gutfud – the food, es ist gut

It starts out small enough, when one friend reaches out to suggest dinner and I commit to it. Then another friend emails about dinner at the same time, so I suggest combining into a group. And suddenly the group becomes five, all settling down comfortably in the restaurant on a Friday evening, with rainclouds looming outside.

This is a new experience for Perry, who usually dines here with her husband and they often order the same thing. You know what this means – someone’s going to have a new experience and it will *definitely* include shiitake nigiri! Boom!
And nasu dengaku. Boom!
And a Haskell’s roll. Which I helped name. Boom!

Also a new item for Perry: the braised pork belly and vegetables. So glad this item migrated over from Kobachi. It’s ridiculously good.
From the bar was albacore nigiri, and tuna sashimi. I just love how each nigiri has a unique seasoning. No soy sauce needed. Seriously, don’t do it. It’s so good as it is.

There were two vegetarians in the group, both eat fish, but only one eats raw fish. Ahi had enough options that kept the most picky eater happy. She got the tempura shrimp roll, and a California roll (not pictured), among other things. Meanwhile, my side of the table had one omakase item that was sashimi with spicy yuzu sauce. Mmm.

Most of us had green tea to drink, but we were all curious about Ahi’s infused shochu cocktail blends, so we ordered the Hello Kitty, which has muddled fresh lychee. It was very good! Light and fruity without being overly sweet. The token male at the table seemed to enjoy the drink the most, so there you go.

For dessert, Ahi’s menu was quite simple: green tea ice cream, that is all. We ordered a couple, and our green tea ice cream came with strawberries, and all drizzled in honey.

I was meant to move on to another event after dinner. My friends were supposed to go downtown for a music show. We all enjoyed ourselves so much at Ahi, we simply lingered on, and on, until near closing time. Then walked out into the springtime rain to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Ahi
3631 State St – Upper State area

Ahi customers can also park at the Motel next door, if parking at its own lot is tight.