TST Sushi Dinner Meet on 3/18 hosted by Fujito at Fuji Restaurant in Haddonfield, NJ

[TROLL]

Since there seem to be so many sushi lovers on TST, I decided to talk to our very own Fujito about setting up a little TST dinner meet at his family's Japanese restaurant.

Fuji Japanese Restaurant
116 East Kings Highway
Haddonfield, NJ 08033

He is willing to welcome us and offer some very good sushi priced lower than normal with the following setup:
-Thursday March 18th, meet at the restaurant at 7pm
-maximum of 10 people
-fixed menu, $30 per person, plus tax and tip
-16 piece assortment (10 different fish and one roll), miso soup, and a few rolls for the table to share

If you sign up for this you MUST attend. The number of people he can accommodate is very small so if you sign up please be positive you can make it. I will have a waiting list if the demand is there, and maybe those on that list will be first in line for a 2nd meet if things work out that way.

Please arrive by 7 at the latest so you don't hold up the rest of the group.
After dinner those interested can head over to the Woodbury Garage Meet together to stand out in the cold, haha.

I don't want to go back and forth about this for too long, but please let me know if you have a preference on the date, and if the meeting time is ok. If you are sure you can attend then let me now and I will add you to the list.

Attendees:
1) TROLL
2) trista
3) xEJ20x
4) Snoozie
5) Buster
6) Vr-4-Life
7) Rista
8) Got Insulin?
9) 3rdGenMr2Girl


Round 2: (need to pick a date!)
1) ASIAN JUL
2) Xavier
3) igo4bmx (if its not on a Thurs)
4) Gabe4AFE
5) nissamax
6) jspek
7) CleanNeon98
8) Charged SVTF
9) Khellen (weekend requested, not sure if thats possible though)
...

[jspek]

me. put my damn name on the list now hahahahaha. def down. will kobe beef be involved too?

[TROLL]

haha he mentioned kobe beef to me when we were discussing price ranges. it was obviously the high example, and its more than you can afford, pizza boy .

[jspek]

bull**** no one likes the tuna here. haha im down fo sho tho. will tell work tomorrow that im gonna be off that thursday haha.

[TROLL]

tell me if you have a preference on date... want to do it soonish but with a bit of notice. doesn't matter to me so i figure i'll go with whatever the first few people are leaning toward.
and if you really want something special like kobe beef i'm sure it can be taken care of but you'll have to talk to Fujito about that one...

[jspek]

date is fine for me. my job loves me and lets me do whatever i want basically haha. i was jw about the kobe. i had it at my fav sushi place in daytona during christmas and it was awesome.

[Spanky]

Wish i like sushi but have a good time guys.

[igo4bmx]

i am 90% in- gotta talk with the wifey to make sure she won't kill me if i eat sushi without her! haha

[Fujito]

We do carry authentic Kobe beef from Japan.

A lot of restaurants market domestic Wagyu beef as Kobe beef when it really isn't. Does the Cheesecake Factory really put real Kobe beef in their $12 Kobe burger? No. It's domestic Wagyu. Kobe beef is from the town of Kobe in Japan and it's extremely expensive. Matsusaka is another form of Wagyu from Japan that is also highly revered and expensive. Wagyu is the breed of cow. I'm not saying the one you had in Daytona wasn't authentic, but I just wanted to throw that tidbit out there.

Anyway, we serve 2oz strips that you cook on a hot stone for $32 and we serve Kobe sushi, which are thin strips served over rice with wasabi miso, grated garlic, and scallion on top for $8/piece. You're welcome to order it if you want. We've also done Kobe tar tar, Kobe carpaccio, and Kobe 8oz steaks ($135).

[trista]

Put me downnnn
Doubt I can eat that much sushi sooooo LIZ COME AND SPLIT SUSHI WITH ME.. It'll be a date c:

[Fujito]

But just to let you guys know, we're not the typical Japanese restaurant. We've owned the restaurant for 30 years and have acquired numerous awards and plaques. This review sums up the restaurant well. The service was in need of work at the time this was written for we just opened up in our new location.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Originally Posted by Craig Laban

If I had worried that the big move had stolen Fuji's magic, the shabu-shabu banished my fears.
It wasn't simply those precious slices of velvety Japanese Kobe beef (not that cheaper, more common American strain), which gently simmered in a bowl of pristine kelp broth alongside perfect bundles of tender veggies. It was the bowl itself - a piece of white paper folded origami-style into a vessel - that sat atop the heat of a licking flame unperturbed and unsinged.

Of course, this was wonder number seven in a parade of nine impressive courses that made up chef Masaharu "Matt" Ito's signature kaiseki tasting. And I was pretty certain earlier on, somewhere between the caviar-crowned tuna tartare in smoked dashi broth and the seared scallop with foie gras and duck posed over a sunburst of kabocha pumpkin puree, that Fuji's mojo was intact.

But I worry about such things, like whether a restaurant's spirit can be damaged when its unlikely-but-lucky home of 27 years - a little brick hut on seedy Route 130 surrounded by hourly rate motels - got bulldozed to make way for a housing development.

After a couple of spectacular meals (despite a few service nits) at its new location in higher-brow Haddonfield, it's clear that Fuji's greatness resides safely in the heart of its artisan chef.

The 54-year-old Ito, long one of the region's most unsung and modest kitchen masters, has inched a bit closer to the limelight here, though his space in the rear of a Kings Highway mini-mall retains a morsel of obscure mystique.

