Hi guys! I wanted to share a quick post about where Nevada (my boyfriend) and I went for “date night” a few weeks ago. Our destination? Blue Ocean Robata & Sushi Bar in Carlsbad. This cozy restaurant is set back from the hustle and bustle of downtown Carlsbad yet still close enough to take an after-dinner stroll. The inside is decorated with lots of wood and metal—it had a cave like feel but in a good way. Based on the reviews on Yelp and the sign posted near the entrance, I guess this restaurant can get very loud. However, we went on a Saturday right when they opened so the noise level wasn’t too bad. Just keep it in mind if your plan is a quiet dinner for two. While we came for the sushi, this restaurant also has a Robata Grill that we wanted to check out. Robata is a Japanese method of grilling skewered (mostly) items over hot coals. The menu has about 20 or so items to choose from. We opted for the Lamb Chops since we haven’t had it in a long time. My only complaint is I wanted more! I absolutely love lamb and these babies were hands-down delicious. The grilling method resulted in slightly crispy, lightly smoky, super juicy lamb. I am still trying to figure out exactly what the meat was seasoned with but I could taste miso and/or soy, sesame and garlic. I am definitely going to try to recreate these in my kitchen! We also ordered three sushi rolls to share. Our picks were the Caterpillar Roll, the Geisha Roll and the Tango Mango Roll. The Geisha Roll was the flashiest of the rolls. The inside is salmon, crab, cream cheese and avocado. The roll is surrounded by a deep fried coating of bright pink and green "popcorn crunch" (at least that's what the menu says) and topped with spicy mayonnaise. I thought the coating was a bit on the hard side and the pieces were cut too big for my taste. However, this was Nevada's favorite of the bunch. He prefers his sushi cooked and with lots of embellishments. So if you’re like him, then this is a good roll to get! There isn’t much to say about the Caterpillar Roll. It was good, but pretty standard fare. The inside was crab, eel, and cumber and it was topped with avocado, smelt egg (the Boyfriend is not a fan, so we left it off), bonito flake and eel sauce. Since I’m not fond of mixing sweet with salty, I was hesitant to try the Tango Mango. But to my surprise, it was my favorite roll of the night. Not only was it delicious, it was pleasing to the eyes as well. This roll had white tuna, salmon, avocado on the inside and mango, wasabi tobiko (fish roe with wasabi) and ponzu on top. The mango brought out the subtle sweetness from the salmon and tuna without being too overpowering. I seriously could eat this roll all day, every day! Overall, I really liked this place and I will definitely go back to try some of the other items on the menu and maybe an adult beverage or two! Even though the prices are a bit on the high end, the portions are pretty substantial, so you get what you pay for.
What’s your favorite place to get sushi?
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