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Review: PK Sushi

So, can lightning strike three times in the same place?

PK Sushi occupies the same location as our previous two favorite sushi restaurants: Wave and Sakuran. Sakuran disappeared a few weeks ago and PK appeared in its place.

One new twist is that PK is following the big trend of offering an all-you-can-eat deal. These have been popular on the East Coast for years and are finally (and yay for my pocketbook) becoming popular here. 

The deal is, for around $20 (slightly cheaper at lunch, slightly more at dinner) you can order pretty much whatever you want. You incur extra charges if you don't eat something you order or if you order something using a very expensive ingredient. Over two very lengthy visits to PK so far, that hasn't happened to me. Just use common sense when ordering :)

We headed there with our usual compatriot: Designer Girlfriend. She had an anonymous diner tag along.

I guess I've been there enough that the owner and head chef, PK, recognized me. Haha! That's him in the middle. The other sushi chef, Jin, is there on the left. 

 
 

Although I was happily drinking my Asahi, PK decided that the table needed some cold sake. He brought us a bottle of Pure brand sake. This stuff was the booooooooooooooooooomb! I think I'm going to buy a bottle every time I go back. Nice clean flavor. As a side note, did you know that when sake is served hot it's usually because the sake is crap and heating it hides the crappy diesel-like flavor of bad sake?

 
 

Even the edamame is pimped out here. The bowl in the back is regular garden-variety edamame. The bowl in the front is their spicy edamame with peppers and garlic. I could have consumed 20 bowls of the spicy edamame, well, if not for all the sushi that was coming!

 

The first sushi course out was salmon nigiri. Check out those huge bands of succulent, omega-3 laden salmon fat. This stuff was amazing. Note that the rice part of the sushi is just right. Quite a few of these all-you-can eat places try to stuff you with rice by offering zero sashimi dishes and overdoing the rice content of every kind of sushi. Not PK.

 
  

Pepperfin. This seems to be on every sushi restaurant's menu these days. Simple combination of any kind of whitefish, peppers, soy, yuzu, and sesame oil. Most places use their crappiest whitefish in these dishes. Not at PK. Whatever fish they used in this had perfect texture and tasted great. I can't stand sushi places that cut corners... which would be most of them, and almost all of the all-you-can eat places. Thank goodness PK opened, because I was warily eyeing a few months of sushi abstinence.

 

Don't like raw fish? PK has you covered. In addition to a multitude of fully cooked rolls, PK offers many other cooked Japanese dishes on their all-you-can-eat menu. You can stuff yourself with teriyaki, or have some tasty Korean BBQ. We got some of their tempura, which was excellent.

 

...or how about some delectable crab stuffed mushrooms?

 
   

The next four rolls are the BMW, M3, M5, and Oh Yes. I don't remember which is which. All four were awesome. I'm trying to talk him into letting me design some rolls for his menu. The first one would be a Lady Gaga roll studded with edible LEDs. Or maybe a Justin Bieber roll filled with cheese. The possibilities are endless!

Or maybe a Yod roll that's sauced with bitters ;)

 
   

 
 

Here's rolls #3 and #4 of the BMW group. In the upper right corner is a deep fried California roll that found its way to our table by accident. It was actually pretty tasty.

 
 

And now, for the really fun stuff. This is what resulted when I asked PK for a "spicy salmon roll". Mindblowingly good. Note that in this as well as the rest of the rolls, they've used the proper amount of rice. I've been to quite a few all-you-can-eat places where the rolls looked like something out of an adult movie from all the extra rice used to attempt to fill me up.

 

The best thing of the night. This was PK's response to "make me a spicy scallop roll". I can't even begin to describe just how good this roll was. When I asked PK what to call this roll on the Chomple review, he said "Something PK just made up". So here you have it. The Something PK Just Made Up Roll. You can ask for it, but I think he'll just make something else up. Which is a good thing, because that man is a genius.

 
  

Although this is like using Patron in a spring break margarita, I ended my meal by making a sake bomb out of the Pure sake and the rest of my Asahi Super Dry. It was ungodly, tremendously good. Hey PK, put this on the menu as the Premium Yod Bomb. Please?

 

Obviously this gets our RUN, DON'T WALK, RUN THERE RIGHT NOW rating. This place is crazy good and an even crazier value. 

PK Sushi 
2168 Sunset Blvd. Ste 100 (across Pleasant Grove from the Safeway)
Rocklin, CA 95765 

Review: Amerikan Ichi Sushi

This review started with a conversation that a year ago I would have considered improbable to say the least.

First, let me tell you about my (almost) father-in-law, henceforth referred to as Daddy Actual. He rides a Harley. He's from a farm in Nebraska. Chinese food was banned in the Actual household for years. He thinks curry is an odd creation that's not exactly meant for human consumption. 

He likes barbecue. He makes killer barbecue. His indirect smoker is larger than the engine bay of our Prius.

