Japadamus and I visited the acclaimed San Francisco sushi institution Ebisu last Saturday. Since this was the first time Japadamus visited the restaurant, we decided to bring along a camera. I was surprised that most of the items off the specials menu had already been sold-out before we arrived at 7:30pm. My guess is that most of those things are being listed for street cred, but in reality they must have bought one of each item.
We started the meal off with some clam called Aoyagi, it really wasn’t too memorable so I didnt regret forgetting to take a picture
The next thing we ordered was the albacore tataki.
Its made by lightly grilling the outside of an albacore fillet, then its plunged into ice water to stop cooking. They then thinly slice it and serve atop onions, with kaiware sprouts, tobiko and ponzu sauce.
The next thing we ate was ankimo. As many of you know, I’ve attempted to make my own Ankimo several times. You can find the chronicle of it here. Its always interesting to see the different ways many restaurants prepare this fairly simple dish. 
The Ankimo was cooked in a small log which I found unusual since most places cook the Ankimo in roughly half-dollar size logs. They served the Ankimo on sliced onions with kaiware sprouts and ponzu sauce.
Next up was good old fashioned Aji. They served it simply with a little green onion and ginger. I was surprised that they didn’t serve it with ponzu sauce similar to Zushi Puzzle or Sushi Sams
We then ordered the Live Scallop. I’ve had live scallop from Zushi Puzzle and Oyaji and this one didnt taste any different. Ebisu prepared their Live Scallop similar to Zushi Puzzle where they make several little nigiris with sliced lemon and a side of ponzu. Like Zushi Puzzle, they also serve the muscle deep fried on the side with vegetables.
Next up was the Bonzai roll which is grilled salmon skin with several vegetables, tobiko and kaiware sprouts.
After that we ordered a negitoro roll. It was served pretty straight forward, no surprises.
Lastly we ordered the Swamp Roll, this was Japadamus’s choice after watching the Itamae in front of us make about 20 of these rolls, apparently it was the most popular of the night. The middle of the roll was albacore tuna mixed with sesame oil and onions similar to a Hawaiian poke. The top was covered with a sea salad.
So overall I thought Ebisu the place was good. It seemed like they had all the technical aspects down but none of the specialty items I really look forward to seeing at high-end sushi places. I’d definitely go back if they started having a greater variety of seasonal fishes.
