Bob Gordon, July 2014

DINING OUT

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The squeaky wheel doesn’t always get the grease. Umai Umai doesn’t make much noise, but it certainly wins the hearts and minds of city sushi fans.

A few years ago, we followed a stack of reader recommendations to Umai Umai for the first time. Umai’s neighborly vibe scored points with us right off the bat. It seemed as though every new arrival greeted Chef-owner Alex McCord, ever manning his post behind the sushi bar, which opens into a 40-seat dining area. The atmosphere balances intimacy with conviviality. A young couple seated near us rhapsodized about “Alex’ sushi.” “We need our Umai fix at least once a week,” they insisted. An hour into our first visit, we knew why.

McCord’s style is gracious rather than garish He has a singular flair for incorporating non-traditional elements and ingredients into the sushi motif. The famous—and becoming more so—Krakken roll with shrimp tempura, eel, avocado, soft-shell crab, cherries, Worcestershire aïoli, and almond bits blend in rip-roaring harmony. Ditto for Eternal Sunshine Roll: a lush panko-crusted creation with flounder, cucumber, avocado, and salmon. Pine nuts moderate the taste, while apricot-miso and blueberry balsamic deliver fruity pucker. In the Pingu Roll, panko rings a roll of cream cheese, chive, and spicy red crab salad. Suffice it to say that Umai Umai’s rolls are jumbo but not jumbled—a knack lacking in some chefs whose attempts to push the envelope puncture it.

Alex is a cinephile whose rolls pay homage to his favorite films and video games. The menu is replete with rolls named the Godzilla, Poseidon, Nemo, King Kong, and (for fans of Lost) the 4-8-15-16-23-42. 

The Godzilla Roll boasts a batallion of fierce fans. A few sushi purists say it strays beyond the limits of the sushi genre. Basketball purists once said that about the dunk. It was banned from basketball. So where would the game be now, absent the thrills of Air Jordan and others? Alex’ sushi also soars. The Godzilla Roll has strawberry slices plopped on avocado saddles. The avocados and strawberries look like spikes on Godzilla’s back, giving rise to the name. Honey bathes Godzilla’s cargo of shrimp tempura, eel, and avocado adding swirls of flavor. Some comments online tout Umai Umai as the place to convert non-sushi eaters. The authors probably had the Godzilla roll in mind.

The elegance and eye-glam of Umai Umai’s designer rolls tends to give short shrift to non-sushi items. That’s too bad because you’ll find some gems. Whitefish Carpaccio plunges gossamer bits of delectably tender whitefish in citrus-soy piquillo salsa that’s stocked with diced cherry tomatoes spiced with chives and ginger.

Grilled Octopus vies with New Hope’s Nikólas as the finest octopus dish in memory. Stretched along a 15” black slate slab are fingerling potatoes, pickled red onion, olives, baby radishes, cherry tomatoes, and arugula sided with myriad tender slices of smoky octopus on a bed of arugula spritzed with pancetta vinaigrette.

The pièce de résistance among the non-sushi dishes is a Korean import, Tuna Bibim (“mixed rice” in Korean). In Umai’s version, pickled daikon and carrot, marinated spinach, egg yolk, and Kizami nori in a ginger-soy dressing gather in a blisteringly hot black iron cooking pot, which is then cooked tableside. The rainbow of flavors owing to the marinating and pickling is scrumptious. The raw egg yolk gives the mixture a sublime, creamy texture in this destination-worthy dish.

Even Baked Salmon is transformed into a multi-ingredient, coherent dish with diced tomatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Enochi mushrooms, and capers swimming in butter redolent of yuzu.

The woody ceiling, the cushy chairs that sidle wooden tables, the comfortable banquettes along one wall—all synthesize into a cozy, attractive ambiance animated by cheery servers. The operation rolls with seemingly effortless efficiency that never seems to make a squeak—and never needs to.

Umai Umai, 533 No. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19130 (215) 988-0707 www.umaiumai.com