of trial and error),dusted in mix of pulverized toasted jasmine rice and wondra and then crisped in grapeseed oil.

[tsure]

The sushi chef is Sam Yoon and not only is sushi good ,but he will drink you under the table with soju.

←

No wonder the sushi and sashimi are good...Korean sushi chef...some of the worlds best sushi chefs.

[MarketStEl]

Greg--Okay if I ask if you're around if I make it over there soon?

[shacke]

I now have Raw squarely in my sights. Good sushi is a good thing, as Martha says.

[philadining]

We use fresh wasabi root, not the powdered junk, so what you should do is put the amount of wasabi you like on the piece of fish and then you use a slice of ginger to apply the shoyu.

←

And that fresh, real, wasabi is significantly better than that green-dyed powdered horseradish-based "wasabi" that shows up at a shocking number of places...

[Greg Ling]

Greg--Okay if I ask if you're around if I make it over there soon?

←

no problem I am here seven days a week for the first three months,But its a mad house on weekends.

[urbanfabric]

After all the rave reviews, my SO and I stopped in on Friday after work. We tried to sit at the bar, but an overzealous hostess zipped us to a two-top in the back of the empty elevated section. Oh well, it was quiet...

The space is sharp, very well designed... it looks like there's a door to an outdoor area, will that be an outdoor dining space any time soon?

I thought the service was great! Our server was friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgable. We were extremely impressed not only with the selection of sake, but also the descriptions, it made it really easy to select something to our taste.

Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by the gyoza... it seems silly to say that ours didn't look like the picture, but they were undercooked/gummy around the seal, and positively charred on the bottom.

The sushi was another story. It was really remarkable. We just had a small sampling of ala carte pieces, octopus, snapper, sea scallop, salmon roe, and they were all fantastic! The sea scallop was the best we've ever had!

So, we'll definitely be back for more sushi and to try some of the other small dishes... I can't wait for the lunch time hours, it will be a great place for lunch on the company!

[philadining]

Sorry your gyoza weren't as good as ours, which were indeed quite tasty. But I'm sure even Greg would agree that they aren't the real reason to visit Raw. I mean they're good, but they're just dumplings... There's lots more great stuff on the hot menu as well as from the sushi bar.

I'm probably going to get them again next time I go, but they won't be the main reason for the visit.

[urbanfabric]

Sorry your gyoza weren't as good as ours, which were indeed quite tasty. But I'm sure even Greg would agree that they aren't the real reason to visit Raw.  I mean they're good, but they're just dumplings...  There's lots more great stuff on the hot menu as well as from the sushi bar.

I'm probably going to get them again next time I go, but they won't be the main reason for the visit.

←

Like I said, we'll definitely be back.

[dagordon]

Based on all of the positive reviews here, I was very excited to do an omakase dinner tonight with my girlfriend. I called on Monday night and tried to make a reservation for tonight (Wednesday), and was told that they don't take reservations, but that Wed at 8:30 wouldn't be a problem, and that I should just call an hour ahead of time to let them prepare for the omakase.

So, I called just now, and was told that they can't do omakase tonight (they're too busy), and I should have made a reservation! Apparently they do take reservations during the week. The woman I spoke to said that she has to communicate better with the rest of her staff. Indeed.

[sockii]

So, last night the boyfriend told me to pick a place to try for a night-early birthday dinner, and I decided that it was well past time to try Raw.

We got there around 7:30 to a fairly full house but were seated just fine without a reservation. Our server was extremely friendly and helpful without being overly pushy--which was great as the menu choices were simply overwhelming, between the hot menu, the sushi menu, the specials and the new tempura menu. I'm no sake expert but I know we both like the unfiltered, milky sakes, so he was able to select a great one for us to start with that wasn't even on the menu yet. Edamame generously coated with coarse salt was a great constrast to the sweet sake as we waited for our appetizers to arrive.

I knew we had to try the gyoza, and as soon as I mentioned to our server that they came highly recommended, he said, "You must be on egullet!" So we got those and the half-dozen oysters to start. The gyoza were excellent, as expected--perfectly hot and crunchy outside, tasty soft filling, and accented with some wonderfully dressed sping greens. The oysters were the small, sweet Japanese kind (forgive me for forgetting the name) - delicious, served with a dippping sauce unlike any I've had with oysters before.

Greg came out to make sure we enjoyed the gyoza, and it was nice to be able to put a face to the name.

