Restaurant Thu Jul 26 2007

Wasabi Apple Roll

I really don't ever order off the menu. I'm not well-versed in the cuisine of other lands to flippantly describe a favorite dish to a waiter and have any confidence that I'll get what I asked for. The native dish of my people is cheese -- not much you can do with ordering off the menu with cheese. And granted, a friend and I did once accidentally order aloo gobi off the menu from Bhabi's Kitchen (we were ordering over the phone, didn't have a menu -- much more inadvertent than studied restaurant ordering technique) but since they had the ingredients, they made it for us anyway.

In any case, when I'm offered an opportunity to order off the menu, I usually jump at it. And on a visit to Coast Sushi last week, ordering off the menu paid great dividends with a brand-new, just created special summer wasabi apple roll. Behold its glory, and continue on after the fold for all the sweet and spicy details.

"Wasabi apple?" you say? "Sounds...interesting." Lest the strange combination turn you away from your chance to order off the menu and feel cool at a very cool sushi spot, I firmly vouch for its deliciousness. The roll was, if I remember correctly, white tuna, eel, asparagus, fried in tempura, topped with apple sauce and a wasabi sauce, as well as fresh shaved apple. There may have been some more stuff in there as well. Anyone familiar with wasabi would probably describe it as spicy-sweet, which pairs surprisingly well with the tart-sweetness of apple. Throw in some eel you can pretty much sell me on just about anything, though the smoky-sweetness of the eel was certainly a nice touch. I'm all about flavors hyphenated with sweetness.

The feast on that particular visit continued with two more slabs of rolls brought out to the table. Pictured here, I think, are the scallop roll, white dragon and regular dragon, Philly fresh roll, sunrise roll, spicy creamy roll, crunchy tuna, and spider (I think). No, no, it wasn't just my order. Coast does a great job of catering to large groups, from grouping orders for easy sharing and impressive presentation, to offering to chill an extra six-pack in the kitchen until you're ready for it. The sunrise roll also seemed to be a freebie -- the yellow outer layer was mango, adding yet another dimension of unexpected sweetness to the evening. As did the tekka don, served in a disco-ball looking silver bowl and shaped into a delicate rosette of fish.

— Andie Thomalla / Comments (0)