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| - It was my last meal in Charlotte this go 'round, after another extended 5-day weekend visiting my parents, and I knew I really wanted something different before leaving. Having eaten my fill of Southern style specialties while staying at home with them, my radar began blinking frantically when I did a quick search for new (relatively) places in Charlotte since my last visit. Having worked in the area for many years selling wine I had already been to most of the more unique spots in the city, and then I stumbled upon what surely had to be a typo...The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar? Ummm, what? Then, my mind flashed to my last trip here over Christmas and some shopping that was done at South Park mall. I recalled riding past a place with a burger and sushi on the awning, and my immediate reaction at the time was a similar "what the hell?" Well, nothing more had to be said. I didn't even have to pull up the menu to know this would be my destination for lunch.
When we arrived at our destination, which you would likely never find if you weren't specifically looking for it, it was a bit past prime lunch hours (somewhere between 1 and 1:30), but the restaurant was still surprisingly hopping for a Monday afternoon. I passed up the chance to eat outside, as you have no idea what the patio space looks like upon entering. This was a mistake, not because the inside was bad, but because after I saw the nice large patio adjacent a beautiful fountain I really wanted to be eating out there. Sitting inside did offer a vantage point of the strange and humorous wall art, half mocking half embracing the fusion of burger and sushi, along with an enormous fish tank and easy access to our server. A quick trip to the restroom revealed another of Cowfish's oddities, a foreign language "learn to speak Japanese" track playing, combined with what could only be described as "learn to speak Redneck" version. Hearing the cute little J-pop voice followed by Cletus was certainly a shock, and I made another visit before leaving just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating (and I had to rinse an obscene amount of grease from my beard).
The real reason for coming here though is obviously the strange mix of food offered on the enormous menu. First are the appetizers, some of the best meal starters I've seen offered. This isn't your typical "hey let's fry something or add cheese to it" type of appetizer. They're all well thought out and incorporate a breadth of flavor profiles. Then you've got a page full of burger options, followed by several pages of very creative sushi rolls, and finally their signature item, a combination of burger and sushi they've deemed burgushi. It sounds like something the bumbling idiot Fabio from Top Chef would pronounce, but the concept is actually quite appealing when you see the menu descriptions.
I began with a couple appetizers, hoping my mom would assist me in eating them so I would have room for a burger, and the "Mother Load" roll, which features a piece of every fish on their menu in one hell of a creative presentation. I wound up eating both of them by myself though, so I had to cut out the sushi. I started with the blackened Ahi tuna nachos, which are wonton chips topped with crab Rangoon dip, pico de gallo and avocado and some seared tuna. I thought the quality of everything in this item was superb, although the crab dip definitely overtook the flavor of the tuna. It really benefitted from just a few drops of added Sriracha to help balance all the flavors. Next up I dove into the Caribbean summer rolls, which have boiled shrimp, lettuce, mint, mango, cucumber and chive, and when combined with their spicy peanut sauce they were actually some of the best spring rolls I have ever had, anywhere. The size was huge too, definitely worth the $9 price tag if you're debating which appetizer to order.
In between the appetizers and our burgers came the only real faux pas of the meal by Cowfish, and that was actually delivering our burgers just minutes after our appetizers had arrived. I had eaten literally one and a half of the big nachos, and not even begun on the rolls, when both our burgers were brought out. I decided not to complain and just go along with it, mixing bites from everything at once, but then I bit into my burger and realized that the medium rare I had requested was actually medium well, and produced no juice whatsoever. This I had to say something about, and it was promptly remedied by the chef, and comp'ed off the ticket by the manager.
1) Businesses take note, that's how you take care of a customer.
2) Yelpers take note, that's how you correct an error without bitching about it and deducting stars.
As for the actual burger, I went with the Arnold Hamandegger (self explanatory), and when properly done was wonderfully juicy, with just the right amount of egg yolk seeping over the bacon and ham. The "Cowfish sauce" was pretty tasty too, and the sweet potato fries were cooked perfectly.
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