I found myself recently in Sacramento (that’s the capital of California, kids) for a job interview, and walking around town I noticed more than a few sushi places. Being an absolute sucker for raw-fish-on-rice, I decided to try one. I very nearly entered a posh, high-end looking place, but just then a group of kids walked by and were discussing how it wasn’t good. Were they experts? I don’t know, but it was the only sign I had, so I decided to look farther.
Walking past another place, I noticed a quartet of Japanese-looking twenty-somethings (who were also speaking Japanese) heading inside to eat. Again, I had no idea if they actually knew anything about sushi, but it seemed as good a recommendation as any. So I went in. Funnily, I ended up going again the next day, when the person interviewing me suggested we go there for dinner.
On my first (solo) visit to Mikuni, I sat at one of the four sushi bars on the first floor of the loft-style restaurant, with all kinds of shiny objects and flat-screen TVs adorning the walls to entertain me. The atmosphere was … a bit too much. The overly-trendy aspect is mostly par for the sushi course, but a few notable oddities struck me. First of all, both times I was there, the staff would yell some kind of chant, which may have been in English or may not have been, in response to some periodic clue. A bit annoying, but quickly ignored and maybe if I was clued in I’d think it was fun. Secondly, the chefs all wore jackets covered in corporate sponsor ads, looking like a bunch of NASCAR vehicles, only in black and white. I asked my server, who was lovely, about it and she said it was just their “thing,” and that the sponsors did things like pay for the flatscreen TVs. I have to say: if I wanted to see commercials, I’d stay home and watch TV there.
That the sushi chef who greeted me appeared to be about 17 was odd, but he was nice there didn’t seem to be mass death occurring in his other customers. I forwent the extensive list of fruity $10 cocktails and $5 flavored teas in favor of the complimentary green, which while brewed a bit too hot*, was fine. Miso soup – OK, though a bit heavy on tofu and with no nori – is also complimentary, but you have to ask for it.
For my dinner I ordered the chef’s selection chirashi. The presentation was gorgeous – much more architectural than I usually expect, with the slices of fish layered and grouped like a little castle on a hill of rice, not just strewn about. And, it was delicious. The salmon and tuna (maguro) were excellent – full of flavor and just the right texture. The tako was a sliced a bit too thick, and the snapper was a bit rubbery, but those were my only real complaints. Oh, and the tamago was very very good too. My dinner was under $20 (plus tip) for a good sized plate of good sushi, which I regard as not too expensive.
The next night, we sat at a table and again refrained from the cocktail menu (it was an interview, after all!). We decided to share a chef’s selection sushi mix, a chef’s selection sashimi mix, and, on our server’s recommendation, a Train Wreck roll. The latter is one of the trendy, over-flavored concoctions I usually avoid, but it turned out to be pretty tasty. It was essentially shrimp tempura wrapped in rice and nori topped with unagi and a ‘spicy’ sauce. You could not taste the shrimp, but the unagi did just beat out the sauce to be nice. On the sushi and sashimi side, the shrimp (ameabi) was sweet and delicious, the eel (unagi) very good, and the yellowtail awesome.
There is other Japanese food (tempura, salads, etc.) on the menu, but we didn’t try those. We also opted not to have dessert, the limited options for which were mochi ice cream or some sort of chocolate sundae business that sounded an odd way to follow sushi (or tempura).
All in all, I had two good meals at Mikuni, at not a bad price. The service was pretty good, and unless you’re easily bothered by loud noise (and décor), it’s a comfortable place to be. So, if you happen to be in Sacramento, and craving sushi, it’s a good bet.
Mikuni
1530 J St
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 447-2111
* Generally, green teas are best brewed around 80 degrees C (180 F), too hot and they don’t taste as fresh or clear. Sadly, almost every place you get green tea in the US just uses boiling water (100 C/212 F).