We ordered three rolls to share: the Wasabi Lobster, the Torimy Roll, and one of the special rolls that featured spicy tuna and eel, I believe, I can't remember exactly except that it was excellent and HUGE. We would have easily been fine with two rolls (especially as each came with a small seaweed salad) but there was just so much we wanted to try, it was hard to stop. Our definite favorite was the Torimy (spicy tuna and eel with torched squid & spicy sauce). I was definitely in spicy sauce heaven and the torched squid was amazing. Our server had suggested a sparkling sake to go with the rolls and with dessert, and again it was a great choice - very refreshing and nice for clearing the palatte between trying the different rolls.

Greg then surprised us with a special item off the menu - a delicate crab cake with some kind of cherry tomato salsa and a super tangy/hot/creamy sauce that left some serious burn (just the way I like it).

Desert was Banana Samosas with Capogiro Thai Coconut Milk Sobretto, and White Chocolate Mouse. We would have easily been satisfied with one dessert (the mouse was seriously dense!), but, hey, birthday dinner, why not over-indulge...

Overall it was a fantastic meal and not bad at all at $150 considering all that we'd had. We'll definitely be back to try some more, and hopefully do the Omikase some night as well.

[Greg Ling]

So, last night the boyfriend told me to pick a place to try for a night-early birthday dinner, and I decided that it was well past time to try Raw.

We got there around 7:30 to a fairly full house but were seated just fine without a reservation. Our server was extremely friendly and helpful without being overly pushy--which was great as the menu choices were simply overwhelming, between the hot menu, the sushi menu, the specials and the new tempura menu. I'm no sake expert but I know we both like the unfiltered, milky sakes, so he was able to select a great one for us to start with that wasn't even on the menu yet. Edamame generously coated with coarse salt was a great constrast to the sweet sake as we waited for our appetizers to arrive.

I knew we had to try the gyoza, and as soon as I mentioned to our server that they came highly recommended, he said, "You must be on egullet!"  So we got those and the half-dozen oysters to start. The gyoza were excellent, as expected--perfectly hot and crunchy outside, tasty soft filling, and accented with some wonderfully dressed sping greens. The oysters were the small, sweet Japanese kind (forgive me for forgetting the name) - delicious, served with a dippping sauce unlike any I've had with oysters before.

Greg came out to make sure we enjoyed the gyoza, and it was nice to be able to put a face to the name.

We ordered three rolls to share: the Wasabi Lobster, the Torimy Roll, and one of the special rolls that featured spicy tuna and eel, I believe, I can't remember exactly except that it was excellent and HUGE. We would have easily been fine with two rolls (especially as each came with a small seaweed salad) but there was just so much we wanted to try, it was hard to stop. Our definite favorite was the Torimy (spicy tuna and eel with torched squid & spicy sauce). I was definitely in spicy sauce heaven and the torched squid was amazing. Our server had suggested a sparkling sake to go with the rolls and with dessert, and again it was a great choice - very refreshing and nice for clearing the palatte between trying the different rolls.

Greg then surprised us with a special item off the menu - a delicate crab cake with some kind of cherry tomato salsa and a super tangy/hot/creamy sauce that left some serious burn (just the way I like it).

Desert was Banana Samosas with Capogiro Thai Coconut Milk Sobretto, and White Chocolate Mouse. We would have easily been satisfied with one dessert (the mouse was seriously dense!), but, hey, birthday dinner, why not over-indulge... 

Overall it was a fantastic meal and not bad at all at $150 considering all that we'd had. We'll definitely be back to try some more, and hopefully do the Omikase some night as well.

←

I am glad you liked everything, the crabcake is on a new menu I am starting today.RAW has got the small plate bug ,so we are gonna try that out.

[Greg Ling]

Based on all of the positive reviews here, I was very excited to do an omakase dinner tonight with my girlfriend. I called on Monday night and tried to make a reservation for tonight (Wednesday), and was told that they don't take reservations, but that Wed at 8:30 wouldn't be a problem, and that I should just call an hour ahead of time to let them prepare for the omakase.

So, I called just now, and was told that they can't do omakase tonight (they're too busy), and I should have made a reservation! Apparently they do take reservations during the week. The woman I spoke to said that she has to communicate better with the rest of her staff. Indeed.

←

I am sorry it took a while torespond to this posyt ,but we do not take reservations unless it is for a large party.As for the omakase weds. are the night that sam who is our Head sushi guy takes off,so that might have been the reason.

[CherieV]

My husband and I had a craving for Raw last night and it was better than ever! The food has always been great in my opinion and now Chef Greg has added an awesome tempura menu (with awesome tempura I might add) and some more items to his kitchen menu. We had the kobe beef carpaccio, which was a generous portion for the price, topped with a quail egg. Sublime....need I say more? Also, Chef Greg sent out one of his new dishes which consisted of spicy shrimp and rice paper wrappers. The shrimp were so flavorful and it is always fun to create your own roll.

