Edible San Francisco Winter 2012 : Page 18
edible PROFILES TIM ARCHULETA Born? Sacramento Current ’hood? Bernal Heights Gig? Owner and chef, Ichi Sushi, 3369 Mission St. Open? Since September 2010 Focus? Bring sushi back to what it’s supposed to be Which is? Simple and elegant Because? Somewhere along the time line of sushi being served in America, there has been this disconnect of how sushi is supposed to be eaten. Like drowning it in a fire-breathing blend of wasabi paste and soy sauce? Wasabi’s purpose is to open up your senses so you can get the full flavor of the fish. We suggest that you put wasabi for sashimi on the fish and not in the soy sauce dish. It was never intended to make sushi spicy, or to blow your nostrils out and make you cry. But Americans love to dip! Sashimi and rolls are the only things I suggest customers dip in soy sauce. I season all the nigiri for you. And no ginger on top? Ginger’s purpose is to cleanse your palate between the different fish you order. It’s not a salad, and was never intended to be put on top of sushi as a condiment. Lets talk fish of the sustainable variety. We don’t put sustainability at the forefront of our menus, because I feel like it’s such a buzzword and sometimes it feels like it’s out there as a gimmick. Using sustainable practices is my job as a human, to protect my surroundings while I’m living on this Earth, and to ensure that generations after me can enjoy all the things I have. Sushi chefs need fish to do their jobs. And I want to make sure I can do my job for a lot longer. What about blue fin tuna? Surely customers must ask for it. We don’t carry blue fin because it’s in danger of becoming extinct. Don’t get me wrong: Wild blue fin tuna is delicious, but we have a greater responsibility to preserve it. Customers also can’t believe we don’t carry unagi (freshwater eel). Unagi doesn’t get the press that blue fin does, but it’s just as in danger of becoming extinct. They’re caught when they’re babies, shipped to China to be farmed and processed, and never breed. Favorite sushi? My favorite time to eat sushi is in the wintertime. I know people tend to think that sushi is best enjoyed during the warmer months, but the winter is when the fish is best. We carry a lot of Japanese fish. In the winter, the waters surrounding Japan are colder. The colder the water, the more fat content the fish has. The more fat, the more flavor. If I had to pick one fish, I Ichi is one of the few sushi bars in San Francisco where tradition takes a stand and Chef Tim Archuleta’s impeccably sourced seafood is best enjoyed without the obligatory dunk into a saucer of soy and wasabi. would say wild hamachi in the wintertime is my favorite. But I love all traditional sushi. When I go into a sushi restaurant, I want to eat everything in the sushi case, starting from the lightest fish and finishing with uni. It’s hard to taste much else after uni. When we do omakase at the restaurant, uni is always second to last and tamago is always last. Hot or cold sake? I prefer cold sake to hot sake. Some sake can be heated, but once you exceed a certain temperature, you lose all the subtle aromas and flavors. The hot sake you get at most Japanese restaurants comes from a box and is piping hot. They serve it hot because it masks the unpleasant flavor. Box sake is usually the bottom-of-the-barrel sake. Tools of the trade? I have a knife obsession. It might be the only reason why I’m a sushi chef. I have over 20 knives but I only use four regularly. I have two yanagis (single-beveled sushi knives) and switch back and forth. Both knives are the brand Kia. One of these knives was my first real sushi knife. A Japanese chef that I used to work with told me that all the chefs in the sushi magazines in Japan used Kias. I was very proud of that. I also use an 11-inch chef knife (wa gyuto) made by Yoshikane. It’s made from SKD steel. It’s an awesome piece of metal. Lastly, I regularly use a Masamoto brand usuba (single-beveled vegetable knife.) It’s nothing fancy, but I have had it forever. SUSHI CHEFS NEED FISH TO DO THEIR JOBS. AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE I CAN DO MY JOB FOR A LOT LONGER. Sharpen your own? I have three Shapton stones: a rough stone, a medium stone and polishing stone. The most important stone I have is the stone fixer. It keeps the stone flat, which is very important. If your stone is curved, your knife will look like a hook. Random last question: Favorite late-night snack? Either a frozen bean and cheese burrito with a fried egg on top or something delicious my wife made earlier for dinner. 18 | EDIBLE SAN FRANCISCO WINTER 2012
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