The sushi that redeemed: Mt. Fuji

Sigh. Is that snow on the ground? Yes, because I took this photo way back in March, when MC and KS and I went to eat at Mt. Fuji in order to satisfy a sushi craving. I was wary of eating more raw fish in Fort Collins after that terrible meal at Suehiro, but MC had testified that she had eaten at this restaurant before and that it was good, so I agreed to give it a shot.

Right away I noticed the assortment of exotic rolls displayed in the well-photographed picture menu. While I'm not usually one for frou-frou fish, I also admit I'm a bit of a sucker for interesting ingredient combinations, just to see if they'll work.

We checked off a bunch of rolls on the sushi menu, thinking they would arrive arranged on wooden trays all at once, but they slowly came out one by one, as they were prepared. The first to arrive was two orders of Chuka Maki, rolls filled with cucumber, daikon radish, and dried squash and topped with seaweed salad. I'd never had maki like this before, and was pleased by how flavorful the vegetarian rolls were.

MS and KC split an order of the Heavenly Roll, which was filled with spicy kampachi and cucumber and topped with escolar fish, wasabi tobiko and surrounded by a jalapeno spinach sauce. I don't remember if I tasted this one or not, but you can get a sense of Mt. Fuji's presentation style here.

Spicy yellowtail maki, spicy salmon maki, and shrimp tempura maki. I didn't try the shrimp tempura maki, but the yellowtail and salmon rolls were decent and serviceable, nothing outstanding.

I also got the Tiger Eye roll: assorted fish, tempura battered. Yes, there's a glaring inclusion of krab as one of the "assorted fish," as well as avocado (and I do like California rolls, just wanted a bit more from a "special roll"), but there's also salmon and masago. The deep-frying had cooked the salmon just until it was tender. The hot rice and fish combined with a crisp outside was an interesting experience, and while I think I like my rolls un-fried in the end, it was probably one of the better renditions of tempura sushi that I could have encountered.

Mt. Fuji surpassed my expectations, though I didn't expect anything, really, beyond not having a terrible meal. I'm glad I went so soon after going to Suehiro, because the place restored my faith in getting decent sushi in this town. I hear good things about Nimo's, too, which I'll have to check out.