Umami - Made me write this
September 13th, 2009 at 07:19pm Under $$$ - Casual Dining
I haven’t written on here in a long time, definitely not since I moved to San Francisco from Chicago. My meal at Umami was so good, I had no choice but to write it up.
After strolling all over the Marina without finding anything that looked all that worthwhile, we stumbled on Umami (http://www.umamisf.com). It was hidden down a side street off Union and it was dark enough that we couldn’t read the menu posted outside. Luckily enough, the atmosphere looked about right for a Sunday night dinner - laid back but nice heavy wood decor.
Upon looking at the menu, it was clear that there was at least one mandatory order - Edamame Hummus. There isn’t too terribly much to say other than that two of the most glorious appetizers in the world combined into a single mind-blowing creation is something I’m definitely into. I could have grubbed 2 orders of this.
The best item of the night though was based on the recommendation of the waitress - White Tuna Tataki. After ordering this blind based on her recommendation, I really didn’t think twice about it until the guy put a skillet down on the table and before I knew what was going on, poured some steaming hot oil into the skillet and the fish in the skillet was sizzling and steam was shooting into the air and everybody in the place was staring mouth agape at our table begging to know what it was that we being the sophisticated, clearly in-the-know people (who had never heard of the place 20 min earlier), had ordered. Of course, having not even looked at it on the menu, I had no idea what to tell them, and quite frankly didn’t even know the name of it until I just looked it up now. All this rambling and I haven’t even begun to talk about how amazing this dish was. The fish ends up perfectly seared by the oil, with the outside getting nice and warm but leaving the middle of each piece cool and refreshing. The sauce and flavors coming out of that pan were beyond good as well. Overall, this is a straight rock star dish.
After some good enough but largely forgettable sushi rolls, we were preparing to leave and had requested the bill when we decided with nothing to do on a lazy Sunday evening, we might as well take a look at the dessert menu. I’m not much of a dessert guy, especially at Asian restaurants (green tea ice cream is straight yuck). That said, I only saw one item on the dessert menu and upon seeing it, was a changed man forever - Chocolate Chip cookie dough ice cream roll served with a chocolate dipping sauce. If that doesn’t sound amazing to you, check your palette. It was better than it sounds and it sounds life changing. I found a picture of this glorious roll.
Overall, everything came together for me at Umami, the atmosphere coupled with a couple of amazing dishes made for an incredible meal even though it included some fairly uninspired sushi.
Umami is located at 2909 Webster St. in San Francisco.
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