Sushi Samba at the Palazzo…..Tri –Cultural, Try Everything

Sushi  Samba is a Tri-Cultural mix of Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian Cuisine’s all wrapped up into one distinctive menu.  You have your Sake’s and Sushi selections from Japan, Churasco’s (meat selections) form Brazil and Seviche’s from Peru.  Sushi Samba has locations all over the country.  New York, Miami, Chicago, Tel Aviv, and of course, Las Vegas.

This is a type of meal that is best when you have multiple people so you can try a whole bunch of great food.  And multiple people is just what we had.  In total, our party was 6 which meant some good eats coming out way.  Now for many, trying an eclectic mix of non-common cultural foods is over whelming, but our group was pretty strong in trying new things.

Being that its got a strong Japanese influence, we asked for some edamame to nibble on while we figured out our  meal.

Both my cousin and I have been to Sushi Samba before and we are both very adventurous eaters.   So for us, we just look at the menu and say "Yes Please" and we are done.  But we did have others with us.  Our server saw that were were pretty undecided and suggested that she put together something for us.  We just needed to tell her what we were interested in.  She made sure that we had enough of each dish we called out so that everyone could get a try.  Some of the sushi wasn't on the favorite's list for a few people so the server made sure that she didn't over order the raw items.  So this is what we got:

We started out with Tuna Tataki which had some tatsoi leaf and crunch hearts of palm in it.  This dish was very tasty and was easy to eat in one bite.

Next we got Berkshire pork Gyoza.  As you can see in the photo below, Gyoza are dumplings, and you can put pretty much anything in them.  The pork that were inside was so tender that it literally fell apart when you took a bite out of it.  The sauce that was in the dumplings were rich so more than just one might be too much.  They were a bit slippery so those of us who were chop stick challenged provided us with some amusing moments with this little suckers.

Next came the Seviche's.  (that is how they spelled it.  I thought it was with a C but what do I know)  Both my cousin Mike and I are a huge fan of these refreshing plates and made sure we ordered both the shrimp and the lobster seviche.  The Shrimp was made with passion fruit and had some cucumbers and  peppers that balanced the sweet fruit with a nice bite at the finish when you eat it.  On top of the Shrimp were fried plantains that you could use to scoop up the Seviche to add a nice sweet crunchiness to the taste.  The lobster was also made with fruit but had Mango instead of the Passion fruit.  It also had hearts of palm mixed into it giving the crunch in your mouth.  Both Seviche's were very tasty but it is my understanding that a Ceviche (how I know it to be spelled) is seafood that is cooked only by the acid in citrus fruits as it marinates for over 24 hours.  Both the shrimp and the lobster were cooked with traditional means in these dishes. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious but not true Ceviche's as I know it.  Maybe that is why it's spelled differently.

Next came the Sushi, but not just any sushi, someone else's sushi.  I have learned that someone else's sushi should taste much better than your own.  I say should because when we have eaten 1/2 of it and asked the server what it was, they say not yours, it's free.  Now that alone should make it taste better right?  In my opinion these two sounded good on paper but lacked the fresh bright bite you get with sushi.  It was a bit bland but the non raw fish eaters enjoyed it.  On the right was the Pacific roll which had king crab, avocado, and asian pear wrapped in soy paper and was with wasabi-avocado crema.  It just lacked the fresh taste you get with sushi.  The left side was the Rainbow Dragon.  Eel was inside with avocado red bell pepper and topped with mango.  I think the Mango was too strong for the eel and you couldn't really taste it.  The good news was that some of the others at the table really liked the strong mango flavor so when our order of sushi came out, we had one of these rolls on it.

Next up were the warm dishes.  Duck breasts was first with a ginger soy glaze.  Two breasts were grilled and glazed with a sweet soy.  Really great flavor.

Next was the pork belly which lately I have a hard time not ordering when I see it on the menu.  This was cooked in a butterscotch glaze that balanced the saltiness that pork belly can have with the sweet soy glaze.  

Finally the last warm dish came out.  Chilean Sea Bass was cubed and put on skewers and covered with a miso glaze.  This tasted sweeter but similar to the duck.  But the really cool addition to this dish was the Peruvian corn.  They were very large very starchy kernals of corn that tasted almost like potato.  They were fun to just nibble on.

Lastly our Sushi came and for me unfortunately, I felt that it really wasn't the best part of the meal. It wasn't bad it just wasn't as good as I thought it could be.  But that aside, there is a big menu to go through that makes up for the sushi in my opinion.  Its a great scene with a great lively environment.  It's worth the visit.  Oh, and if you like Sake, they have many, if not the biggest selection of Sake's in that town.

Sushi Samba can be found at the Palazzo hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas.  For more information, go here:  http://sushisamba.com/index.cfm/id/14/id2/44.html