Red Tuna Sushi and Noodle Cafe

Hi everyone, long time no post.  I've been all kinds of busy lately, with classes, with work, with trying to get my car back on the road and almost no time (haha, and no money!) to go out to eat so nothing really exciting to post in the last few weeks.    I did manage to get out to this one little place last week called Red Tuna.  I had a buddy from out of town come in and I wanted to take him someplace he probably would never experience in Whitehorse - Sushi King, but they were just closing up.  It was kind of late and our options were limited, we twiddled our thumbs for a bit, then looked across the street to see Red Tuna's 'Open' sign lit up so we ran across the street and popped in. 

 Sushi King is kind of a regular hang out for my iaido group after class on Friday nights.  My sensei is Japanese but he has no qualms about eating at a place that's not "authentic".  As long as it tastes good, he doesn't care.  He'd been to Red Tuna a couple of times when Sushi King was full, and he told me that Red Tuna wasn't that bad.  My buddy and I figured why not? 

 The place was empty and obviously preparing to close but the staff were very friendly and greeted us with a welcoming smile and invited us in. 

 My friend ordered a bento box that came with a couple of nigiri sushi, California rolls, and some teriyaki beef on rice.  The negi sprinkled on the beef was a nice touch. 

My buddy Mike from Whitehorse.  We met during a two week training course in Regina back in February.  The selection for sushi in Regina was limited, and according to my buddy, options aren't so plentiful  in Whitehorse either.

I got a varitety of nigiri sushi and my current favourite roll - spicy tuna roll.  It was actually quite good, the rice wasn't packed on, wasn't overly spicy, with some chili mayo drizzle on it (reminded me of Tokyo Joe's spicy tuna roll).  I ordered two peices of toro which was very fresh, nice and fat, just the way I like it.  It didn't taste greasy or anything, just good fat (haha, if there is such a thing!).  The ikura was very fresh, each one popped as if it was fresh out of a salmon, nice portions.  The saba was of a different variety.  It was very lean, and the taste was slightly different than I was used to.  It was still good though, just different.  I also ordered amaebi which was not the tiny slivers of shrimp that many other restaurants serve.  This was more like botan ebi, which our server told us usually comes with the heads deep-fried.  My latest thing is to have the heads not deep-fried, but served raw.  The miso in the heads is kind of my latest favourite at sushi restaurants.  For those that aren't familiar with sushi, this may sound really gross.  For those that know, it's similar to kani miso, another delicacy not often found in North American sushi restaurants.

Red Tuna's prices are decent for what you get, the service was very, very friendly and the sushi was pretty damn good.  Would I go back?  Definitely.  And next time, I will go back with something more than my crappy phone camera.