Master Joe's

These days sushi seems to comes with more bells and whistles than some cars.  I was craving something simpler; something that let the true taste of the ingredients be the center of attention and not the sauces or the fancy decorations.  That's when I found a great lunch special at Master Joe's in Fairhope.  For about $11, you could get three basic rolls and a choice of soup or salad. 

Miso Soup

I had the miso soup and I have to admit it was good.  It's nothing different than what you would find at other sushi restaurants just better.  There was a good amount of tofu along with seaweed but I really enjoyed the broth.  It tasted like fresh chicken broth instead of the canned stuff. Side note: I always wondered about the purpose of the single, thin slice of mushroom floating around in the soup though.  It's not as if it's mushroom soup so why bother.

There were about ten rolls you could choose from for the lunch special.  There's the California Roll, eel and avocado, a Boston roll to a salmon skin roll.  All of these are very basic rolls consisting of no more than 3 ingredients These rolls definitely let the ingredients standout.  However, if you like a particular sauce, the sushi chefs are happy to oblige.

Spicy Tuna, Philly Roll, Spicy Salmon

I ordered the Spicy Tuna, Philly Roll and Spicy Salmon rolls.  I thought the spicy tuna and salmon were great but both could have been a little more spicy. There was a little too much cream cheese in the Philly Roll.  You can see the amount of fish and cheese is basically equal.  The richness of the cheese overwhelmed the smoked salmon taste.  The quality of the fish is absolutely amazing.  You can always tell when restaurants don't use the best fish available, not MJ.  The coloring, smell and taste of the fish were all great.  The rice is just as important as the freshness of the fish in sushi and I thought Master Joe's was great.  It was very nicely seasoned.

Master Joe's does have a wide range of chef special rolls that are much more complicated.  Those rolls consist of more therefore cost more.  Each run about $12-14. I don;t know about you guys, but one roll is never enough to fill me up so that could get pricey.  There's also a number of appetizers, salads and tappanaki style entrees for under $12.  

I was very impressed with the decor at Master Joe's. Typically, sushi restaurants likes to lean towards Asian theme decor.  Not MJ, it's a very sleek restaurant.  There's a long wooden bar that spans the entire restaurant. Booths with tables and chairs line the other wall.  It has a very big city feel to it.  My waiter was nice and courteous.  Everything was timely and nicely spaced out.  I would definitely come back to Master Joe's.