For most people, eating raw fish sounds like a one-way ticket to a sour tummy. However, when prepared correctly with the right veggies, sauces and rice, sushi can be downright delicious.
Watami is a modern sushi restaurant in North Ogden that has good sushi at reasonable prices. To try and extend my familiarity with different sushi rolls, I ordered five that were new to me: Las Vegas, Lucky, Jessie, Dancing Eel and Rainbow.
The Las Vegas and Lucky roll were similar. Both were deep fried and had cream cheese, salmon and avocado. The difference was that the Lucky also had eel and spicy crab in it.
Both rolls were complemented by a spicy mayo sauce and had a crunchy texture, which I loved. Despite their similarity, Lucky had a much more robust flavor to it. The eel in Lucky made the avocado less overpowering and accompanied the crab very well.
Liking eel as much as I do, the Dancing Eel and the Lucky were tied for my two favorite rolls. The Dancing Eel also had spicy crab, shrimp and was covered with eel and avocado. However, the Dancing Eel wasn’t fried, so it lacked the crunchy texture I prefer.
Ignoring the lack of texture, the Dancing Eel was one of my favorites because of its more prominent fish flavor. For me, when it comes to sushi, the fishier the better. I appreciated how the avocado wasn’t the dominant flavor in the roll, but it added just the right amount of a salt to balance the fish.
Looking for a perfect flavor balance with salt can be tricky. The Jessie had a little too much of a salty taste for me to order again. It had shrimp tempura, crab and was layered on the outside with smoked salmon, shrimp and avocado.
Not to say it wasn’t tasty, but this roll didn’t stand out to me. I didn’t taste the fish as much as I would’ve liked in the Jessie; the avocado seemed to eclipse all the other flavors. Along with avocado, the main things I tasted were the rice and crab. This made the roll more bland for me than anything else.
I was really looking forward to the Rainbow roll. It was good, but I have to say it was my least favorite of the five. Made up of tuna, salmon, white fish and avocado, the texture of the Rainbow wasn’t my favorite. I personally like something harder or crispier to chew on with my sushi. The roll was soft and slimy.
The robust fish flavor was great, but it didn’t seem like there was any other taste to enjoy. This roll looks really pretty on display, but it isn’t something I would try again unless I craved nothing more than a piscine flavor.
For anyone looking to try sushi for the first time, I would recommend trying a simple California roll. It’s made of imitation crab, cucumber and avocado. For new sushi eaters, the simpler, the better.
This wasn’t my first time going to Watami and, with their rolls ranging from $5-9, it won’t be the last.
