"F" is for Fuji Mountain

In the medical world, there is a phrase called the "gold standard." Essentially, what it means is that, for an individual disease or condition, there has been a best treatment option previously identified by many, many researchers - this is called the "gold standard." For instance, the gold standard for preventing stroke is warfarin. And so, any new treatment that comes along purporting to prevent stroke is compared to that gold standard. Are patients living longer? Less side effects? Something else significant? If the answer is "no," then the gold standard remains the gold standard. If the answer is "yes," and results are reproducable over a long period of time, a new gold standard is then put into place.

"What the heck is he talking about?" you ask. "I thought this was a fricking restaurant blog!"

Patience, loyal readers (now up to 4 of you). I'll explain.

Sushi is not particularly complicated. Take your few basics ingredients -- fish, rice, wasabi, soy, ginger, etc. -- and go. Sushi at restaurant X is going to probably look pretty similar to sushi at restaurant Y. With sashimi, the variables are even fewer. The differences are usually subtle -- How fresh is the fish? Is it cut with the proper thickness? Is there enough vinegar is the rice? And how does the soy sauce complete everything? -- but once you eat enough sushi, it is not too difficult to differentiate good sushi from mediocre sushi and from mediocre sushi to bad sushi.

Consequently, choosing a "gold standard" sushi restaurant is much easier than choosing a gold standard Italian, French, or Indian place. Since your order probably isn't going to change much and the preparation will only vary slightly, comparing apples to apples, so to speak, is quite possible.

For about the last three years, Raw Sushi and Sake has been my personal gold standard sushi restaurant in Philadelphia. From my first visit on opening night (the only restaurant I have ever been to on the night it opened) right through present day, it has been consistently excellent. Not perfect -- a recent trip, in particular, led to a spider roll which, no exaggeration, tasted like vomit -- but usually really good fish prepared extremely well at a reasonable price. I have tried several other places that have been good, but not good enough to supplant the gold standard.

Which brings me to Fuji Mountain, the latest stop on our restaurant journey. As with any new sushi restaurant I walk into, right from the beginning, I went down my checklist to compare Fuji Mountain against Raw. How was the waitstaff (pretty good)? How was the ambiance (not bad)? The drink list (iffy)? Most importantly, though, how was the food?

And overall, it wasn't bad, certainly better than the last few stops on this jaunt. There were four of us and so we ordered the "sushi for 4" entree, which was actually a nice touch and made selections easier. There was plenty for us to eat, it was well presented, and variety was not bad. You had your tuna, your salmon, and your eel, of course, but they also gave us some more mid-range choices like striped bass and white tuna (my current favorite piece of sashimi). Nothing too exotic, but I wasn't expecting that.

There were a few pieces that were a little too chewy -- I want my sushi to more or less melt in my mouth -- but for the most part, I was happy with the quality of the fish. The rolls that came along with the entree -- spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, and dragon rolls -- were not bad, especially the latter two. It wasn't anything that blew me away, but Fuji Mountain definitely proved itself to be a nice alternative to the Raw. Not quite up to the level of the gold standard, but not too far down the list.

On to the full rundown of Fuji Mountain...

THE FOOD: First off, I liked that they gave all four of us both soup and salad as part of our order (and even "upgraded" the wife to an avocado salad for free). The miso and the house salad were fine -- pretty basic stuff. The sushi was presented nicely, on one of those large wooden "boats" some other sushi restaurants use. There was enough ginger and wasabi for the table (and I must say, the wasabi was really smoking -- I got a major brain burn at one point in the meal that was painful but oddly pleasurable at the same time). The cuts of fish were fair -- not sloppy and overly large, but not chintzy and small. Like I said, though, a few pieces were just a little too chewy and there wasn't anything on the plate that made me sit up and say, "Wow, that was a really great piece of fish."

THE DRINKS: In hindsight, we may have been better off going for sake or maybe a nice bottle of Sapporo. The bottle of wine we ordered was OK, but a bit pricey. They didn't have what we originally asked for, so they substituted what they said was a similar quality bottle. Whether they were lying or not, I have no clue.

THE DECOR: It was a busy night, which is key for a sushi place. The worst feeling is walking into a sushi restaurant that is empty at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday -- you just know the quality of the fish can't be very good. I liked the sushi bar right when you walk in and the tables were relatively nice. There was an odd fireplace mounted against the wall, but that was really the only thing that seemed out of place. The whole restaurant could use a redesign to catch up to the times, but it wasn't anything that detracted from the meal.

THE STAFF: Nice touch to have the waitresses wear kimonos. The cousin was a bit miffed that she "pre-opened" the wine before she came to the table and then didn't serve the ladies first, but it didn't bother me so much.

MAD PROPS FOR: Dessert afterward at Capogiro, Philly's gelato king. That place is simply awesome. A huge crowd of about 30 teenagers filed in five minutes after we arrived. Thank God we had ordered by then.

OVERALL: Not a bad way to celebrate the engagement of the cousin and his fiancee. And fortunately, the in-depth conversation about farting waited until after dinner.

THE CHECK: $180 for 4 of us. Ouch. Sushi isn't cheap, and the wine was a little pricey. Still, probably a bit overpriced for what we got. Oh well, it was a splurge.

On to the "Gs"...

Ineligible restaurants for round 7:

• Geno's Steaks -- It's the age old argument -- Pat's or Geno's. Of course, as most native Philadelphians know, the answer is neither, but if I was forced to choose, Geno's it would be.
• Genji -- When I was first learning sushi, Genji often was my "tutor." It's been a while since I've been back, but it was decent.
• Golden "XXX" -- There are so many generic Chinese restaurants that are called Golden "Something" that I'm sure I've been to at least one of them. They all stink equally.
• Good Dog -- The food is surprisingly good when you want a simple burger and fries. The over/under on tattoos among clientele (and staff for that matter) is 6.
• Great American Pub -- It's "the place to be" on Saturday night in Conshocken. Ugh.

Candidates for round 7:

• Gayle -- Easy on the palate, not so much on the wallet. Chef Daniel Stern's first hit in Philadelphia. http://www.gaylephiladelphia.com/
• Geechee Girl Rice Cafe -- Sounds Asian but it's not. Downhome country food in the heart of Germantown. http://www.geecheegirlricecafe.com/index.php
• Giwa -- Nothing fancy about this Korean place just off of Rittenhouse Square, but Korean food usually doesn't play too many tricks. http://www.giwakoreanfood.com/menu.pdf
• Gnocchi -- Apparently, the owners didn't feel like being creative with their name. South Philly Italian, of course. http://philadelphia.menupages.com/restaurantdetails?restaurantid=28949.