Kuni Ku Ku

Kuni's, the famed Elmwood sushi spot, quietly reopened last year on Lexington, doing a brisk business in takeout only. This works fine for me since I was never able to get a table at the old place anyway.

We ordered a feast on Saturday night. I have never had their wasabi shumai and they were outstanding. I love wasabi and always add it bit by bit to my soy sauce. It's never enough and then I always make the mistake of adding just a bit more and completely ruin the balance. Well, the wasabi in these little dumplings achieves that perfect balance of nostril-flaring heat without subsequent head throbbing.
My other two favorites were the spicy tuna roll and oddly, the avocado roll. I always thought the avocado roll was so boring, avocado and rice when I can have three kinds of fish, tobiko, unagi and sprouts all in one? In my older age, I have come to appreciate that less is sometimes more and when less means perfectly ripe avocado with sticky, well-seasoned sushi rice, then I'm all about it. We also ordered just a fillet of a salmon, grilled, nothing extra and it was golden-crusted on the outside and moist and tender inside.

I hear their lunchtime bento box special is the way to go so anyone looking for a lunch date, let me know.

I'm Back!

I ate the last of the pizza in the car on the way to New Haven. Thank God that's over. I got to New Haven at just about dinner time. N. wanted to go to "this Japanese restaurant that's pretty good." We went to Miya on Howe Street and it was quite the adventure. I am usually turned off by inattentive staff, long waits and the inattentive staff's inability to make these long waits slightly less uncomfortbale. This was no exception. We probably would have left except that we were perusing the menu while waiting and there was no way I could have left at that point. There was a roll called "Tiger, tiger burning brightly in the forest?" The menu read like poem and the chef clearly enjoyed playing with different ingredients as much as he did words. There were rolls with sweet potato, brie, cranberries, chocolate and so on. It was actually a bit overwhelming.

We were finally seated and some time later, our inattentive waitperson arrived and we ordered miso soup and vegetable gyoza to start. The miso soup-to reflect the season-was a pumpkin miso soup. Mmm. I liked the soup and although I didn't really taste pumpkin, it was a richer color than it usually is. It also had little pieces of asparagus in it, which was good but odd considering that asparagus is not at all a reflection of autumn. The gyoza were delicate green bundles, well-seasoned and ginger-laden. For rolls, we had the Water Piglet, with seared tuna, goat cheese and cranberry. Delicious but I could do without the name. We also had Ebibabe, which was a roll of potato skins, stuffed with havarti and doused with a creamy dill sauce. My favorites-hmm-it's a tossup between the Peekytoe crab roll with avocado and curry mayonnaise or the Very Crunchy Hamachi Roll. I'm a sucker for spice and crunch. Oh, and avocado. We did not order the Thousand Tender Kisses, which was scallop sashimi with a garlic sauce that sounded marvelous. Actually, I was relying on looking at the menu online so that I could recall some of the more inventive combinations and quirky names but alas, Miya is not online. I think they should remedy that. I also think that each piece was too darn big and I can't enjoy the food when I have to try and stuff the whole piece in. Do I just have a small mouth or is this a problem at many sushi places? Don't be a showoff and roll obscenely large rolls! Maybe the chef has little man syndrome. Anyway, it was a gastronomic experience for sure. As with my sushi outing a few weeks ago, this is not really the place for traditional sushi but more for the daring, the unique and the experimental. Fortunately for me, I like both styles.

Seabar

I hate the suburbs. I really, really do. I am spoiled too, since everything I want to do and all the people I want to see are located within the comfortable confines of my West Side neighborhood. Sometimes people will suggest a new restaurant and I'll ask where it is. On Niagara Falls Boulevard? Blecch. Out in the wilds of Williamsville? Even worse. However, I read recently that Mike Andrejewski, recently of the sadly defunct Tsunami, opened a sushi bar in Williamsville. My mouth watered but I wrote it off.

Moving right along in my story...My friend AB, originally from Buffalo but longtime resident of Seattle, descended upon Buffalo last night for her annual visit. She invited me out to dinner with her family and this is an event I always look forward too. Her pops and his wife have some incredible taste. Going out to eat with them is a treat; I get the inside scoop on the newest restaurants, I hear the gossip surrounding why the old ones closed, we enter through the back door, through the kitchen and have the owner comp our meals. Such is the life. God, I am really taking a long time to get to the point, forgive me. So they wanted to go to Seabar and I'm glad they decided to make the drive, not me.

We ordered a medley of dishes to share. I will dissect them one by one for you.

1. Best Spicy Tuna Roll: That's what is was called on the menu. It was not the best. It wasn't spicy, not even a little bit. And I think using rice crispies instead of little, fried tempura bits is just plain corny.

2. Spider Roll: I love a deep-fried soft-shell crab married to a luscious avocado. You can't go wrong here.

3. Beef on Weck Roll: Yup, you read me right. Only in Buffalo. For those non-Buffalonians, roast beef on a kimmelwick roll, with coarse salt, caraway seeds and horseradish is local legend. I quite liked this roll, but mostly for its quirkiness. I probably would only order this once, just to try it.

4. Miso Caramel Crab Roll: Wow. This was so unique and quite tasty. I'd elaborate but it disappeared before I could really get a handle on it.

5. Unagi BLT Hand Roll: Clearly, they are taking liberty with what is actually sushi. Actually, I would argue that their sushi wasn't all that, it was their "dishes" that really toed the line of excellence. I felt the same way about this as I did about Beef on Weck Roll.

6. Calamari, Seared Ahi Tuna and Chinese Black Beans Over Rice: This is where it gets really good. The tuna was stellar. The Seattle-ites proclaimed it the best tuna they had ever had. This is in contrast to the "best" spicy tuna roll, by which we were all so overwhelmingly underwhelmed. THIS was the best tuna.

7. Foie Gras with Mango and Smoky Eel Sauce: Keep in mind we had an extensive discussion about what they do to those poor ducks to produce this succulent treat. We ordered it anyway. Let me first state the only negative. The foie gras wasn't cooked as I'd like it. The sear on the outside wasn't up to par. That said, the sauce was amazing. I really could have eaten just the rice drizzled with that sauce. I want that recipe. It also was served with tiny cubes of mango, tossed in a bracing and acidic dressing, perfect to cut the rich foie gras. It was garnished with a sort of fried wonton of seaweed, which I loved.

8. Crunchy Avocado with Ahi Tuna and Chili Mousse: What is crunchy avocado, you ask? My best guess is mashed up avocado, shaped into a cake, dipped into tempura batter and fried. I don't know if it could be that simple, considering its greatness. Then there were glistening chunks of raw tuna, tossed with sesame seeds, arranged in a semi-circle around the avocado cake, topped with tobiko and surrounded by dots of wasabi sauce and a chili mousse. I normally have no patience for foams, mousses and the like but this was truly outstanding. I had no idea what is was when I tasted it and the sequence of flavors that rolled across my tongue upon tasting was surprising and very pleasant.

Again, I apologize for the lack of photos. I am currently embroiled in a bitter battle with Casio regarding my camera. It's shame I couldn't get some pictures of dinner last night because each piece was visually stunning. I suppose you will just have to go there if you want to see.