As far as we knew, the only thing that he had ever ordered at a Japanese restaurant was chicken teriyaki. And that's only if someone made him go to a Japanese restaurant.

So it was a complete shock to me when we were discussing heading up there to go out to dinner, and these words came out of his mouth:

"How about we go to my favorite sushi place?"

What???

Daddy Actual shouldn't have a favorite sushi place. 

Just like I don't have a favorite gym. Or a favorite Olive Garden. Or a favorite place where I like to get waterboarded by security contractors.

We figured any sushi place that could make Daddy Actual happy had to be a great place. So we all went.

Now, we weren't sure what to expect. Daddy Actual knows good food, but does he know good sushi? And this place is in Placerville, and the odds of a good sushi place (by Chomple standards) in Placerville are about as high as finding a good soul food restaurant in Dubuque.

Amerikan Ichi is stuffed into a very small space in a strip mall. To the left there's a day spa. Of course, in Chomple World, this is a good thing. All the best grub comes from strip malls.

 
 

Amerikan Ichi is as small on the inside as the outside makes it look. Sushi bar has seating for about 15, and there are a few tables. The place was packed, which was a great sign. An even better sign was that the three chefs behing the bar were happily chatting up the patrons as they made sushi. Later on in the evening, a couple sat down next to us and didn't even bother ordering anything. The chefs knew what to make for them.

They have a steal of a deal. Order as much as you want for $22. Check out the rules of the all you can eat. I'm very glad that they say all this up front for people who have bad manners. When customers act stupid, the rest of us have to pay more for our food. I couldn't back up far enough to get a picture of the entire all you can eat menu. Probably 100+ items to choose from.

 
 

Apologies as I was too busy eating and don't remember what half of this stuff was with any sort of detail. It was that good.

This roll had fish and cream cheese inside, and was topped with more fish, some crunchies, onions and unagi sauce. They used just enough sauce.

 
 

Godzilla roll. Tuna and yellowtail (and more that I'm forgetting) in the middle, then deep fried, then topped with two spicy sauces. I usually can't stand deep fried rolls but this thing was amazing. Very happy that on this as well as the rest of the rolls, the chefs at Amerikan Ichi don't oversauce. Oversaucing sushi is a bad bad trait that runs deep in most sushi restaurants.

 
 

While the four of us were contemplating our next move, one of the chefs made us this platter of mussels baked in a mayonnaise based sauce. These were so good we forgot our plans for what to order next. Thanks a lot, chef dude! ;)

 
 

Some sort of rainbow roll derivative. Had two different kinds of tobikko. Girlfriend Actual was about to die from fish roe happiness. 

 
 

Don't remember what this was, other than it had spicy crab and tasted amazing.

 
 

This is my Fuji Mountain roll. Huge. Packed with fish. Yummy. Similar to the roll we had earlier with the crunchies, except this one subbed out cream cheese for more fish. At this point I was cursing bringing a 50mm prime to a crowded sushi bar. Can you tell?

 
 

This is Actual trying to eat a piece of the Fuji Mountain. It sort of collapsed on itself. In a good way.

 

And now, the real curiosity of the night. Amerikan Ichi's Tropical Roll. Deep fried banana on the inside, with mangoes and strawberry sauce on the outside. I didn't try this one as I can't stomach rice used in a non savory application. Clan Actual said it tasted great. Kudos to Amerikan Ichi for being creative and still managing to deliver a tasty product. With most sushi places, you have to pick one or the other (or sometimes, end up with neither).

 

Because I can see the "WTF, REALLY?!?" look on your face, here's a cross-section shot of the Tropical Roll.

 

If you order off of the regular menu, you can get this large arrangement of sushi. Definitely a welcome change to the usual sushi boat. I want to order one of these with served with some sake bomb "trolls" underneath. 

 

The best thing I ate all night, week, and month. Maybe for this entire culinary quarter. Spicy raw scallop hand roll. The scallops were hyper fresh and would have been amazing on their own. Add a simply sublime spicy sauce and this whole thing is so off the hook it probably bent the hook out of sheer awesomeness. Also available in a cooked version if you so desire. I may go back, order a dozen of these, and call it a night.

Note: That is Actual's hand. My fingernails only look that nice in the ten minutes following the nice Vietnamese lady at the salon telling me that I squirm too much and not to come back.

 
      

Final course! Tobikko with raw quail egg. Or as I unceremoniously call it, "The Eggo".  Rich beyond belief. Any lingering hunger I had in my body was defeated Mortal Kombat style. Do not start out with this course if you're planning on having a long run at Amerikan Ichi's all you can eat.

 

RUN, DON'T WALK. RUN THERE RIGHT NOW.

That's right, folks. That's two RUN, DON'T WALK reviews in as many posts. I guess the food gods are making up for the month of McNuggets I endured earlier.

Now I'm waiting for Daddy Actual to recommend a curry place :)

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