Give me Zama that sushi

I was first introduced to sushi at age 11.  A once semi-picky-eater, I refused to eat any type of fish whatsoever, and I would separate the seaweed from the rice before eating my sushi.  I'm not quite sure when my affinity toward fish (and especially raw fish) developed, but over the past decade, sushi has become one of my preferred dishes.  I've eaten sushi around the world: in Israel, China, the Caribbean, in various European cities... and of course, all over the US of A. 


There are a number of sushi places that I frequent in Philadelphia, but my favorite is hands down a small restaurant in Rittenhouse called Zama.  I was first introduced to Zama in the summer of 2010 and in the past year, I think I've eaten there about half a dozen times.  I've also recommended Zama to countless friends and to my knowledge, no one has left unhappy.  


One staple of any Japanese restaurant is the edamame.  It's not hard to make (anyone can buy frozen edamame in the supermarket, steam them, and sprinkle some sea salt on) and I don't know that I've ever had edamame that's really superior to other edamame.  Zama has a cool twist on this class dish: it offers flavored salts that you can put onto your edamame.  In my career as a Zama eater, I usually order the wasabi sea salt because I like the kick that the wasabi gives the edamame.  In my most recent visit, however, my dining partner and I chose the Edamame with yuzu salt, something that I probably wouldn't have thought to order on my own.  Yuzu is a traditional Japanese citrus and the taste definitely came through in the edamame.  The pods had a nice combination of salt 'n' sour and tasted like a slightly more intense line had been squeezed onto the hot green beans.  

Yuzu sea salt edamame

After we finished our edamame, the array of sushi that we ordered arrived.  All of the sushi was fresh and delicious.  The shitake maki was just as I expected.  The shitake mushroom is a sweet and chewy mushroom, more like a gummy than other mushrooms.  I find that it's a great maki to get when you order others with lots of flavor because the mushroom tends to act as a palate cleanser.  

Shitake maki

Our second maki was a super crunchy salmon maki.  This maki was also available with tuna or yellowtail, but we chose salmon because... well... we like it the best.  The aspect of the dish that makes it "super crunchy" are the little balls that tasted like a mixture of Rice Crispy cereal and rice cakes that layered the outside of the rice.  The super crunch salmon roll was definitely super crunchy.  In fact, I thought that the crunch was genius because its texture balanced out the tenderness of the raw salmon perfectly, while its bland taste didn't distract from the salmon at all.  

Super crunchy salmon roll

Next up was the classica salmon avocado maki.  This is my absolute favorite maki that Zama offers.  I would equate it to the smoothness of butter, but it's actually completely different.  Yes, the salmon avocado roll melts in your mouth and rolls down your tongue through your throat seamlessly, but butter leaves you feeling heavy and bloated after eating it, whereas the salmon avocado roll does not.  It's perfection in a roll.  

Salmon avocado roll

Next to the salmon avocado roll sat the impressive and somewhat intimidating yellowtail jalapeno mango maki.  As a lover of jalapeno, I imagine they use large jalapenos in this maki because the pepper wasn't at all hot, which was a little bit of a disappointment as I was looking forward to having sushi with a kick.  Additionally, as a fish, yellowtail doesn't exude much flavor.  It's mild and not very fishy at all, which was great for this roll because the mango, which added a nice crunch, definitely took over.  If you aren't a fan of mango flavor, this isn't the roll for you.  But, if you're an adventurous sushi-er, I give you my blessing to go for it! 

Yellowtail jalapeno mango maki

Our final maki was the classic Philadelphia roll.  The Philadelphia roll consists of [Philadelphia] cream cheese (hence the name), cucumber, and smoked salmon.  In my opinion, cream cheese in sushi is brilliant.  The creaminess of the dairy and the thickness of the rice blend together in a beautiful way that my tongue enjoys.  Plus, in my mind (and according to the rules of Jewish food), cream cheese and smoked salmon are meant to be.  The Philadelphia roll is a must for any sushi lover, especially when eating in Philadelphia.  

Philadelphia roll

Even though we were stuffed by the end of our sushi marathon, my dinner date and I couldn't resist ordering dessert... especially once we heard that all desserts at Zama are mini and guests get three to a plate.  After a lot of deliberation we settled on the Yuzu Creme Brulee, the Double Chocolate Bread Pudding, and the Strawberry Marscapone Cream Cake.  The creme brulee was similar to a passion fruit creme brulee.  It had a custard made from yuzu and caramelized sugar on top.  The double chocolate bread pudding is as it sounds: warm, chocolatey, and brownie-like.  The final and most interesting dessert was the strawberry marscapone cream cake.  Strawberry was definitely the most prominent flavor of the small cake.  The "strawberry" was sandwiched between whipped cream on top and sponge cake on the bottom.  It had a good ratio of plain to extremely flavorful content. 

