Day 115: Sea Urchin Sushi

Today, I'm going to sound like a tool.

I've been wanting to try sea urchin sushi since I saw how much Anthony Bourdain liked it on his show No Reservations. He has claimed a couple of times that two of his favorite dishes of all time are beef marrow and sea urchin roe, and, because I think he's cool, I want my favorite food to be sea urchin sushi too (although I know my penchant for baked macaroni and cheese will always trump the exotic).

So, when I went out to Genki last night for sushi, and saw it on the menu, I was sold.

See, at least when I make New Things out of eating food, it's been brains, gold, and now sea urchin. That's a step above right?

I didn't take a picture because I'm growing out of that "take a picture of every wonderful looking dish" phase. John Mayer in "3x5" explains my position well when he says, "Didn't have a camera by my side this time/Hoping I could see the world with both my eyes..." You get it.

Anyhoo--the dish was a treat. When you say you're eating sea urchin, you're really just eating it's eggs (or roe), so it's like a ton of microscopic caviar in there, that doesn't taste an iota like the salty, grainy caviar you've had before. Served as sushi, it honestly looks like orange tongue, with a flat, long oval shape, and what could easily be mistaken for tastebuds if you followed this imagery. It was a creamy but firm texture that was, surprisingly, not in the least exotic or off-putting. As in, it was kind of the texture of pudding that, when bitten, holds its own shape. The taste was sweet with a hint of ocean air, and really much lighter than I would have expected for it being a favored dish of a celebrity chef.

Didn't change my life like I had hoped, but I'd have it again...although I may not trust the favored food dishes of Mr. Bourdain to be my own again. Bring on the mac & cheese.