Doing the Blue

I was pleasantly surprised to read on the menu that the Badda Bing roll is topped with a balsamic glaze, making a vegetarian choice a tasty one with its center of roasted bell peppers, asparagus, cream cheese and roasted garlic. I have seen balsamic vinegar used in a few sushi bars—usually the high-end ones—but it marries magnificently with eel; certainly, I knew this drizzle would work for this dish, and it did. Badda Bing, which costs $8, is aromatic and sweet without being cloying, and it’s so good that it’s easy to forget there’s no meat in it.

But to get back to the meat: The Surf and Turf roll serves up the beef—this is a roll of shrimp tempura, avocado and cucumber that’s topped with seared beef tenderloin, green onions, and a sesame onion dressing which rivals that of Miki Izumisawa, who owns 242 Café Fusion Sushi and Sushi Gallery Miki, which is saying a mouthful. According to the chef, it is one of their best rolls, even though I hadn’t yet tried one that didn’t taste top-notch.

And yet another undeniably smart hook that makes it impossible not to return: when you spend more than $25, your receipt may be redeemed for “50 percent off food” on the following Monday.

And so, like the devout sushi addict I was, I revisited next Monday and this time tried the Yo Adrian!—a roll of cream cheese, imitation crab and green onion tempura with smoked salmon and a dusting of dill on top. This is the only place where I have ever seen deep-fried green onion in a sushi roll, and it suits the other ingredients oh so well. And knowing that all my food was half off this time around, I ate until I was blue in the face.

Blue Wasabi
6137 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ
480-315-9800

and

2080 E. Williams Field Rd.
Gilbert, AZ
480-722-9250