2012年4月5日 星期四

A master in the art of sushi

For true sushi lovers, dining transcends palate pleasure. Going to a great sushi restaurant is a pilgrimage to celebrate an art form. When perfected, it is a gustatory and visual indulgence deserving adulation of the master chef.

The Bamboo Westford, about a half-hour north off Interstate 495, is deservedly known for both fine Asian cuisine and sushi. It is designed as a series of intimate rooms set apart by bamboo dividers. One dining room has a vaulted ceiling three stories high; the main dining room is decorated with contemporary Asian art. An exquisite Kimono marks the buffet area. Jade carvings and brass warrior gods welcome guests to the full bar. The function room, seating from 20 to 70 people, has its own full bar and a projection screen.

We sat at the granite sushi bar to watch and fully appreciate the ritualistic performance of Master Chef You Yong Wu. Behind the bar, dark, wooden shelves showcased Samurai swords, Ching Dynasty porcelains and antique rice wine bottles. Fresh flowers and bamboo graced the room.

Chef Wu from Fujian, China, mesmerized us with his slicing, dicing, arranging and decorating our dinner. It should be no surprise that Chinese make good sushi. They began the tradition.

Original sushi bears little resemblance to today’s varied treats, though. Sushi initially consisted of just fish wrapped in fermenting rice, the latter being discarded when the fish was ready to eat. What changed sushi was the innovative use of rice wine vinegar to flavor the rice. The quickly compressed combination of raw seafood and rice inside bamboo molds may have been one of the first fast foods, but the time it takes to train a sushi chef today is anything but fast.

Wu perfected his skills over 20 years, initially in Osaka, Japan, and later in Manhattan. He acknowledged it takes at least 10 years to master the fundamentals.

First and foremost, sushi chefs must judge with total reliability the freshness of seafood by smell, color, texture, sheen and other subtleties. They must excel in food safety and storage at precise temperatures. Sashimi-quality seafood is by necessity the very highest quality.

We began our leisurely evening with Lychee martinis and a bottle of my favorite sake, Dai Ginjo Osakaya Chobei ($24.50), a perfect complement to all our sushi dishes. Served chilled on ice, it’s always silky smooth and full of ripe fruit flavors.

Our first memorable selection was maguro awase, spicy,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, finely chopped tuna, creamy avocado, seaweed and crunchy flying fish roe with tempura crumbs . Its varying textures are delightful, and its heat is just enough to give it some excitement. A pot of green tea, a traditional sushi accompaniment, cleansed our palate between courses. All the while, Chef Wu exhibited impeccable cleanliness, precision, quickness, flashes of personality and presentation skills.

Our second specialty was yellowtail with chili yuzu sauce , presented in the form of a lotus flower. Wu’s yuzu sauce, made from cilantro, srirocha chili, grapefruit juice, soy sauce, grape oil and sweet rice wine is extraordinary.

Our third delight was the sashimi summer roll: salmon, tuna, yellowtail, avocado, asparagus, mango, and flying fish roe in rice paper with parsley, bean sprouts and a creamy wasabi sauce .

I always try to sample eel.Learn all about solarpanel. Wu made a custom/not-on-the-menu roasted eel hand roll with cucumber.Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete? Wrapped in a sheet of seaweed, it had the form of an ice cream cone .

Wu confided his personal favorite is tiger maki: king crab, avocado,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. and tempura crumb topped with torched salmon, multi-color flying fish roe and a sauce marking the dish like tiger stripes. Fabulous.

We ended our feast with the most popular snow mountain maki, an all-cooked, crispy, shrimp tempura topped with king crab. For anyone wanting to try sushi that’s not raw, this is the converter.

For dessert, waiter Alvin brought us a bowl of ginger ice cream and a glass of Choya Umeshu, a Japanese nectar-for-the-gods plum dessert wine,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. sweet and fruity, with a fermented plum included .

With a national salary averaging $38,000, sushi chefs depend largely on tips. Those who fully appreciate sushi tend to be very generous to masters like Chef Wu.

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