It is hard to start talking about the combination of Restaurant Week and a hundred dollar gift certificate to my favorite place in Baton Rouge without drawing the parallel to what came after–Lisette Oropesa performing A Starry Night with the LSU Symphony Orchestra. It was my first time hearing a world class soprano perform and the feeling inside when she reached for the sky with her magnificent voice was very much like the feeling I had while trying Chef Cong’s hokkaido scallop and foie gras nigiri combination for the first time. Right there at the edge of excellence, experiencing it rather than performing it, is so incredibly bittersweet. As much as you love the experience, a small part of you insists on whining about how come you can’t do anything that well. Such is life for most of us non-maestro’s . I am always impressed when attending the symphony. So many players, all on the same page. For a food and football guy like me, used to burnt grease and server screw ups and unforced errors both in the kitchen and pre-snap on the field, it is simply amazing to see almost a hundred student musicians acting literally in concert. There is such joy in human excellence of any kind because it is so rare. So I love Umami. I love what Chef Cong’s done with the place since he bought it from the previous owners of Hello Sushi. I love a menu that stretches from a four dollar Cali roll at happy hour to market price Japanese imports. I love the excitement of the servers to be bringing something to the table that they know will never be sent back.
Restaurant Week specials are a good time to step outside your own beaten path and try something new to you. Last year I had the Lollipop Lamb Chops and swooned when I bit into the first one. The guy at the sushi bar saw me and laughed and understood my reaction perfectly. I got them again this year and also the pan fried pork dumplings and I’ve been meaning to try the Mushroom Trio since I love, love, love the smoked enoki nigiri (also on the $4 happy hour menu) and I snagged the snow crab salad as well.
Really hard to go wrong at Umami, but it is a dangerous place if you aren’t armed with a gift card. I would go more often but it is very easy to get carried away here. He’s got a great happy hour and nothing is overpriced but high-end sushi like this adds up pretty quick. Here’s a couple of great rolls, the Sexiest Man Alive and the Rock n Roll.
Now I didn’t eat all this at one sitting. I went once for lunch and twice for dinner and even with the Restaurant Week pricing, I blew through my gift card halfway through the second dinner. I do occasionally stop in at other places for sushi, but Umami is my go to for now, especially when I want to take someone with me and turn them on to excellent sushi. Happy hour is a good time to hit Umami, two for one house sake and draft, and it lets you mix in some $4 small plates and cali rolls with some of the more expensive, outside the box offerings like the flash fried brussel sprouts, the roasted bone marrow, and the oyster shooters so you get full and excited and out of there with a nice sake buzz and a little cash left in your wallet!
