Uoko Japanese Cuisine and Sushi - Tustin

I eat a lot of sushi. I can't have a steak or burgers two days in a row, but sushi I could eat for every meal if I were given the chance. This is why you see a lot of sushi joints on this blog, and why you will continue to see more.

Last night I went to Uoko. It was the second time for me in two weeks. And I'm sorry it's taken me this long to try it, because judging by the faded sun-bleached photos tacked up on the walls, the cozy tatami room, and the sheer volume of accumulated trinkets and doodads all over this Japanese restaurant's interior, Uoko has been here a while.

On this visit, I decided not to eat in a booth like last time, but at the sushi bar itself. We would pick out our meal from what ever was written up on the white board.

After last night's meal, I realized Uoko is one of the best sushi bars in OC, certainly Tustin. It's the kind of place where I heard a white customer say to the itamae, "Please make me something with natto! Anything!" And he did: a hand roll with natto and squid pulverized to bits with the edge of his knife.



We, too, ordered things on a whim. There was a luminous conch nigiri that had the crunch of cartilage, the subtle sweetness of the sea, and a bullet of rice that was still slightly warm. After that, there was some ponzu-doused raw oysters. This was followed by asparagus, enoki mushroom, and scallops sauteed with butter, garlic, and sake--the whole thing served sputtering on a fajita platter.

When we asked for the poke bowl, it was for its quantity-to-price ratio--something to fill our stomachs with. And it came with salmon, octopus, tuna, and various other scraps of slippery/tender fish and seafood, tossed in soy, sesame oil, lemon, and other flavorings, piled on top of sushi rice.

The uni we got was the very last piece they had in supply that night, and it was luscious. And then came the best thing we ate: red snapper collar, smoked in hickory--not a typical sushi bar fodder--intensely aromatic, practically caramelized, and so sweet it was fish candy.

Still kind of hungry, we asked for some of the tempura that made us swoon two weeks prior, and it was just as good this time as it was last--freshly fried, hot, lacy, everything tempura should be.

After we signaled we were done, dessert came free. It was some sort of wiggly delicious red bean mousse with a slice of orange.

The total for our meal for two? A little under $55.

Uoko Japanese Cuisine and Sushi
17582 17th St #103
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 838-2300

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