Arigato

Santa Barbara, CA

Whenever I'm out of town on business, I always try to find the best sushi place in the area. It's easy to sit up at the sushi bar by yourself and have have conversation with the chef and not feel weird you're alone. So on my recent trip to Santa Barbara, I read really great reviews for a sushi joint called Arigato. Other co workers had also mentioned that they loved it when traveling down to our SB office, so that's the first place I went after work. I arrived around 6 PM and the place was already 70% full. I sat up at the sushi bar, ordered a Kirin and looked at the menu. The menu is large, with a lot of fusion type options and wide selection of nigiri as well. I asked to do omakase since I figured it'd be easier and I wasn't in a rush. Had I sat on the other side of the bar with the main sushi chef, I would have received a more traditional mixture of nigiri variety, but was pleasantly surprised by the outcome nonetheless.

Ahi Carpaccio with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Arigato Vinaigrette

I was started with an Ahi Carpaccio ($7) drenched in a house vinaigrette. The fish was good quality, but a bit overpowered by the strong, tart vinaigrette. It was a nice starter, but probably not something I would order on my own.

Yellowtail and Toro Nigiri

Next up, I was presented with two pieces of Yellowtail ($6) and Toro ($12). Both were excellent quality fish. Buttery, smooth, flavorful, nigiri, really surprising me about how good the product was at Arigato. I wish the rest of my meal featured classic nigiri like this but I had a good experience trying some of the creative contemporary offerings they had next.

My next course was the Arigato 5 ($25) consisting of Ginger Bluefin, Jalapeno Yellowtail, Yuzu Pepper Tai (not shown), Su-Miso Albacore & Serrano Hanpachi. I admit that a lot of care and creativity was put into each unique piece of nigiri but I probably would have preferred each piece unadulterated. Nonetheless, it was nice to try each of the creative takes on the nigiri. 

Special Gold Shot - Oyster, Sea Urchin with ikura and Quail Egg

When I received my next bite, I was surprised to see something I've never tasted or thought of before. It was a shot glass with oyster, sea urchin, ikura and quail egg, a blend of strong, heavy ocean filled flavors that went very well together. 

My next set of five nigiri was a special seared combination consisting of seared yellowtail (top left) with black seasame sauce and chervil, seared salmon (bottom left) with ikura, chives and wasabi vinaigrette, seared engawa (forgot to take a pic), halibut edge meat, yuzu pepper, garlic chip, cilantro leaf and ponzu, seared hotate (also no pic) Hokkiaido scallops, spicy aioli, chives, and the seared kanpachi (no pic) with serrano chile and dashi infused soy sauce. Obviously a lot of thought and creativity was put into each individual piece and I actually enjoyed this set better than the first one, evident by the fact I forgot to take my pictures. 

By this point I was pretty full and wanted to end with ankimo nigiri since I already had uni and quail egg earlier in my meal (a usual ending piece). Unfortunately, this was the worst bite i had of my meal, the really lacked the creaminess, richness and texture I was seeking in ankimo. Overall, it was a surprising very good sushi meal and would definitely come back. I think next time, I'd pick my own nigiri selection and let the quality of the fish speak for itself.

Rating 7/10

March 17, 2011