Can you really get good sushi in Kalispell MT?
Thoughts of Montana cuisine might conjure up visions of elk burgers, beef steaks, or venison backstrap. But sushi? Being a state away from the ocean might make one think finding delicious sushi is impossible. But I am here to tell you it is not. Read on!
Last night we tried Blue Samurai, a restaurant located at 323 South Main Street in Kalispell. The restaurant only serves dinner, and is open from Monday through Saturday. In this one eater’s opinion, the Blue Samurai is a must-try, for several reasons.
First, the service was fantastic. Our server Rebecca stopped by often to see how we were doing, to check on the quality of the food, to see if we needed anything else and to make sure our beverages were plentiful. She also made a point of learning our names, and would use them every time she stopped by. That is how to make your customers feel special. We also noticed many of the diners who came in were greeted by name. It’s kind of like the show Cheers where everyone yelled Norm’s name when he walked in. That’s the kind of place you visit more than once!
Second, the food was delicious!
I started with the Wakame Seaweed Salad.
The ingredients were seasoned seaweed, mango, yamagobo and ponzu. Yamagobo is a pickled root that looks like a carrot. Ponzu is a sauce. All I remember is that it contains soy sauce and rice vinegar but it also included a lot of other spices.
It was definitely delicious and I have to say I prefer this to a normal lettuce based salad.
Next, an appetizer. Oh yum oh yum. This was my favorite dish of the evening.
This dish was called Baked Green Mussels. They are green mussels baked with spicy aioli, sriracha, kabayaki sauce, masago, scallions and tempura flakes. The aioli is the orange-colored sauce on top. Sriracha is a chili sauce. Kabayaki is another soy-sauce based sauce, and masago are fish eggs (roe). Each shell had two mussels in them.
This was so good that when Rebecca came to ask if we were done, I mentioned that if I had a straw, I could suck up the rest of the sauce. Her response was, “that could be arranged,” but I thought that might be just a tad tacky so I left the sauce in the shells. Sigh. I want another plate…
And finally, the entree. There were many options including nigiri, sashimi, cooked, raw and vegan rolls. I chose a raw roll. Specifically, I ordered the Heavenly Roll which was definitely deserving of the name.
This roll included spicy tuna, cucumber topped with yellowtail, lemon wedge, jalapeño, sriracha, ponzu and masago. There was a perfect amount of spice, and the fish was delicious.
So there you have it! That food as well as a bit of hot sake hit the spot. I am a satisfied customer who will definitely be returning to Blue Samurai!
So the answer to the question is “Yes, you can get good sushi in Kalispell MT!”