[Seattle, WA] - Sushi Kashiba

For my birthday this year, I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate. I'm not into having big parties; I'm into eating good food. Knowing that I wanted to go to Seattle for my birthday (as I have done every other year or so), there was just one place that I really felt like I needed to go to--Sushi Kashiba. If you have talked to me at all about food in the past few years, you would know that I attempted to eat at Shiro's so that I could see him in action. This didn't work out the way I originally planned, as he didn't seem to be there that night. Luckily, Nakazawa-san was there, and after a 45 minute wait, I had one of the best food experiences of my life. I have a separate blog entry dedicated to that night here or here (same post, but from both of my blogs). 

Fast forward a few years (almost 3 years, to be exact) to Shiro opening up a new restaurant - Sushi Kashiba. My boyfriend, brother, and I waited eagerly for the opening knowing that it was going to happen one day. We all met up in Seattle and diddled about earlier in the day not knowing what to do as we all wandered around eating and thinking about dinner. Oh wait, we ate fried chicken for lunch. Man, that was a good day! I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated so long and written these entries about the same time. 

We waited outside of the restaurant in the drizzle for the restaurant to open. Maybe 30-45 minutes before they opened, they brought out hot tea to the ones of us in line who wanted some. Be prepared to wait, and if you want to have Shiro-san as your chef, you should aim to be one of the first five or six people in. I would aim for first four (which is what we did). I feel like he paid more attention to us than the couple to our left who didn't know how to eat sushi (that's right dude, I saw you copying us and trying to explain to your man how to do it). The four of us ordered the omakase and were not disappointed. When our omakase was over, we continued to order a few more things since we waited and came so far, and really, how often were we planning on coming here (if I had the funds, it would probably be more often).

My seat just in front of Shiro.

From left to right: Florida big eye tuna, blue fin belly, blue fin loin, and local albacore. I shouldn't be so amazed at how different the belly served here is compared to other places. It's on another level.

Amberjack on the left, yellowtail on the right. The yellowtail was really good. Always a fan of good hamachi.

Shiro doing some searing. I felt like I was meeting a rock star for the first time. It was very surreal.

From left to right: sea bream, flounder fin, and flounder body. I love sea bream, so it did not disappoint. The flounder was different, which I liked.

King salmon from Scotland on the left, and local sockeye on the right. I still think about that salmon. Buttery and clean. The local sockeye tasted like home.

Delicious uni handroll. The uni was super fresh and creamy. A generous amount of uni was used, also.

Shiro slicing some geoduck. Insert phallic jokes here.

Sweet spot prawn. Sweet and fresh. I always enjoy the fried shrimp head. I agree with Bourdain: "Basically, if you don't like what's in a shrimp's head, I can't be your friend."

Geoduck on the left, scallop on the right. The geoduck portion was bigger than the piece at Shiro's. The crunch and taste of it are always good. It contrasted well with the soft, sweet scallop.

Left to right: Norwegian mackerel, smoked king mackerel, and Japanese horse mackerel. One of my favorite sets from that night. I do love my silver fish! All three varied in taste and flavor. I couldn't pick a favorite--they're all good!

King crab on the left, snow crab on the right. I was a little surprised that Dungeness crab wasn't in the mix. I would have preferred it to the snow crab.

Barbecued eel.

Egg "dessert." This is the item that Nakazawa-san struggled with in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I can now understand why. This egg, when done correctly, is DELICIOUS. I could probably eat an entire pan of it.

Abalone. This was actually not mine, but I took the picture before I decided to order a separate one for myself.

More abalone, this time for me since I just watched my boyfriend eat his and I didn't want to miss out. The piece was big and thick.

Shiro-san said that there was a "special ingredient" left and we all said "SURE!" Scallion and tuna belly. Didn't want to stop eating, but had no choice. Violated the 80% full rule and left STUFFED. 

I REGRET NOTHING!

Address:

86 Pine St

Ste 1

Seattle, WA 98101

Phone: (206) 441-8844

Hours:

Mon-Sun 5:00pm-10:30pm