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2.37 Sushi Ota

Posted on October 20, 2008
Filed Under Best of the Best, Extra Hard Core, Japanese, Seafood |

Sushi Ota is quite a hidden gem, it’s in a plaza along with a 7-11, of all things, along a stretch of Mission Bay Drive dominated by car dealers. We took a quick weekend trip down to San Diego to visit some friends. One of them was Shamu over at sea world, who I haven’t seen in over a decade. The other was Steffan, who is a hard core Sushi eater and the man behind SteffanAntonas.com, a blog covering tech, the web, design, and lots of other interesting topics.



We start things off with a few cooked appetizers. Here’s the miso seabass. The seabass has such a fine texture and is initially sweet, followed by a woody smokey flavor. Delicious.



We also got some gyozas, which were better than average.



Panko oysters: Fresh and tasty, and the panko crust gives it a nice crunchy exterior texture, I think the sauce that came with it is a bit too strong, I’d recommend just a squeeze of lemon.



Salmon collar: They were out of other collars, but the salmon collar is excellent. The meat is so much richer and fatter than a salmon filet.



I ordered the sushi for us and was surprised that most of it came on one plate… well, one big glorious wooden plank. Very impressive, we got some attention from our fellow patrons when this was served to us.



We actually ordered some abalone this time, which has a nice crunchy texture and a strong finishing flavor — it might not be for everyone — but I liked it. The last time I had abalone I was probably 18 and it was overwhelming for me, but this time it was much better.



I also got some hand rolls, the pink on the left is the spicy tuna, the orange on the right is the spicy yellowtail hand roll. Neither of these really jumped out at us, good but not great flavor.



In the very front row are some of the very best fatty tuna (toro) I have ever tasted. The toro will literally dissipate if you press it against the roof of your mouth with your tongue, and then this beautiful aroma of the tuna will spread out all through your mouth. Incredibly good toro. Behind it in row two is some excellent yellowtail.



Salmon, which is nicely accentuated with a little green onion and sesame, is fantastic. The shrimp was just so-so in this company of greatness.



The eel in the back row is wonderful — not over-sauced as they tend to be — but you can taste the texture and the great flavor of the eel.



Mackerel in the middle row is perfectly done. Mackerel tends to be a bit on the dry and fishy side, the ginger cleans up the fishy flavor and adds a sweet tanginess that is sublime, it becomes very cohesive and is one of my favorites here tonight.



I also ordered some salmon skin hand roll, the salmon skin is finely cut, there’s a great woody and smokey flavor from the bonito and some great textures from the pickled carrots and cucumber. This was put together so nicely, it all works beautifully together.



One last thing. Sea Urchin / Uni. I’m always a little scared to order uni, because if the uni is bad, it can be torturously awful. Which is why I’m so happy to report that the uni we had at Sushi Ota is the best I’ve ever had. As you can see, they serve big, beautiful pieces of uni, and the flavor is initially incredibly fresh and sweet, turning into a creamy and beautifully oceanic aroma as you chew. Steffan brought up the fact that the serve their uni chilled, which adds to the great texture. This was unbelievably good.



We dug in like hungry sharks and had a clean wooden plank in about half an hour, we were stuffed beyond belief. The bill was about $250 for everything you see here, with tea and ice water. This is fairly inexpensive considering we ordered some really top tier stuff. Next time I will skip the shrimp, doubled up on the fatty tuna, and get more sea urchins. Service is good and there were some very friendly people around. Thanks to Steffan and Julie for recommending the place and the nice gentleman who took our picture for us. I can’t wait to come back.

Sushi Ota
4529 Mission Bay Dr
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-5670

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