OMG oishii desu: A memorable (in a good way) lunch at Blowfish Sushi Lounge

(photo courtesy of netcandi)

It’s Wednesday, and normally I’d have had lunch downtown (likely Artigiano these days) before heading to the U for my “office hours,” but as I explained to my students yesterday, I canceled them so I could get their test marked by tomorrow. Looking for someplace reasonably chill for lunch with enough table space to do my marking, I went someplace I had not been in over a year: Blowfish Sushi Lounge, 625 11th Ave SW, 403-237-8588. I had actually attempted this place on Good Friday, but it was closed for lunch.

I’d only been to Blowfish once before, and extolled it like this on chowhound:

In a space that was once a dive bar called Bar Fly, a heavy-metal-night sort of place that was one of the last vestiges of 11th Ave’s “Electric Avenue” days (the other being TA Vern’s, which is now the salubrious Broken City) is a new sushi place called Blowfish (not to be confused with Globefish on 14th St NW- in fact Blowfish isn’t affiliated with any other restaurant in Calgary, which seems not to be the case for a lot of “new” sushi joints). Bar Fly was a dive, and the transformation it’s undergone is incredible. Its design reminded me immediately of Goldfish (NOT a sushi place!) in the Annex in Toronto: polished dark concrete, pashelberg-ish chrome and wood seating, cool tunes. The dimensions of the room, a smaller space with very high ceilings, took me back to the late and lamented Florentine in Calgary, but with much more modern chairs, tables, and soundtrack. It’s a beautiful, contemporary space.

I went for lunch, which offers a number of interesting looking fusion combos (wasabi-accented teriyaki chicken with an assortment of nigiri on the side) at around $17.50 each, but I wanted to try the sushi. The menu is still pretty spare (many things can be ordered off it, but for now you’re limited to a relatively small number of printed options, including a complete lack, to my eyes, of vegetarian sushi). I ordered unagi nigiri (2 fairly generous pieces for $7.99) and one spicy tuna roll (8 pieces, $12). The unagi was not the best I’ve had, with a too-sweet sauce and a somewhat fishy taste (I’ve had far better at Towa and Uptown), but it was perfectly edible. The spicy tuna roll was however really outstanding. It’s a maki with the buttery, fresh tuna draped on the outside, each piece topped with a thin slice of Thai bird chili, and the inside of the roll comprises perfect avocado, shredded cuke, and crispy spicy fried tempura (there’s chili sauce in the batter- a lovely touch); a rich spicy mayo (which might have cream cheese in it, it’s that rrrrich) and a garnish of one fried strip of sweet potato make this a beautiful dish, which I ate with gusto. Fantastic.

But problem: I wanted another order, because the pieces are MUCH smaller than places like Towa or Globefish, and at $12 a roll, this would turn out to be a very expensive lunch ($33 before tip). If I had one wish for this place it would be for them to re-price. This is maybe an $8 roll, despite its deliciousness.

I’d still give this place a strong recommendation. I have to add that it is stunning to see how 11th Ave (and the “design district” in general) is developing.

That was on January 27, 2007, a couple of weeks after its opening, and thankfully, the place is still open. I’m “thankful” because the lunch I had today was completely spectacular, and because it doesn’t seem to get the business it deserves.

I arrived right around noon and there were maybe 6 other customers there; not bad for a small space but it could have been a lot fuller. Still, I received a cheery greeting from hostess and server and plopped down into a very comfy seat (nothing the like torture chair I had at Hapa Izakaya in Vancouver, but no matter now) next to the sushi bar. Tunes were quiet trip-hoppy, perfectly suited to the dark modern lounge-y space and also perfect to both eat and mark tests to.

Today I had three items: one order of hamachi nigiri, one spicy tuna roll, and one yam tempura-avocado roll. Just water to drink. The sushi came seriatim, dish by dish, well spaced. First, the hamachi. Blowfish serves two pieces per nigiri (or sashimi, your choice) order, one naked and one with a little dressing up. My duded-up piece of hamachi had a little pile of a finely diced chili and onion salsa. I’d have liked both pieces done this way because it complemented the bland hamachi (bland but buttery good) nicely. Next the same spicy tuna roll that I raved about on chowhound, except it’s come down in price 50 cents (hey, I’ll take it) and it seemed a little bigger, but no sweet potato chip garnish. No bother- it was outstanding, with interesting contrasts in texture and really, really easy to eat. This might be the single best maki I’ve ever had, anywhere.

Then came my avocado-yam roll. I was expecting something like I had at a Ma and Pa sushi place in Vancouver with this one, that is, a roll with the sliced yam tempura and sliced avocado in a roll as the filling. Blowfish doesn’t do anything that prosaically. It had the finely-sliced tempura on the inside, but the avocado was draped over the top as with my tuna in the first roll; then the whole roll was adorned with a sort of peach-coloured sauce; in fact it looked bit like a fruit-flavoured yogurt. Nope: it it’s mango mayonnaise. Rich and sweet and little savoury too, you can (I hope) imagine how well it accompanies the veggies in the sushi. Tremendous, and in the end, very filling.

Lunch for me was $30 plus tip (I’m a good tipper incidentally- just throwin’ that out there). Expensive lunch, yes, but the day’s big indulgence too (since we still have a fridge full of the incredible ropa vieja Brian made the other day, so it’s tacos al Cubano for dinner tonight). I wouldn’t eat there every day, but I can, and will, eat there more often than I have.