Best Sushi in Philly

[Vadouvan]

Funny you should say that, since there's an identical thread on Chowhound right now, initiated by the same person. That thread is perfectly civil, and provides nearly the same useful information that this one does.

They have been better behaved since the corporate takeover and you actually have to sign in now....

that's why they are called discussion boards and not conclusion boards....

Edited November 3, 2006 by Vadouvan (log)

[chowfun]

The problem that I had with the sushi at raw was the sushi rice. It is sweet, tastes alot like tea, and the consistancy is gluey. We got one of their special rolls that was white tuna and spicy tuna that was torched on the outside briefly. This was a mistake to order. It was swimming in at least three different sauces. I do think that the freshness of the fish at bluefin is consistantly excellent, but I'm sure it does not compare with the top sushi bars in the country and the cooked food there is to be avoided. I sure hope Matt Ito reopens soon in Haddonfield!

[brescd01]

I appreciate the insights on this thread, and I will be definitely checking many of the recommended places out.

So far as Chinese, I am happy to say that the Chinese situation is better than the Japanese one. There are plenty of good Chinese places with Cantonese, Szechuan, Fujianese, Chiu Chow, and Taiwanese (I'm pushing it to make a point) dishes. Shanghainese is missing, but perfectly good Malaysian takes it place.

So while I am quite certain that my favorites are objectively good (not subjectively) and authentic, I have quite a few favorites. The one thing I can say is that I have not yet found good Chinese food outside of Chinatown. But there are at least two very good Asian restaurants in Chinatown that deliver, Szechuan Tasty House and Banana Leaf.

[sam yoon]

hi, my name is sam yoon. sushi chef at raw sushi & sake lounge.

maybe that mistake roll's name is white tiger roll. i'm sorry about that.

may be my helper made that roll. because i have a a lot of special roll that's why they got confused. i'm sorry again.

first really sorry about my english. my english is not good,so please understand me.

my opinion is ....

in philly,in nj, ny, la,....a lot of chef..

all chef have a they own skill and taste and style.

but mostly chef know about tradition japanese food.

i'm also learned shinzuku in japane.

so mostly my style is tokyo style,

but i can do osaka style, ginja style,kyoto style also.

i don't know what sushi style do you like it?

but, i wish when you come in the restaurant,

you can ask to chef "what is your specialty" or ask your taste.

i think better than just order and eating.

and ask to server head chef make my order for your enjoy.

and also, when you come in the raw, please looking for me.

i do make my special for your tasty.

i do my best all the time, all my experiece..

and in philadelphia, ny,nj, i teached a lot of chef,but

only 3 people were enough for chef.

lot of people want to get job for sushi chef.

because salery is good. that it.

a lot small place sushi chef. they just making.

i'm sorry about them but they are not chef.

and they can't care fresh fish. so they use frozed fish.

and lot of sishi chef deos'nt like sushi or they can not eat raw fish.

swimming player have to with water....

sushi chef have to know about fish.. and taste..and they life.

i'm sorry.. too long right?

i wanna talk about please don't compare with wasabi..kisso..blue fin..

i know them but i feel really bad and sad..

when you gay's just compare like this.

i regret my 16 years experience..

if you chance to coming to raw,

please looking for sam yoon.

i,ll waitting for you.

Edited December 20, 2006 by sam yoon (log)

[philadining]

I haven't been to Raw nearly enough, but I believe that if you follow Sam Yoon's advice and introduce yourself to him, and have him make his specialties, you'll do well!

Katie and I were lucky enough to get a couple of things made especially for us the first time we went in, and they were fabulous, especially that Ika...

[SG-]

You could consider Teikoku on route 3 in Newtown Square.

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Not good at all.

[SG-]

am disturbed that the question of great sushi arouses such passion. I do not have the necessary level of sophistication to draw conclusions

If its just 2 of you go to the sushi bar at morimoto.

Though its a bit disorganized by Yasuda san's standards, its still fun to watch and .....really the sushi isnt that expensive, it's the hot foods and mildly inspired omakases that make it expensive.

The morimoto sashimi plate is very good as are the kumamotos and the chicken soup, thats just about it. But when it comes to the really tasty hot food...hands down Sagami.

For the record without a hint of reluctance, the two consistently best tasting dishes for the last 5 years in philly are both at sagami.

Nasu shigiyaki.

Hamachi Kama.

Edited: to add Sagami is in NJ, I meant the phillly area.

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Trick with Morimoto is to go for lunch on a weekday at about 1:30pm when most of the crowd is leaving and sit at the bar . You'll have virtually undivided attention and if you show some level of sushi knowledge you'll get served the better quality items. My couple of lunches under these circumstances have been the best sushi experiences while living in Philly. Rice preparation could still have been better but fish quality and variety were very good, in addition I was given fresh wasabi without even having to ask for it.

