Thursday, February 23, 2017

Bamboo Sushi

Bamboo Sushi is the first certified sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. There are four locations in Portland, Oregon, and one in Denver, Colorado. This blog post covers the spot on NW 23rd Avenue (the other Portland spots are on NE Alberta, SE 28th Avenue, and SW 12th Avenue).


I don't get to the Pearl District often these days, but an awesome person suggested that we go to this place for dinner. Considering it had been on my miles-long list for a while, I couldn't pass it up. We arrived at about 7:15 and got seats at the bar area.

Bamboo Sushi has a full bar, a good wine selection, and about four beers on tap. I got the Country Boy IPA from Everybody's Brewing. It's based in White Salmon, so it's still local to the area in my book. Very good IPA.





After sharing some salted edamame, we ordered some food, which took a bit of time to get to us. Still we munched on some pickled ginger. While I'll be the first to admit that pickled ginger is not my favorite, Bamboo Sushi's was exceptional.



We started with the Saikyo Miso black Cod ($13), a small piece of skin-on Oregon cod with sweet miso, ginger, and seasonal fruits. Delicate, tender, delicious, damn.



Two signature Bamboo Sushi rolls were next, and I highly recommend both.


The Local ($15) has MSC albacore, red jalapeno strips, and cucumbers inside, topped with East Cost red crab, sesame aioli, and black tobiko.



Garden of Eden ($16) has spicy albacore, cucumber, and apple inside, topped with tuna tataki, basil, and pickled mustard seeds, dressed with spicy aioli.



On the signature rolls, you'll generally get eight pieces unless the description says otherwise. The combinations in each roll were original and worked. So much complementing flavors going on. Bonus points for having a bit of kick in each roll - and that's not including any wasabi I may have added to a few pieces.

Finally, we enjoyed a Specialty Nigiri, Yuzu Hotate ($6), a seared scallop on top with yuzu vinegar. Simple but brilliantly executed. That scallop just melts in your mouth and makes you want more. If it only were cheaper, I'd consider buying about 50 of those.



We had wonderful service all night at the bar.

Bamboo Sushi may be a tad pricier than what I'm generally used to (yes, the food carts have spoiled me rotten), but it's a perfect place to take your family or that special someone. 9/10

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