It feels like a homecoming to Ito, who commuted Kings Highway daily as a young man on his way to Sagami in Collingswood, where he worked the sushi counter in the late '70s. And he has made the most of his new address, outfitting a comfortable 68-seat space with an austerely natural but pretty look of varnished bamboo walls, trickling water sculptures, and a polished sushi bar hewn from a single slab of wild Allentown mountain maple. (A curtain to cover the open coat closet near the entrance, though, would make it feel more finished.)

But Fuji's draw was never really about ambience or service. And the service still needs polish, judging from the blank looks our friendly and relatively efficient waiter gave us when we ordered sushi in Japanese. ("I'm Chinese; speak English please!")

The real reason to visit Fuji is simply to eat, because the kitchen creates some of the most authentic and expertly crafted Japanese cooking in the region.

The sushi is handled by Yasuhiko Tasaka, who was the original owner/chef of Hatsuhana in New York, and he works the fish with a master's blade, slicing each piece at just the right angle and thickness to reveal its ultimate beauty.

Fuji creates a handful of fine, relatively subdued maki rolls - like the Rainbow sparked with minty shiso, or the Fuji, which wraps yellowtail and scallions around the earthy crunch of pickled burdock root.

But more straightforward preparations that highlight the quality of the fish, much of it direct from Japan, are the way to go here. The sashimi platter brings what appears to be a standard assortment. But there is something to each slice that resonates on the tongue with extraordinary pleasure: The yellowtail is like eating alabaster-colored butter; the tuna is amazingly soft and fruity, like some exotic ripe melon; the meltingly tender toro, richer with pink streaks of fat than regular tuna, sets my lips aglow with an omega-3 buzz.

You shouldn't miss the creamy sea urchin, either, or the surf clam whose flame-colored petal is perfectly scored for a tender chew, or the live scallops that are sweet as sea candy. Paper-thin rounds of sliced octopus are also addictive, streaked with the sweet spice of miso mustard.

But there is so much else to eat at Fuji, save room. The tempura batter is crisp and translucent. The teriyaki sauce, steeped for three days from beef bones, ginger, garlic and sake, has a complex depth behind its gloss of sweetness that coaxes extra savor from a tender Angus sirloin. The lighter gravy for the amazingly delicate pork, sparkling with crystal ginger, is addictive.

A garlicky marinade amplifies the intense beefiness of the Kobe beef starter. Four small raw slices arrive with a mini-hibachi for tabletop cooking at a hefty $32 for two ounces. But the meat, shot through with white streaks like Venetian marble, practically dissolves on the tongue.

The Kobe was a rare pleasure, but not even the highlight of my visits. Those inevitably come from Ito's inspired kaisekis, which, of the six I've eaten over the years, remarkably have never repeated a dish.

It could have been the succulent lamb chops this time that came as wonder course number eight, slicked with five-spice gravy beside purple rice and wild French baby asparagus spears so slender I twirled them on my fork like thistle-topped green noodles.

But the winner, chopsticks-down, was the two-toned soft-shell crabs, one pink with a jacket of sweet rice, the other jeweled in white pearls of rice puff, that rose from the plate intertwined around a scarlet stalk of pickled young ginger and lotus chips.

Beneath their crackling crusts, moistened from a quick dip in citrusy ponzu broth, was the sweet, white, flaky meat of the best soft-shell crabs I've ever eaten.

Fuji's magic has made its big move intact.

[xEJ20x]

Damn....thats 10 mins away from me.

Add me to the list.

[Snoozie]

I'm in! Just have to check with Keith. The 18th works better for me, 'cause I'll be paid.

[Buster]

you know i wouldnt pass this up.

[Fujito]

That's 6 people so far, with a 90% chance of 7.

Three more! And I'm going to leave work early and go to the meet with you guys

Oh yeah, it's BYO. Haddonfield is a dry town.

[nissamax]

if this was any day but thursday i would be here i f ing love sushi i wanna go change it to a friday please....

[Snoozie]

Originally Posted by Buster

you know i wouldnt pass this up.

Okay, so it's settled. Keith and I are in.

[jspek]

Originally Posted by Fujito

We do carry authentic Kobe beef from Japan.

A lot of restaurants market domestic Wagyu beef as Kobe beef when it really isn't. Does the Cheesecake Factory really put real Kobe beef in their $12 Kobe burger? No. It's domestic Wagyu. Kobe beef is from the town of Kobe in Japan and it's extremely expensive. Matsusaka is another form of Wagyu from Japan that is also highly revered and expensive. Wagyu is the breed of cow. I'm not saying the one you had in Daytona wasn't authentic, but I just wanted to throw that tidbit out there.

Anyway, we serve 2oz strips that you cook on a hot stone for $32 and we serve Kobe sushi, which are thin strips served over rice with wasabi miso, grated garlic, and scallion on top for $8/piece. You're welcome to order it if you want. We've also done Kobe tar tar, Kobe carpaccio, and Kobe 8oz steaks ($135).

exactly what i was thinking of.

[SvicksTc]

Hmm that falls in my spring break time (march 11) ....I will have to ask the girly if she is down

Is the date the 11 or the 18th?

[TROLL]

ok updated the list

Snoozie is the only one who had a date preference... so thats the way I'm leaning right now. Would like more input there even if its "doesn't matter to me, I can do either" just so I know what I'm working with here.

And nissamax, Fridays are busier which is why we didn't do it then. I'm trying to accomodate as many as I can here, sorry. You can always go to the restaurant another time though, and ask to see if Jesse (Fujito) is there if you do to say hello.