If you go for dinner, whole different story... sushi not served quick enough and is usually dried out by the time it arrives...

[dagordon]

We were very pleasantly surprised by Megu sushi in Cherry Hill last night. We had heard of it from a guy sitting next to us at the sushi bar at our last meal at Fuji. We at ate the bar and had omakase from who I take it was the head sushi chef, "Steve". It was very tasty! The fish preparations were not traditional: many were garnished or lightly sauced, and I probably would have preferred more plain sushi, but it really satisfied a craving. The quality of the fish was quite good. Some excellent otoro. A very, very yummy tuna "dumpling" with the skin a thin layer of tuna. Will definitely return before Fuji reopens (though it's by NO means a Fuji replacement). www.megusushi.com

[cinghiale]

Three of us sat at the Morimoto sushi bar last night for omakase and were informed that the restaurant no longer offers the $80 omakase. Varying explanations were offered: (i) they've had the $80/100/120 standard omakase for some time, and prices have gone up (new structure: $100/120/150 --"you could always get $150, or even $400 if you want"); (ii) they've merely replaced the $80 omakase with a tasting menu, which features, "just like on Iron Chef", a theme ingredient; and (iii) the "new" $100 omakase offers the same quality/experience as the "old" $100 omakase.

On the latter point, I'm not convinced. Many of the standards from the old $80 omakase remain -- hamachi, snapper, kobe. There was a nice jackfish, though, and I don't recall that on the earlier $80 omakase. It's pretty much a 25% price increase, or, ballpark, the price for three to dine used to feed four.

As is standard at Morimoto, my omakase differed from my dining companions', since I've had it before. There were some nice dishes -- poached kumamotos, coffee-smoked salmon, a generously sized, well-prepared squab.

The omakase at Fuji was always my favorite, and without the accompanying sticker shock (last night's dinner for three was $400 before t/t). Does Raw offer a similar hot/cold/sushi experience?

Edited January 25, 2007 by cinghiale (log)

[Tim Dolan]

I wanted to bump this thread because of the discussion on the Fuji thread as to who has the best sushi in the area. I would like to preface this post by saying that the only thing I know about sushi is that it is raw fish. I've tried it and didn't like it, but I'm still very interested in learning about it and would like to give it another shot. All that being said, I would like to touch on some of the points that were addressed in the Fuji thread.

For starters, what are the biggest factors that go into determining who has the best sushi? The places that have been speficially mentioned are Fuji, Zento, Morimoto and Yasuda in NY. Fuji sems to have been knocked around a bit since it's re-opening on the other thread, but it has some pretty favorable reviews on this one. I would like to know what are the differences between the above mentioned places. Why is Zento better than Fuji? If price weren't a consideration, would Morimoto be the only really good sushi place worth going to?

Dagordon made a point on the other thread that the sushi going public needed a kick in the tail and to demand better sushi. From reading up on the Yasuda thread in NY, it seems like that place is the end-all-be-all of sushi experiences. If I'm correct, Yasuda is strictly a sushi bar while Morimoto's sushi bar is a compliment to a larger restaraunt. As it stands, we have to assume that dagordon's comment is correct because Philadelphia doesn't currently have a stand-alone, ultra high-end sushi place.

In Vadouvan's opinion, Zento's sushi is better and cheaper than Fuji's, so does price always equal quality? Again I ask because if price weren't an issue would Morimoto be of such better quality that it would negate both Zento and Fuji? I don't mean to call you two guys out, but you seems to know and care a great deal about this subject.

For the record, I haven't been to ANY of these places and barely know anything about sushi, I'm just trying to stir the pot so I can learn a little bit more. Comment away...

[Vadouvan]

You aren't calling anyone out, these conversations need to be had.

I spoke to Gordon about this and his quote "kick in the ass" isnt a proverbial call to violence, rather there is a serious problem of overused superlatives in the dining community. Things are being raved about that just arent that good. Raw is embarassingly bad, Modo mio is no "Osteria at a lower price point" which brings us to the problem. I am not saying everyone should go out and spend goobs of money but the majority of reviews and feedback are suffering from a $ price/actual quality dissonance that the only conclusion is that people are willing to accept mediocrity because it wasnt expensive.

Most people cant even buy fresh fish let alone taste it, I stood at RTM for 3 hrs one day and absolutely zero, none of the people who bought fish smelled what they were buying so why should one presume that any sushi rave is justified. Lets be honest, no one wants to preach elitist appreciation of fish but with no quality index, how can superlatives be defined ?

