Sushi That Will Melt In Your Mouth!!!

The Dish: All The Sushi baked crab handrail, popcorn shrimp in creamy miso, katana roll, yellowtail sashimi w/diced chilies in citrus ponzu, and spicy tuna hanabi
The Place: Sushi Roku – W Hotel in Scottsdale
The Location: 7277 E Camelback Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (480) 970-2121

By: Erik Merkow

About a year ago, I discovered one of the best sushi restaurants ever, Sugar Fish in Los Angeles.  One of my best friends Michael turned me on to it from the time he spent in LA.  He said, “you have to try out this sushi place in Santa Monica…the fish will melt in your mouth!”.  After experiencing it for myself, he was right!  Every piece of fish seemed like it had just just been pulled off the Santa Monic pier (where I spent a lot of my youth!)!  Never had I consumed anything like it before.  We were told the fish is shipped in daily from Japan where it’s no more than a day or two out of the water. I thought this was only possible in LA due to LAX being an international airport receiving flights from Japan on a regular basis.  Well, I could not have been anymore off base.  Sushi Roku brings their fish in the same way and only adds 1 more day as it makes its way from LAX and the FDA to the valley. The quality of this fish is a sensational experience every mouth needs to experience!

First we tried the yellowtail sashimi, which was incredible!  The citrus ponzu combined with the diced chillies and yellowtail made for an absolutely perfect combination of tantalizing flavors, and the fish was practically melting in our mouth (surprise)!  The chef then made a sample plate of three incredible dishes you can find on the special menu.  First was the seared New Zealand Salmon, with burrata, red onions, english cucumbers, and spicy Furikake…it was probably the best salmon i’ve ever consumed!  Next (the white fish) tapanese Amberjack, Santa Barbara uunii, kitzame wasabi, hiker soy, and cilantro…and again…phenomenal!  This fish was dense but yet as soft as butter! And the last on the white plate, Spanish Blue Fin Tuna, with candiced hijiki seaweed, shiso, wasabi, aioli, and chili oil…this blue fin literally melted on my tong! (disclaimer…I might have some spelling errors above, chefs writing was hard to interpret!)  These three dishes were totally off the charts incredible and reminded me of Sugar Fish.

One of the last dishes we had was a staple of Sushi Roku and I would recommend you get it every time (and you really need to start going!), the popcorn shrimp in creamy miso w/asparagus and mushrooms.  As much as I love shrimp, the asparagus was just as good!  I could consume just a dish of just that! Wait, I almost forgot, but absolutely not because it was mediocre…the baked crab hand-roll was insane!  The roll, wrapped in a white rice paper was perfect to the point each bite was tender, tasty and the epitome of perfection!

I love that I no longer need to tell my friends to go to Santa Monica to experience the best sushi they will ever have…just go to the W in Scottsdale, maybe enjoy a staycation, then go to Sushi Roku!  I’m telling you, the fish will melt in your mouth!  Tell them Az Food & Wine sent you!