Uzu

Jess' Take:

Yum… Sushi….

I think all three of us would agree, there are many places in this city to get good sushi, but not many where you can get really good sushi. Luckily, your odds just got a little better with the addition of Uzu, which just opened two weeks ago at Front and Market. The sushi is amazing. And the price isn’t bad either. The restaurant is teeny tiny, so if you’re arriving with more than three people, I’d call ahead.

The ginger dressing is perfect, with a slight peanut flavor, and the “compliments of the chef” dish was out of this world. Torched fish with hot oil… melt in your mouth good. Our cardinal mistake: not realizing that one order of sushi is actually two pieces. So we actually ordered for six people, as opposed to three. Did that stop us from eating it all? Of course not! We stopped just short of finishing every last piece (two lone pieces remained on our platter), for fear of bursting at the gills. I’m certainly putting Uzu on my “must return to list.”

4 chopsticks out of a possible 4

Dave's Take:

You can be about 75% sure how good a sushi place will be when you walk through the door. Not because of the décor or what the sushi chefs look like, but because of the smell. If it smells like fish, walk on out. If they are touting a 1/2 price menu, call a doctor. If it smells of the distinct brininess of the sea and the fresh nuttiness of good green tea, you have yourself a winner. Once you walk in you can tell you have that 75% chance that Uzu is good. Once you eat, you can tell it's great.

Jess did a great giving you the lowdown so I just want to add a few points. First, it's a BYO which is great if you plan ahead. Bring you favorite bottle of Kirin or Sake and enjoy. Second, the chef was friendly and knowledgeable. When we order a few pieces that were not available, they waitress informed us so but the chef popped in to explain the reasoning was due to the fact that the season had not yet peaked and the good fish wouldn't be in from Japan until another week or two. That hinted that it wasn't poor inventory management, they just wanted to save on printing menus and for a small place like this, I'm cool with that. It added intimacy. Oh yeah, and the fresh live scallop was the best I have ever tasted. Why do we cook those things anyway?

Go to Uzu. Go early or call ahead because it is as small as you can get. Enjoy. Just remember, they are two pieces per order.

Wade's Take:

Uzu is the best sushi I've had in town for some time. F'real. We ate like royalty (accidentally over-ordering) but ate the whole darn feast, it was that good.

Uzu is a hidden (small) treasure hidden in Olde City. The owners, and the size, will ensure you have an intimate and delectable sushified experience.