Two Eat Philly: Shake Shack

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Vic Sushi

Posted on 16:56 by balbindra nath
During my recent trip home to Florida, I met up with some friends at one of our favorite sushi spots- a trendy restaurant in "downtown" Gainesville.  We got to talking about the lack of good sushi in our respective current cities- last time A & I had good Japanese food we went to New Jersey for it...  Our conversation reignited my need to find good sushi in our area, and I decided to finally check out a little take-out spot that a few friends had recommended.

Source
I called in our order after work on a Friday, specifying when I would be able to pick it up.  It was dark out and the only part of the awning I could see said "sushi bar" so I had to cross my fingers and hope I was arriving at the right place.  They hadn't taken my name over the phone, which I thought was a little strange- the woman working the counter had to rifle through a few bags of food before determining which one was mine.  Can you tell picking-up food to-go is a novelty to me? The inside of the store was bright and pleasant, but only a few seats at the counter means most people go the take-out/delivery route.

A & I both started out with a seaweed salad ($3), a generous pile of algae in varying shapes and shades of green and yellow.  Tossed with a sweet rice vinegar-based dressing, the seaweed acted like a little salad- something I ate in between pieces of sushi in lieu of pickled ginger.  I do prefer my seaweed salads to be more on the salty/spicy side of the spectrum- a bit too sugary for me.  A solid (and inexpensive) appetizer nonetheless.



Vic's is pretty well-known by the Yelp-er's for their three-roll special- your choice of three "regular" rolls for just $10.95.  Definitely a good way to go if you're sticking to simpler maki preparations.  We agreed on a few of our favorites- a Philly roll, an Alaska, and a spicy tuna.  Good-sized hunks of creamy fat-streaked salmon and an equally good-sized cube of cool, firm cream cheese- the Philly roll is superb.  Sub the cream cheese for avocado and you're in Alaska- either way, the fat content of both guarantee a great mouthful of sushi.


The spicy tuna roll was a pretty major disappointment- I know this roll typically uses leftover tuna "scraps" but the filling in this was more of a mushy pureed tuna mixed with a not-spicy-at-all "spicy" sauce.  It had the essence of a spicy sauce- the creaminess from the mayo and a hint of balancing sweetness- but just the barest hint of sriracha had us wanting far more of the burn.  But two out of three ain't bad- I told A that next time we should just get three Philly rolls.


We also chose a couple of special rolls from their extensive list.  Ingredient quality is certainly a large aspect of how enjoyable a sushi experience is, but we also like to see what kind of creative ways a sushi chef can combine different flavors and textures in a single bite.  And yes, these should be able to be eaten in a single bite.  First up was a Red Dragon ($10.95)- eel, avocado, and cucumber topped with tuna.  We ate a few pieces of the fish off of the top- this was definitely no high-quality toro (fatty tuna belly)- very lean and topped with a little sprinkle of ginger dust.   Overall the roll just didn't have a whole lot of flavor- it certainly wasn't bad, but it wasn't exciting.


Fortunately, the Lucky Roll ($10.95) was explosively flavorful- not surprising considering it's contents.  Puffy chunks of lightly fried tempura shrimp, avocado, and cucumber are wrapped up and drizzled with a sweet and salty eel sauce, layered with thickly sliced salmon, more avocado, and topped by a sriracha-heavy spicy sauce.  Hello, everything I love in one bite.  We're not typically fans of non-raw components in our rolls, but the combination of velvet-y salmon and chewier shrimp was a winner.  Definitely our favorite roll of the night.


 After stuffing ourselves to the brim with seaweed, rice, and raw fish, we knew we'd found our new go-to sushi bar.  Just a short walk away, affordable prices, great quality fish (minus the spicy tuna..), and a solid list of specialty rolls that we'll have to work our way through- so glad we finally "discovered" this little place.

Vic Sushi
2035 Sansom Street
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Route 6
    We've recently been on a roll with seafood spots around the city.  A little odd, since none of them are new, just new to us!  The same w...
  • Ulivo
    Last time we were down in Queen Village, chowing down on pork-every-way at Cochon , its newest neighbor, Ulivo, was about to open up shop.  ...
  • Little Nonna's
    One of the hardest-to-get reservations these days is at Little Nonna's, Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran's latest 13th Street food e...
  • Rosey's BBQ
    Perusing one of the local Philly "Things to Do" blogs ( Uwishunu ) recently, I came across a post about one of my favorite foods...
  • Mettbroechen, Croissants, and Pizza
    As A alluded to, I've been quite busy the last ten days traveling around Europe- primarily in Switzerland for a week-long conference, wi...
  • Varalli
    Sometimes we tend to focus a bit too much on the hot new restaurants- hard not to, when there seems to be a never ending supply.  This const...
  • Crepemaker: Eversave Giveaway
    Not too long after the arrival of our first few blogger perks comes our first giveaway!  We're big fans of Groupon and LivingSocial, but...
  • Curried Red Kuri Soup
    It's officially the  Season of Soup .  There's really nothing like a piping hot bowl of hearty soup on a cold, wet day.  Refreshing ...
  • Tria
    I love summer for many, many reasons (the heat is NOT one of them), including the calm and quiet of Penn's campus.  "University Cit...
  • Welcome to our new blog!
    Hello all, Just wanted to welcome you to our new blog. We're twin sisters living in Philadelphia, near Rittenhouse Square. We're b...

Categories

  • Recipe
  • Vegetarian

Blog Archive

  • ►  2014 (4)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2013 (48)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (2)
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  August (2)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (2)
    • ►  May (5)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (8)
  • ►  2012 (101)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (7)
    • ►  August (9)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (8)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (10)
    • ►  February (9)
    • ►  January (9)
  • ▼  2011 (113)
    • ▼  December (9)
      • Sweet Cheeks Q
      • Sbraga
      • Foie Gras Tasting at Meritage
      • S'Mores Brownies
      • American Sardine Bar
      • Vic Sushi
      • Fresh Fruit Pie
      • The Bar-B-Que Shop
      • Khyber Pass Pub
    • ►  November (9)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (9)
    • ►  August (10)
    • ►  July (9)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (10)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (10)
    • ►  February (9)
    • ►  January (9)
  • ►  2010 (103)
    • ►  December (9)
    • ►  November (9)
    • ►  October (7)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (8)
    • ►  May (9)
    • ►  April (7)
    • ►  March (9)
    • ►  February (7)
    • ►  January (14)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

balbindra nath
View my complete profile