Mt. Fuji – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough had been talking about sushi for about two weeks straight and on an indecisive food night, we decided to make Mt. Fuji happen. This part won’t be funny to anyone else, but M. and Trash Giant and I have tried to go there to use a Groupon, but have been shot down for various reasons – I KNOW she’ll be furious when she finds out I went without her. It didn’t matter, we needed sushi and we needed it right away.

It’s a pretty modern Japanese restaurant and has a great menu. Lots of sushi (which I now eat – my Japanese cousins will be very proud of me) and appetizers. …. And amazing girly drinks. It was difficult to decide what to get, but D.Rough decided on the Tropical Passion – Passion Fruit Vodka, lime juice, Grand Marnier, pineapple juice, and a lime. I had a tough time with this, but I got the Fuji Volcano – this is a drink for two people hahahaha. It’s basically a vat of rum and brandy with a flaming 151 shot in the top of it.
This drink made me think of the glorious times I’ve had at Psycho Suzie’s with TheDoctor drinking girly rum drinks out of ceramic vats. Cheers to D.Rough and I!

D.Rough had been to Mt. Fuji before, so she kind of knew a couple of the things we should get. The first thing we ordered was the Kani Salad – this is a sort of seaweed salad with some crab meat and cucumbers mixed in with it. I was totally skeptical of this when D.Rough ordered it, but she said it was her favorite, so I didn’t think I’d eat much of it anyway. We also got the Treasure Island, the Crazy Tuna Roll, and the #9.

The food came out in shifts, which was nice for us to get started on something and then have a new flavor to add. All of the food at a sushi restaurant looks amazing, even if you don’t like sushi. It’s beautiful, all of it.

The Kani Salad looked pretty and I figured I should try it just to be on the safe side. To my great surprise, it was absolutely brilliant. I loved this salad and ate way more of it than I expected. Not very fishy at all and the seaweed salad was very fresh tasting (unlike some other seaweed salad we’ve tried at other local places). There was some sort of eel sauce reduction and an additional random sauce on the plate that just enhanced the flavor. This dish blew me away (and I still had three more to try!!!).

The next dish out was the Crazy Tuna Roll – spicy tuna, cucumber, crunchy insides, black pepper tuna, avocado, and the chef’s special sauce. D.Rough and I split this so we both ended up with half. The tuna wasn’t very spicy, but this is Minnesota. The flavor of the spice and the black pepper was fantastic though. Even with the dark sauce it was in, the dish was still amazingly light and pretty sweet. It had these crunchy white shredded things on top that looked like jicama, and when you added it to any bite you took, it was great. I liked this dish a lot. This was my second favorite of the night.

The next dish to come out was the Treasure Island – yellowtail tuna, tuna, kanpyo (don’t ask – I don’t know what it is), crunchy insides, spicy blue crab, and 4 colors of roe on top. This was my third favorite of the bunch, but I think it is D.Rough’s second favorite. It is also delicious and I loved it. It looks simple, but has a lot of flavors going on in it. Again, when the menu says “spicy” take that with a grain of salt – it probably isn’t at all. You can make it spicier with the wasabi they put on your plate if that’s your thing. Each one of the four blocks of sushi was cut in two, so we got to split each color of the roe – which is hilarious, since they all taste exactly the same. But all were delicious and light (at least until you dip it in soy sauce – then it heavy’s it up a little bit. Hahahaha).

The last dish to come out was the #9 – deep fried soft shelled crab, lettuce, salmon, and avocado. I’ve never actually eaten a soft shelled crab before, but D.Rough assured me you just eat the whole thing. Honestly, I was a little freaked out by the thought of it. But never to be called non-adventurous, I dove right in. Thankfully, she warned me that soft shelled crab is a bit chewy, because it really is. Not in a bad way or anything, but there were a lot of different textures going on in this thing. The flavor was quite good and the deep fried part obviously appealed to my particular palette, so after I got over the initial shock of eating a whole crab, I really enjoyed this one a lot. Again, the eel sauce reduction and pinkish sauce were a fantastic complement to this particular sushi.

I promised I wouldn’t mention how messy the table was afterwards due to SOMEONE spilling soy sauce all over the table when the lid fell off the little pouring kettle that was on the table. Hahahaha

Overall, this was the best sushi meal I’ve had to date. I’m not an expert in sushi (just yet), but I’ve had enough to actually be able to put together a list of sushi restaurants to try. I’ll definitely go back here – in fact, Trash has already booked a lunch meeting there for this Friday! – and I’ll also send many people here. And when I go back (which will be soon), I’ll also get the Fuji Volcano which is one of the best girly drinks ever (because it tastes just like Hawaiian punch – dur). Finally, I can’t recommend our waiter enough. Brandon was a gem and we will ask for him by name the next time we go there. He’s a very good server and makes delicious drinks as well – give this man a raise!!!

Top 5 things about Mt. Fuji
1. Kani Salad
2. Fuji Volcano!!!
3. Crazy Tuna Roll
4. Treasure Island
5. #9
6. Brandon, the waiter
7. Great photos of the food on the menu so you know what you’re getting

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s pricey – like most sushi – so just be ready
2. It’s in Uptown, so the DBag factor is high
3. Website is very confusing and needs some help
4. Still weirded out by the chewiness of eating an entire softshelled crab – but I’m getting over it.
5. I should have had D.Rough drive, so I could have had another Fuji Volcano!!! (Insert TheDoctor yelling “Let’s get ready to rum-bowl!!!!”)

www.mtfujimn.com