california uni, geoduck sushi and dim sum w/ great service

[pinstripeprincess]

i'm making my way to vancouver in a few weeks and have to do a bit of prep work. before we get into that...

any sushi spots serving california uni and has geoduck on a regular basis?

so the hard part. i adore and eat everything, my significant other on the other hand is allergic to shellfish and coconut. thankfully, i can still eat the stuff around him but we need a kitchen and servers who have a clear understanding that he cannot eat shellfish.

i would love to take him out for dim sum. are there any spots in richmond that you would recommend that would also have some well versed service re: allergies? i know this is a big ask, but it'd be nice to be able to do it at least once. i may have to go the northern vs canto route if this is too difficult.

thanks!

[jcolvin]

Currently suffering from uni overdose. Bought a 1 kg box of fresh (talking shucked that afternoon) seconds (broken bits) from the uni factory and I've been eating it over the last 3 days. Temaki cone after cone after cone, sashimi, with lemon and olive oil greek style. Factory says they will stop selling the seconds (boss says they don't make any $) so this was my last blowout. urggggg...

[jcolvin]

Any particular reason you want California uni and not our local BC uni?

[fmed]

Was going to ask the same question. (Our uni here is pretty good.)

[pinstripeprincess]

i have had BC uni frequently tasting not very good to my palate. not sure if it's that i'm in ON and we're getting the shaft, but the california uni i've had was always spectacular.

[fmed]

Maybe freshness was the issue? You should be able to get live ones at nearly all the higher end sushi bars here (sushi hachi in richmond, ajisai, octopus' garden, etc. I don't know who has california uni though).

[andrew_eats]

I from Vancouver and live in Cali. Uni is pretty good around the west coast. But you really need track down the darker red kind from Japan. It's even more amazing.

Back to your question, seafood restaurants like Blue Water, C, Kirin, and Tojo's should have everything. Personally, I liked how they made geoduck at Sea Harbour, but last time I passed by, the name had changed.

http://twitter.com/andrew_lum

[fmed]

Sea Harbour has moved to the casino*. Landmark Hotpot does a very good geoduck. They can actually serve part of it as Japanese style sashimi - including wasabi (fake).

*The new restaurant that took over the location is called Tin Tin Seafood House (which I hear is a branch of a chain from HK and China.

[fmed]

For uni and geoduck: Blue Water Cafe's live tanks. For dim sum with good service in general: Kirin. Allergies. Hmmm....

[pinstripeprincess]

thanks! i will likely call kirin then and see what they say.

[Georgia Strait]

"well versed service re: allergies" - i don't know of any that i would gamble on if it is that serious a medical condition - if you decide to go together, if it was me, i'd take half a dozen epi pens. Or better yet, go on your own adventure and meet up later.