Lastly, I need to comment on the service. All I can say is they took their review VERY seriously. We were greated by a warm, friendly, front of the house manager that was really committed to making sure each guest was well taken care of. We opted to wait for a table at the bar and our bartender was so gracious we decided to eat our entire meal there. He was extremely friendly, detail oriented, and our service was just perfect. All I can say again is this has become my favorite Japanese restaurant in Phila and if you haven't made it there yet please check it out, it really is a cool space with amazing food and now really great service.

[shacke]

I finally plan on going tomorrow. A old NYC buddy is stopping in town to meet for dinner and I think it will be perfect to take him to Raw. Called to confirm omakase is available tomorrow - it apparently is. Who knows what will actually happen given the posts above and the fact that my friend may not be up for anything whirlwind anway.

Regardless, I am really looking forward to dinner.....

Evan

Edited May 23, 2006 by shacke (log)

[shacke]

I finally made it to Raw tonight with a friend and once again egullet scoops another terrific new restaurant in the city. I will definitely be back.

The service was courteous and efficient. I was able to meet Greg Ling and chat with him a bit too which was nice.

We started out with the now famous gyoza which was terrific - crunchy outside and ultra rich inside. I asked if Greg would send out whatever he thought was particularly interesting and out things came. We had a velvety corn chowder topped with seared foie gras and a pinch of tingly sichuan peppercorns. A sampling of shrimp tempura was perfectly cooked using the KISS technique (Keep It Simple Stupid). There is an entire submenu of a la carte tempura should you have the desire for it.

We opted for a chopped salad of tomato,cukes,avocado,asparagus and shrimp in a lightly sweetened vinaigrette. Not terribly interesting but a lighter counterpart to some of the more forceful dishes. We had a sharing size portion of rock shrimp tempura served with 3 dipping sauces.

I wanted to at least try to order some sushi since this is a sushi place too so I ordered a small sampling of very fresh fish serve with freshly grated wasabi. Nice touch. Honorable mention goes to bluefin toro - how can that ever be bad? There was a large array of rolls and sushi options which I chose to leave for next time.

When we were wrapping things up, I realized I had not had any oysters which have gotten some good play on this thread. The kitchen sent out an oyster smapler. A baked oyster topped with curried dungeness crab, oyster tempura and two raw pups - one topped with wasabi tobiko and the other with chopped melon. I am not the reigning expert but thyy were perhaps kumomoto? They were small and sweet with a touch of ocean kissed brine.

We skipped dessert at the table as my friend wanted to try Capogiro. Our server told us they serve capogiro there. Good to know should you want to save the 20 paces it takes to get there - right next store.

I was really focused on trying the hot preparations and look forward to returning for a sushi laden meal soon. No omakase on Wednesday which wasn't a bad thing as my fellow diner did not share my gulletine appetite tonight.

We came in at 5:30 and the bar was getting pretty crowded when we left a couple hours later.

Thanks for the tip about Raw. Continued good luck and more to Greg, a gracious and hospitable host.

Evan

Edited May 25, 2006 by shacke (log)

[MarketStEl]

Poked my head in the place on the way back from the State Store tonight.

The really cute and friendly host obliged my request to see the menu. He also told me about some of his favorite items.

I was relieved to see that I wouldn't have to apply for a loan to eat here, as some posts on this thread had led me to believe. (Maybe these diners had the omakase.)

And the design of the place makes it possible to enjoy dinner for one at the sushi bar.

Oh, I'll be back. Next time, to eat. Preferably with a friend in tow.

[mrbigjas]

greg, is raw ever going to open for saturday lunch, or is that not in the plans?

[Greg Ling]

greg, is raw ever going to open for saturday lunch, or is that not in the plans?

←

So far it's not.But weekday lunch is taking off so who knows.

[SugarJ]

A million kudos and thanks to the RAW family. We showed up on Saturday night and, full disclosure, were a teeny bit tipsy but overwhelmingly giddy as my man had just proposed to me. So, 4 of us were there to celebrate and the front of the house fellow was charming as ever could be laughing and smiling with us as soon as we entered. And our 20 min wait at the bar was super - I had a pomegrante something something which was lovely. I have no idea what the other 3 had.

the meal. was. excellent. I know that we had the wasabi losbter roll (excellent). We had athe spicy scallop rolls - superb. the gyoza are heavenly. The special roll with spicy tuna and ...something..and spicy tuna on top with tempura crunchies was magnificent. We had some more but honestly, I was in a fog in and out of the dinner and just cannot remember what we had.