(l-r) Yuzu creme brulee, Strawberry marscapone cream cake, Double chocolate bread pudding

As always, Zama was a delight.  The service was great, the ambiance serene, and the food superb.  There are countless sushi spots throughout Philadelphia, but if you find yourself hungry in Rittenhouse, I highly recommend stopping in for a roll or two... or three or four.  


Visit Zama: 
(215) 568-1027
http://www.zamarestaurant.com/

Prego!

Despite the intended freedom that summer is supposed to give a college student, my time is being dictated by a part-time job and my senior thesis (I live, sleep, and breathe Middle English).  And after running into an old friend today who commented on my blog, I decided that I deserved a treat.  So, even if I haven't been able to blog, rest assured, readers, I have continued to eat!

My summer started off with a fantastic two-week trip to Italy.  Two high school friends and I visited Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, Palermo Sicily, and, of course, Roma.  I had extraordinary meals in every city we visited (see my mobile upload and Gelato a Day albums on Facebook), but our meal in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome was particularly special.  Not only was the food delicious, but it was Roman food with a Jewish twist.  Since we went to Nonna Betta for lunch, we couldn't eat everything that we wanted, but we figured that an appetizer and a pasta dish would be a good sampling of what the Ghetto had to offer.

Even though it was about 90 degrees outside, we were drawn to the sidewalk seating at Nonna Betta because, how cool would it have been if we had found someone we knew? In Rome?! Of course we didn't end up seeing anyone we knew after all. Right before we sat down, though, we noticed a New York Times article that proclaimed Nonna Betta's fried artichoke the best in Rome.  So, it was decided for us: our appetizer would be the fried artichoke.

According to Wikipedia, the carciofi alla guidia, aka Jewish style artichokes are a staple of Roman Jewish cuisine.  I grew up eating artichokes, but not of the fried variety.  When artichokes are served in my parents' house, they are usually steamed atop the stove for a few minutes and served warm.  We eat the artichoke by peeling off the individual petals and scraping the meat of the flower with our teeth.  Since a steamed artichoke has a pretty bland flavor, some people serve it with mayonnaise, melted butter, or a yogurt and dill blend (my personal favorite).

The Roman artichoke, however, was completely different.  The oil transforms the artichoke by a) making the whole flower edible and b) altering the taste and texture.  Unlike a normal artichoke, the Roman artichoke is totally edible -- leaves and choke included -- and like most things that are deep-fried, the Roman artichoke is delectable! The leaves taste like terra chips and the artichokey taste is overshadowed by the salt and oil, which is perfection.  Also, in contrast to the crunchiness of the leaves, the heart of the Roman artichoke is much meatier.  Perhaps our artichoke was just bigger than the ones I'm used to eating in America, but it felt like there was a lot more to the Roman heart.

Roman artichoke

My second course arrived cooking, literally.  I ordered gnocchi because I hadn't yet had it in Italy and how can you be in Italy and not eat gnocchi? I was thrilled with my gnocchi (after it cooled down and my tongue stopped swelling from the third-degree burn that it suffered).  I eat a lot of gnocchi in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but my local Italian restaurants of choice don't even come close to what Nonna Betta put in front of me.  When I say that the potato dumplings melted in my mouth, I'm not exaggerating in the slightest.  As you can see from the picture below, the tomato sauce was still boiling as the ceramic bowl was brought to my place setting.  The cubes of fresh tomato in the sauce added richness in taste and texture that I have encountered few times in America.  Finally, I have to comment on the mozzarella.  I was initially skeptical of a kosher dairy restaurant because I didn't want to experience kosher-cheese-syndrome.  In America, when you bake kosher mozzarella, it solidifies into a semi-hard (my boyfriend categorizes it as plastic) coating over the pasta and tomato sauce.  When my gnocchi came out, though, the first thing I noticed was that the cheese had the gooey mozzarella consistency that unkosher cheese has.  Yum.  Attention Miller's cheese: Find out what Nonna Betta puts in its mozzarella.

Gnocchi

Our visit to the Jewish Ghetto of Rome was spectacular.  The synagogue was beautiful, it was incredible to hear Hebrew interspersed with Italian in the streets, and as we ate, we talked about how proud and humbling it felt to be sitting in the Roman Jewish Ghetto as Jewish women in 2011.

Visit Nonna Betta -- Cucina Kosher:
+(06) 6880-6263
http://www.nonnabetta.it/il-ristorante/