A Night At Sushi Sam’s Edomata
When it comes to lively sushi places, Sushi Sam’s Edomata nails it. This place had been on my dinner list for quite some time. Countless number of friends posting delectable pictures and raving about their times here was getting unbearable. Even with the number of good sushi restaurants opening up in the city, this restaurant still shined in their minds. And now I could see why.
You can tell it’s a local favorite given the amount of patrons walking in who knew the chefs by name. One by one, people came in a were shown to the bar. We stood there hoping our reservations would land us there too since we didn’t put down a preference. Low an behold, there were exactly three seats with our names on it, at the bar, next to the window. The stars were aligning my friends.
Inside the place was loud but manageable. It’s the energy level that’ll sweep you away. Servers are whisking by attending to basically everyone.
We went for their sushi omakase which was a two hour journey into their best selections filled with drinks and fun. Courses came out quickly one after another. Served on these little white plates, you’ll watch as they stack up after you finish each course. The nigiri was served in pairs. One complimenting the other. I’d say their creations with the yuzu salt was unique but a bit on the salty side. The others, are topped with nikiri. All were to be eaten as is, without any additional soy sauce. It’s not like we needed it. Each bite had enough flavor to feed our grins from ear to ear.
This visit will be one of many visits during my time here in San Mateo.
Sushi Sam’s Edomata
218 E 3rd Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401
+1 (650) 344-0888
sushisams.com
Verdict: A sushi omakase must visit for both the food and atmosphere.
For our closer, the chef gave us a treat. Almost like a test, he gave us wild and farmed toro for us to try. Hats off to the chef for ending our meal this way. Big fail for us for not being able to tell the difference between the two. Both were utterly delicious. You know what? Maybe he should have given us one more helping to educate us.
We were getting pretty full. How many pieces have we had by now? I don’t know. Just pour me more sake while I try out their seared red snapper and seared octopus. In an instant, these were gone.
The choice for fatty tuna won 2 to one over the wagyu beef in our group. I also wanted to try their sea bream which was topped with baby sprouts and roasted pine nuts. I think I scarfed it down too eagerly to get to the fatty tuna that I don’t remember the sea bream too much. Sorry folks.
At this point, the chef gave us another order of uni from the Atlantic, which was neat. But the seared A5 wagyu beef stole the show and became the topic of the night. If we had one more serving, would it be the beef or the toro, which one would we choose.
Here’s Sushi Sam’s signature nigiri, baby lobster topped with almonds and along side of it, seared fatty tuna. Very unique pairing and interesting texture for the baby lobster. It was something I’ve never seen at any sushi restaurant I’ve been too. Good, but sorry, that seared toro…
Thank you chefs for a delicious and very entertaining meal. What a lively experience. One that I don’t find too often and almost absent in San Francisco.
And our chef happily obliged and presented Japanese sea urchin and Spanish tuna. And I don’t know exactly what region the sea urchin came from except for Japan. The chef couldn’t give us an answer if it was from Hokkaido. Didn’t taste like it. Still good nonetheless.
The chef then took us through the lighter tastes of longneck clam and white salmon. Both were good and at this point, we were one bottle in on our sake. So we politely expressed our desires to get back to the decadence.
We asked our waiter for a sake recommendation and so glad he picked the perfect one for us. It was so good, we decided to share it with him… and the chefs!
Next up was a serving of artic char and yellowtail. This was getting into some seriously good eats. If you’ve been following my instagram you’ll know, artic char has become a winner over salmon in my book. In this serving it was topped with yuzu salt that while it made it more tasty, it kinda took away from the fish.
Lining up the drinks and waiting for all the chefs to free up.
The first course of nigiri came in the form of sweet blue shrimp and Spanish mackerel. Plating looked a bit rushed. But hey, the dish came out fast. Can’t complain. The shrimp was nice though I wonder if it should have been cleaned a bit more. The mackerel on the other hand made up for things.