Out to Lunch

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Food:
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Food:
Price:
Service:
Atmosphere:
Overall:

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Latest Additions:

10/5/07:		AmerAisa & Sumo Sushi
1/31/07:		Slate Street Cafe
1/29/07:		Yanni's Mediterranean Bar
1/21/06:		2000 Vietnam
1/21/06:		Siam Cafe
11/21/05:		Bun Huggers
10/4/05:		Cafe Miche
10/4/05:		Socorro Springs
9/24/05:		Sammy's Deli
9/24/05:		Acosta's Mexican Restaurant

Highest Rated:

	Cafe Miche:	4.2
	I Love Sushi:	4.1
	India Kitchen:	4.0
	Siam Cafe:	3.8
	Socorro Springs:	3.8

Lowest Rated:

K-Bob's Steakhouse:

1.6

Latest Comments:

5/15/08:	Best Burgers
10/4/07:	Slate Street
1/29/07:	We haven't been back.
11/30/06:	hi jp
11/30/06:	hi
10/16/06:	Wow!
8/8/06:	good home cooking
8/8/06:	I think the Manny's Buckhorn the best
8/8/06:	good food
8/8/06:	THE BEST EVER

I Love Sushi

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Review:

Heidi, Stephan, and I had laughed and made jokes whenever we would pass the simple sign near Pier One for I Love Sushi -- it had a cutesy heart where “Love” should be. Our opinion was that there was no way we were going to eat sushi from a small place in a strip mall that had a heart in its name.

So, you can imagine how apprehensive we were when our friend Jim suggested that we eat there before a movie. He swore it was good...

And he was right! It seems that Albuquerque has a thing for cramming good ethnic restaurants into the corners of a strip mall. India Kitchen, Café Miche, I Love Sushi… all stuck in the corners of unremarkable strip malls!

I had first tried sushi and sashimi at Minato’s in Albuquerque, and I immediately fell in love with it, although the sea urchin was pushing it for me. Since then we had also tried out the Samurai Grill, in an effort to find a cheaper source of good Japanese food. Well, I’m glad that Jim managed to drag us to I Love Sushi.

Upon entering, we were greeted and seated immediately at the teppan grill where a few customers were already waiting. There were several other grills that were occupied, and the sushi bar was packed. Obviously, there were many others besides Jim who thought this was a good place to eat.

Looking over the extensive sushi menu, I placed an order for some toro (fatty tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), and sake (salmon, pronounced differently than the rice wine); the same things I would typically order at Minato’s. After that, Heidi made me look at the grill menu. The first thing that struck me were the prices! While the menu was small, so were the prices. Each of the four of us placed an order from the grill, too. Mine was the thinly-sliced beef done medium rare. Stephan ordered the steak and lobster tail, of course.

Several carafes of sake were ordered, too.

While we were waiting for the grill to fill up and for my sushi to arrive, they brought us our drinks, a small salad with soy sauce, and a bowl of miso soup. These were the typical appetizers that we were served at Minato’s, too, and they were just as good here. In fact, I preferred the slightly stronger taste of I Love Sushi’s miso.

The sushi arrived quickly, two of each order, and with the exception of half a piece of toro that Heidi ate, the rest was all mine; the others are raw-fish wusses. :)

The sushi was well-formed and included a small swipe of wassabi between the fish and rice. I had a piece of toro, first. The flavor and texture were very good. Everything was balanced just right and compared favorably to first sushi I had at Minato’s.

When I had the second piece, I dipped the fish into my soy sauce and wassabi (people argue over this, but I really like the burn of strong wassabi paste when I have sushi, and I usually have the first piece of each plain so I don’t have anything get in the way of the fish itself). It held up well a even under my less-than-optimal chopstick technique.

Progressing to the yellowtail, and with the sake taking effect on my mostly-empty stomach, I decided to spare the laps of my friends and switched to my fingers (remember, sushi is a finger-food so fingers are just as acceptable as chopsticks with them!). It was a bit firmer than I preferred, taking some real front-teeth action to bite through, but it was still good.

The salmon, usually my favorite, I saved to last. It was firm, cut just right, and the flavor mixed perfectly with my soy sauce/wassabi mix. I was now looking forward to the grilled orders, and the cook was just coming out with his cooking utensils in tow.

He was a mature gentleman with a mustache, and he introduced himself and made sure he had all of our orders correct as he prepared the grill. He immediately started off the show with a quick display of his knives and spatula with which he deftly juggled, balanced, and sliced open an egg. He was also quick with quips and jokes, and asked us about ourselves as he went around the table. He was obviously very skilled at what he was doing.

He put on a great show, starting with the egg, progressing through an onion volcano, and ending with the plating of a single pea on one of the plates. My only complaint was that I missed half of what he said over the sound of the overhead fan.

Everything was cooked properly, and he took care to make sure that the beef, fish, chicken, and vegetables were all cooked in different location on the grill -- really good because Heidi is allergic to shellfish and I was worried that Stephan’s lobster tail was going to cause problems. Both he and the waitress did an excellent job keeping everything clean and tidy. Everything was picked up and removed from the table as soon as we were done with it, and everything was kept spotless.

Everything tasted wonderful, and the flavors all mixed perfectly. The fried rice was perfect, and Heidi and I were wondering how we kept failing when we tried to make it at home. Watching him, everything seemed so simple!

The service during this was good, too. My water glass never dropped below half. I don’t know when they were filling it, but every time I looked back it was topped-off again. We also had another two flasks of sake dropped off.

Something I should mention here about tipping the cook -- I felt like a tool because I didn’t have any cash on me. When I asked the waitress about it, she told me that all of their tips are pooled, so if you don’t tip him at the table, you can add it to your bill.

They have a nice little selection of desserts available, too, and I picked the red bean ice cream. It was very nice with a pleasant flavor and not too sweet, and made a perfect end to the meal. Along with the bill, they brought us some plum and apricot hard candies.

We left, well fed and lubricated, ready to subject ourselves to the Century Rio 24.

Collectively, our meal wasn’t cheap (about $150 between the four of us, including tip), but we had ordered four sizable flasks of sake in addition to picking from the higher-priced meals. We easily could have paid twice as much at another restaurant for the same meals.

We’ve been back many times since then for both dinner and lunch, and, when not pigging-out, the two of us can usually make it out for under $35.

On our Albuquerque trips over the last year, I Love Sushi has become one of our usual picks for dinner.