Nobu's - St. Louis, MO

Date of dining experience: June 20, 2015

Place: Nobu's Japanese Restaurant

Location: 8643 Olive Blvd. in St. Louis, MO

Soup: Miso ($1.75) - absolutely delicious!

Sushi: four different rolls. Check out the website for pictures of some of the rolls offered.
1. St. Louis Roll ($6.70) - tuna, cucumber, avocado, and masago. There may have been pickled radish as well.
2. Spicy Tuna Roll ($5) - spicy tuna and cucumber.
3. Rainbow Roll ($15) - tuna, salmon, red snapper, and white tuna on a California Roll (which is crab, cucumber, avocado, and masago).
4. Spider Roll ($15) - soft shell crab, cucumber, avocado, masago, and spicy mayo.

Entree: Sashimi Moriawase ($35) - Raw tuna, yellowtail, jumbo clam, fluke, salmon, shrimp, and sea urchin, served with shredded radish and rice. All of these are typical sashimi fishes, except the sea urchin, and all amazingly delectable! The sea urchin is a little different. The flavor is kind of "dirty," for lack of a better descriptor. It is also not a solid meat, but it's hard to describe. You'll just have to try it for yourself.

Sake: two varieties, one hot and one cold.
1. Hot Sake ($8.50 large size) - very good, but definitely a strong alcohol flavor. I learned that it is customary to refill the cups of others and not your own (someone will return the deed).
2. Cold Sake (premium) - Junmai Nigori ($15 large size) - also good, but not as good as the hot sake. This sake does have a slightly cloudy look and sweeter taste, so more people may like this one better.

For those of you that know me, you know I love sushi and sashimi. I thought every one of these items was amazing, but not everyone will. If you taste something you don't like, just eat some rice and you'll live. It won't kill you, and what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Note: Nobu's is little more pricey than most other Japanese restaurants, but well worth it (in my opinion). Some of their fishes are flown in directly from Japan and they never use frozen fillets. They prepare their sushi only from live fish and clams delivered by a Chicago supplier 3-4 times a week, so you know it's going to be fresh. The website states that if they don't receive live fish, they won't serve it in their restaurant.

The atmosphere is fantastic, all the workers are actually Japanese, and the service was great. Try this place out for yourself and let me know what you think! (They do have non-sushi and non-sashimi items on the menu as well.) I will definitely be back for more sushi and sashimi.

Enjoy!