And then, the piece de resistance....I babbled incessently to the waitress about egullet and having been reading forever about Greg from others - and rightly from his own postings - and so she sent him out. Greg - thank you. thank you for coming out to meet our silly group, thanks for the your hospitality and thanks for the kobe beef carpaccio which we haven't stopped raving about yet. and won't, for certain.

I cannot wait to come back - again and again - hopefully a little more clear minded.

[dagordon]

We finally tried Raw last night, and were thoroughly underwhelmed.

First, service-wise. They still haven't quite figured out their reservations policy. I called yesterday afternoon and said that I was interested in an omakase dinner for that night, and asked whether I needed a reservation. The woman took a reservation for a 7:30 omakase dinner for $75/person.

When we arrived last night, there was no one in the front area to greet people. We waited for several minutes. At some point I walked up a couple of stairs into the main room and just stood there for a couple of more minutes, hoping to be noticed. At some point a man approached, and we said that we had a reservation for dinner. He went over to the book and started to flip through it, and couldn't find our reservation. I mentioned that it was a reservation for an omakase dinner, and he seemed to remember something about it, and told us to wait a second. He walked away and a woman approached and asked "2 for dinner?" We explained that we had a reservation for an omakase dinner, and she said that they don't take reservations for omakase dinners! Finally the guy returned and showed us to our table.

It should not be this hard just to get seated!! People at Raw: figure this stuff out!

We sat, and we ordered some sake and water. Then another person came and asked if we wanted anything to drink. We mentioned that we had ordered some sake. After a bit yet a third person asked if we wanted anything to drink.

Final non-food related issues: two empty plates repeatedly made an appearance on the table at various points in the meal, and neither of us could figure out what they were for. Also, dishes that pretty clearly required a spoon (the first dish I'll describe below, and the last) weren't presented with one (we had to ask), and our chopsticks disappeared at one point.

Now, everyone was VERY nice. And as far as service-related issues go, these are, of course, not huge. But they were irritating.

Now, the food. We started with potato encrusted lobster in a truffle broth. The broth was excellent, the lobster rubbery.

Then small pieces of salmon wrapped around spicy tuna with two sauces (red and whitish) drizzled on the plate. There were like 7 of these little concoctions on the plate. They were fine; you couldn't really taste very much of the fish, though. (Spicy tuna is notoriously a way of masking inferior quality tuna. I'm NOT claiming that this is what is was doing in this case, or that it does this in every case. I like spicy tuna as much as the next guy. But it doesn't really allow you to taste the tuna. Seven of these things was a bit much.)

Then seared day boat scallops over meat from (braised or maybe sous-vide) short ribs. This was the highlight of the meal. The short ribs were truly excellent, the scallops cooked perfectly.

Then whitefish sashimi, cut very thin. Perfectly unobjectionable, nothing special, but, again, there were so many! Like 7 of these little slices.

After the whitefish sashimi course we had a "palate cleanser" of blackberries over Merlot ice cream. There was way too much ice cream there for a palate cleanser, and in fact our waiter thoughtfully suggested that we not eat too much of it. Moreover, in my mind this was completely unnecessary. The meal up to that point (unfortunately) did not feature any particularly strong, lingering flavors of which our palates had to be cleansed, and this just unncesessarily filled us up.

Next there was a trio of oysters (all Kumamotos, I believe). The first plain, except for a sauce that we didn't care for. The second was tuna wrapped around a raw oyster, abutted by a piece of orange to which something had done (pickled? or just some kind of sauce? i don't know) that we found pretty unpleasant. The third was fried, which was good, but completely standard.

Finally, a "hot pot" with slices of "Kobe beef" (don't get me started -- presumably it was just Wagyu, assuming they're not importing this stuff from Japan), more day boat scallops, a bit of lobster, and a ball of something (perhaps fried spicy tuna?). I really didn't care for this, although my girlfriend found it slighly better than I did. The broth was way too sweet, and not particularly flavorful. And by then I'd had enough day boat scallop.

Dessert was blackberries and strawberries over whipped cream. The blackberries were good.

Overall, we were quite disappointed. As I said, this was a $75/person omakase, From that I expected more. At the very least, I expected to sample more sushi and sashimi! All we had in that area was the salmon wrapped spicy tuna and the whitefish sashimi, both of which were ok, but, as I've said, there was so much of each. Some more variety would have been welcome. Maybe it's my fault for not specifying that we wanted more raw fish, but you'd think that there would have been a bit more variety here. And I expected the cooked stuff to be a bit more adventurous -- like some of the stuff in philadining's post.

Glad we tried it, won't be heading back any time soon.