The Black Night goes to Billy Beach sushi almost every week with his favorite sushi chef, Hutch who was at Otodo and the Japonessa.  This was my first time at Billy Beach, although I have hazy memories of sashimi and a gigantic chocolate calazone from Otodo back in the day.  Hutch knows exactly what he’s doing and all of the sashimi is extremely fresh.

Basics: salmon (fatty), yellowtail (has that firmness on the ititial bite before melting), mackeral (perfect amount of brininess with pickled kelp and ginger on top to balance things out), kampachi (he got out a whole new fish for us!), crab salad.  Just the way they were meant to be.

Bonus: marinated scallop (I’ve never had marinated scallop before, but it was tasty), marinated tuna, flounder (I swear he put a tarragon pesto on this!), and cooked black cod on nigiri (this was his special – loved the richness of the cod on this!).  All of these were a nice twist on the traditional sashimi.

They have plenty of cooked items, but when you have sashimi this fresh in the hands of a pro, it’s hard to make room for other dishes.  Thanks to the chef and the staff for a memorable night – super friendly and extra delicious.

SUMMARY:
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: flounder nigiri, salmon sashimi, black cod nigiri
Footnotes: I hear their o-toro is amazing but they were out of it by the time I arrived (10pm on  a Friday), always sit up at the sushi bar, lots of people lingering well into the night – we were there until 11:30