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| - Well, I'm going to be one of the few naysayers here. Immediately after being seated, one of our party had cold water splashed on her by the waiter when pouring. She took it in stride, but still. Next, I was excited by the prospect of "the largest selection of sake in Madison." After being told that my first two selections were unavailable, the waiter left and then returned with what was available. Easily half of the list was not in stock. When the sake arrived, it was not the bottle I ordered, but it was about the same price so I stuck with it, as I was ready for a drink by then. The 8 oz Kirin I ordered was also not in stock, but the waiter brought the 16 oz and offered to just charge me for the 8 oz, which was fine with me.
Muramoto is one of the very few places to offer genuine, fresh grated wasabi, rare and expensive at $5 an oz, but worth it if you've ever had it. Not available at any price. "We haven't had that for a year," said the waiter. "We should probably take it off the menu."
We began to order. I was interested in going with "omakase style," to see what the chef at this highly-rated place could do. "I don't know what that is," says our waiter. By then, I'm thinking of calling him Dr No.: Abacore tuna? No. Spanish mackerel? No. Blue mackerel? No. "We never have all of the mackerels listed on the menu at the same time." Too bad, since mackerel my favorite fish. Bear in mind, we're there on a Saturday night.
Then comes the sushi. Although the fish is definitely fresh, the cuts were a bit skimpy for the price. The bonito had a string of sinew that the chef had neglected to cut out, ruining it for my wife. More importantly, the rice was a disaster. It was almost devoid of flavor, and was not correctly sticky. The raw fish in sushi needs to be properly balanced by the vinegar in the rice; since this had failed, the sushi was bland and uninteresting, regardless of it's quality. Traditionally, a sushi chef will spend two years of his life mastering the rice. Whoever is making Muramoto's rice probably started a couple of weeks ago.
Speaking of Muramoto, the restaurant is named for its owner, Shinji Muramoto. His involvement in the food, however, seems to be zero. At both Restaurant Muramoto and Sushi Muramoto (which I haven't tried, and never will), the executive chef title goes to others. At Restaurant Muramoto, it's Brett Olstadt, who has only been with Muramoto and [from what I can tell from his resume] Asian food for two years. He has not spent his time there studying rice, that's for sure.
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