Sushi bars:

Morimoto's sushi bar is a mess, not dirty, not bad, just cluttered, in fact the fish is of high quality, a restaurant of that size needs a sushi bar twice as long. The intrinsic relationship that makes a sushi experience trancedental is also missing, you cannot order sushi directly from a sushi chef at Morimoto. These may seem like quibbly nitpicky bullshit to sushi neophytes but if you eviscerate the heart of the sushi experience, all you have left is a retail experience. You might as well be eating your sushi in a booth at whole foods. This doesnt even factor in when you actually establish a relationship with any of the chefs. I went to Morimoto on tuesday nights 10 weeks in a row, sat at the bar and even though I could not order from the chefs, I sat in front of Omae san and that certainly improved the product. It's not that japanese chefs give preferential treatment, it more about the pride they take in cooking for you. It isnt a culture that historically pumps out faceless plates of food for big dining rooms.

Same thing at Yasuda and Yasuda san is a fuuuunny dude.

I said Zento is cheaper and better than morimoto.

Probably in line with Fuji.

Fuji has served excellent sushi in the past, the Omakase's diverge too far away from Japanese food to be exciting.

Quality wise what you are looking for is:

Good rice.

Some restaurants actually polish thier rice which is a plus. (Morimoto did at some point, probably still do )

Not too cold.

Not too dry.

Not too sweet (mirin)

Not too acidic (rice vinegar)

Of course fresh fish.

Sliced properly

not too much wasabi (cant taste the fish)

More later.....

[mattohara]

There are some interesting tidbits in this (longish) Vanity Fair article:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features...currentPage=all

[dagordon]

Just to add to V's comments... just as important as the rice and the fish are the wasabi (should be real wasabi, not the colored horseradish most places use; the real stuff is subtler and the flavor has more depth), the shoyu (soy sauce), and the nori (dried seaweed), when nori is involved. In a perfect piece of sushi all of these things and the fish should not only be of the highest quality but they should also be in perfect balance. You shouldn't have to add any wasabi. And in some of the very best places, like Yasuda, the nigiri comes pre-painted with the perfect amount of shoyu, so even that isn't left up to you. You just eat what is given to you, in one bite, without doing anything to it. There's something really amazing about this sort of experience.

Yasuda isn't just a bar, it's a full restaurant, though the best experience, as always, is at the bar.

Interestingly, while fresh fish is of course important, there is such a thing as too fresh -- Yasuda ages much of his fish for short periods of time, as he says that it greatly improves texture and flavor. I'd say that whatever he's doing is working.

I haven't been to Morimoto in a while, I can't say with much confidence how it compares to Zento. But from what I remember of our meal at Morimoto I'd agree that Zento is capable of sushi that's at least as good. As far as the new Fuji, my one meal there was a mess, we will go back at some point soon and try to get a sense of what it's like.

[Tim Dolan]

There are some interesting tidbits in this (longish) Vanity Fair article:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features...currentPage=all

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As someone who doesn't know any better, I never in a million years thought that sushi is something that would have a high sugar content .

[kretch]

This thread calls for a link to Sasha Issenberg's new book:

http://www.thesushieconomy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Economy-Global...87993750&sr=8-1

Sasha lives in Center City and is an alumnus of Philly Mag. Some may recall an article he wrote for Philly Mag several years back about the wholesale purveryors who sell to Philly area sushi restaurants. The book sort of grew out of that piece.

[mattohara]

Not sure where to post this, but I just wanted to see what people thought of Vic Sushi, on Sansom between 20 and 21st.

Fresh, friendly, inexpensive was my experience. Not a lot of variety but I believe the tamago is homemade, which is always nice (it was darker and more textured than the prepackaged kind).

[katbert]

Not sure where to post this, but I just wanted to see what people thought of Vic Sushi, on Sansom between 20 and 21st.

Fresh, friendly, inexpensive was my experience.  Not a lot of variety but I believe the tamago is homemade, which is always nice (it was darker and more textured than the prepackaged kind).

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bump

I love Vic as a neighbourhood sushi joint- they have extended the sushi bar to a whopping 7 seats, and increased the menu variety by adding another dozen or so new "special" rolls. I like that I can get 3 basic rolls for $10 or the 12 piece nigiri special for $14, or price up for the special rolls.

vic sushi photos

Morimoto is my goto place for a sushi kick, but I usually spend ~$50 on sushi/sashimi so I don't do that too frequently and I don't have a car so I only get out to Sagami after strongarming friends with cars.

[MarketStEl]

Morimoto is my goto place for a sushi kick, but I usually spend ~$50 on sushi/sashimi so I don't do that too frequently and I don't have a car so I only get out to Sagami after strongarming friends with cars.

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I'm willing to spend less for the merely okay in this case.

As for Sagami, which is more than merely okay: So close to Ferry Avenue PATCO station, yet so far....

[dagordon]

Just want to add to this thread what I just posted in the Fuji thread: that Fuji is now back to its old glory, with Matt and his son behind the sushi bar full time. In my mind this is by quite a large margin the best sushi in the area. Of course, sit at the bar and order omakase. Food of this quality would cost at least double in nyc.