Y to Zed
Y is for Yuppy Marina which is where four girlfriends travelled to check out a fairly new sushi bar that we had read good things about . Yuzu is a modern, minimalist and sleek venue with grey slate floors and a lofty ceiling that gives the place the aura of museum cafe.
On the night we visited, Yuzu was noticeably understaffed, but the apologies and sincerity of our servers made up for any slowness we encountered. We weren't in a hurry so gossiping, not speed-eating was on our minds and the dosy service didn't bug us. Start with a drink, or two, or three, or... If you not quite sure which kind of Sake you prefer, then dive into one of their selection of flights which are neatly presented on little wooden stands that each hold four generous pours of the featured rice wine and are priced between $8 and $10. The sakes are neatly labelled so you can keep track of your favourites as you imbibe.
The menu is typical of a moderm, fashionable sushi joint with more than its fair share of overly exotic sounding concoctions. All of the food was insanely fresh. The four of us had never tasted edamames so good. They were warm and salty and succulent - not a word we would normally choose to describe this kind of bean. The seaweed salad - something we always like but never find reason to rave about in particular was glistening and bejewelled with roe that made it look as beautiful as it tasted. We had to order a second bowl, it was that good.
In fact, Yuzu were great with all the vegetables we tried. The gently-sauced miso aubergine, perfectly cooked so it was still firm enough to hold its shape but soft enough to enjoy eating without being greasy, arrived at the table steaming hot. It was well worth not waiting for it to cool down too much before diving in to its tender flesh.
A wonderful, lightly spiced yellowtail sashimi that was otherwise as sparse as the decor in its presentation, cut into thin ribbons and smartly arrange on a little white plate, tasted as if it had only just been dished from the ocean, but, sadly, all the protein that followed lackedlustre. Yawn, yawn, spicy tuna was served, at Yuzu, in a tower which actually turned out to be a puffy, greasy, green, tasteless little fried snack cup shaped alien crisp which doesn't do the delicate fish any justice. Special rolls were ornate, cumbersome and just too overloaded with fancy stuff to be truly enjoyable, even the freshly cooked soft shell crab filling didn't make the impression we had hoped for. A very small plate of roasted duck was pedestrian, not impressive, we finished it quickly and were done with the food.
Long after all the other Marina Girls & Boys had headed home for an early night, we were still lingering over the dregs of our sake as the staff shuffled around in the background, some of them already wearing their coats, waiting for us to go. We handed them $60 a head and then went on our way home, still a little hungry, and with no overwhelming desire to ever return.
Yuzu
3347 Fillmore St
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 775-1873