Sushi creations and more

With the seriousness and precision of a surgeon, master chef Takashi

Abe carefully slices a Japanese snapper and pidan -- a preserved duck

egg with a mahogany-colored shell.

This is the start of the special salad-of-the-day creation at

Bluefin, a new upscale restaurant at Crystal Cove Promenade in

Newport Beach.

Abe is able to turn virtually every slice of sushi he touches into

an edible work of art. It’s a skill that has brought the 48-year-old

a string of successes in the restaurant business, including his

namesake sushi bar on the Balboa Peninsula that he recently sold.

With encouragement and advice from his culinary friends, he opened

a chic home for his sushi creations and named it after the Rolls

Royce of tunas, the Bluefin. He received input from some of the best

chefs in Orange County, including Rich Mead of Sage Restaurant,

Pascal Olhats of Pascal’s, Mark Jacobi of Sundried Tomato and Chris

Garnier at Roy’s.

The restaurant offers stunning ocean views and a sophisticated,

intimate interior. Design features include a beautiful, corrugated,

deep-ocean-blue wall fountain behind the sushi bar; a dramatic,

illuminated, Corian sushi bar that seats 15 guests; dark woods; and

contemporary Italian chairs.

At Bluefin, Abe prepares tempting Asian delicacies with his

international style of Japanese cooking, learned from master chef

Nobu Matsuhisa.

Abe’s mentor, Matsuhisa is a celebrated star of sushi cuisine. His

empire of sushi restaurants originated with Matsuhisa in Beverly

Hills (where Abe worked for four years), which spawned a second

location in Aspen, Colo. His Nobu restaurants -- co-owned with Robert

DeNiro -- span the globe with nine locations.

Matsuhisa learned to appreciate international cuisines through his

travels, and Abe shares an adventurous and peripatetic side to him

too. Abe, who hails from Yamagata, Japan, said he traveled to 48

states in just three months in a 1968 VW camper van -- before he

could even speak English.

His girlfriend served as his English translator, and he jokingly

said he worked as a private chef for the consul general in Anchorage,

just so he could see another state.

At Bluefin, expect to taste dishes influenced by many cuisines.

Abe prepares delicious combinations of Japanese foods with an

eclectic array of ingredients such as guacamole, jalapeno salsa,

basil, olive oil and foie gras.

Bluefin is mainly about sushi, but the restaurant’s hot entrees

are excellent and worth trying. Choose from the prime filet mignon

steak served with exotic mushrooms ($27), a broiled Chilean sea bass

with truffle oil ponzu ($27), and tidori chicken teriyaki, ($25).

The innovative sushi menu is highlighted by delicacies like shark

fin with sea urchin served in a flan ($18), a scallop and uni ravioli

that’s a sea urchin wrapped in a delicately sliced scallop with basil

sauce ($8.50), and steamed monkfish liver with mustard miso ($14).

Bluefin serves a special daily menu with fresh fish from all over

the world. On his three weekly trips to Los Angeles, Abe is currently

buying sea bass, pike fish and bonito from Japan, Bluefin tuna from

Boston, live shrimp and blue crab.

For a special treat, ask for omakase (dishes not found on the

menu) for $75, and you’ll taste some of Bluefin’s finest culinary

treasures.

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at

[email protected]