NOTE: Due to my busy catering schedule during the holiday season, I haven’t had a whole lot of time for blogging. Now that it’s January, things are slowing down, so I’m going to post some articles that I’ve wanted to post for a while. The first in this series regards a restaurant I discovered in Atlanta during a recent trip. The restaurant’s menu has since changed, but many of the items are similar with some seasonal differences. If you’re in the Atlanta area at any point soon, give this place a try! -YB
The restaurant business isn’t exactly known for its flexibility in scheduling, so it’s not often that I find myself with an entire weekend off. Recently, however, I managed to find myself in Atlanta, attending the wedding of a couple good friends. Whenever I go somewhere, I like to try and see what kind of culinary scene the place has. Since I found myself with lots of time on my hands, I had a few places in and around the Atlanta metro area that I wanted to check out. Previously, I had spent some time in Atlanta’s airport, and used a few restrooms, but other than that, I had no clue. I only know that MAW has often complained vociferously about, well, everything. I was certainly not expecting anything all that Earth-shattering. Boy was I wrong.
The first day there, the wife and I went to the Centre of Puppetry Arts, which has a whole wing (soon to be a whole building) dedicated to the Muppets. There’s something pretty cool about seeing the actual Swedish Chef chilling with Dr. Teeth and Ernie. During the afternoon, we tooled around Decatur, and realised just how expensive it is to live in the D.C. area, spent some time in Buckhead, and killed a good amount of time during the day, but what I was really looking forward to was the place where we had dinner reservations. Initially, we made reservations at The Watershed Restaurant, as I’ve always heard good things about it, and it’s owned by Emily Saliers, of Indigo Girls fame (yes, I know, what can I say? I’m a straight guy that likes the Indigo Girls). I was ok with going there, but I ultimately wound up canceling my reservations when I found The Food Studio in the King Plow Arts Centre. In the world of culinary jargon, a lot of people are ceasing to call the room in the back of the restaurant a kitchen, and instead call it a food studio, with the implication that they are creating some sort of art back there. Sometimes that’s true, and sometimes, well it isn’t. Luckily, this was a clear case of the former (which is good, since they named the restaurant in such a manner).
The first thing I noticed about this place was how bloody difficult it was to find. Even with GPS, I drove right past it about three times (why is it that everywhere in Atlanta is only four or five miles away from you, yet it takes at least a good half hour to get there?). Once we finally found the place and got seated, I was really amazed at the décor of the place. This place used to be a plow factory, and unlike other factories or warehouses that are converted to restaurants, they left the original fixtures intact as décor. As a result, the place has an authentic feel, and doesn’t look like they designed it to look like a factory. Despite the spacious dining room, everything seemed very intimate, yet very dark. Dark enough that my waiter carried a pocket flashlight to help us read the menus. That was perhaps the only negative I found with this restaurant.
The menu was incredible. Being a chef, I tend to like to sample things, if possible, and the Food Studio’s menu had small plate sizes for items. During the course of the dinner we had there, executive chef Mark Alba came by to our table and chatted me up about their restaurant (apparently, he and I share the same way of eating when we go out somewhere, and he
says he always likes meeting other chefs), and gave me a tour of their kitchen operation, which was quite impressive. Our chosen menu included:
Heirloom tomato salad with grilled peaches, prosciutto, red onion, and basil
Seared white shrimp with sunchoke purée, chanterelle mushrooms, and lemon vinegar
Seared lump crab meat with watermelon-cucumber salad and curry aioli
Veal sweetbreads with figs, arugula, and gremolata crème fraîche
Duck confit agnolotti with porcini mushrooms and truffle oil
Fettucini with braised lamb, English peas, and mint
The tomato salad easily ranks as one of the best salads I’ve ever had. The sweetness of the peaches acted as a nice counterweight to the acidity of the tomatoes, with the prosciutto bringing everything together (I swear, porcine love makes the world go round). The shrimp and the crab cake were done exactly the way I like them: with very little filler, and paired with items that showcase the seafood well. The sweetbreads were very succulent, and I usually don’t order offal meats, as they’re very rarely cooked well. The pastas were perfectly done. The agnolotti was rich and tasty, and the fettucini was light and tender. Our waiter made a very good
wine recommendation to go with all these dishes, and the lemon-basil bombe (their signature dessert) was the perfect way to wrap up an exceptional dinner.
The Food Studio at King Plow
887 West Marietta Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
404.815.6677
The Rotten Rabbi’s Rating: