Bluff City Vegan Eats: Bluefin

Downtown sushi lounge Bluefin has been around for years, but over the past year, they've undergone an ownership change and, thus, a menu change. I've blogged about Bluefin many times, and they've always been pretty vegan-friendly, even boasting menu items labeled vegan when under the old ownership.

The word "vegan" is no longer on the menu, but the options are still plenty! Bluefin is now run by Mr. Woo, and he's added some Korean fare to this mostly Japanese menu. My friend Susan (managing editor/food editor) of the Memphis Flyer was invited to sample a few dishes for a piece she was working on, and she invited me to join! We stopped by on a Friday night a few weeks back.

We started with the Grilled Tofu Salad, a straightforward veggie salad with lightly grilled tofu triangles and a ginger vinaigrette. This was a nice, light start to the meal.

We also split an order of the Fried Sweet Potato Roll. This is a thinly sliced, generously stuffed sushi roll with tempura sweet potato. I LOVE tempura rolls because, well, fried. And this one was phenomenal. This was one of several inventive vegan rolls on the menu. So often, sushi options at restaurants are limited to just cucumber rolls or avocado rolls, so it's nice to see something fun! Also, that sweet soy sauce was killer.

Mr. Woo brought us out a few extra dishes that we didn't order. There was Tempura Veggies — a platter of deep-fried sweet potatoes, onions, broccoli, and tofu. The tempura tofu was a nice surprise! That doesn't typically come tempura platters that I've ordered elsewhere.

Of course, we had to try one of the new Korean dishes! We got the Vegetable Dolsot Bibimbap — white rice with spinach, bean sprouts, cabbage, gochujang, and tofu served in a piping hot stone bowl that continues to cook the rice as you eat. You're supposed to stir the rice so it doesn't get those crusty edges, but I love crusty edges so I don't stir.

All of the dishes were excellent, and we'll definitely be back! Susan wrote a post on Bluefin's new menu — including the meat dishes, if you're into that — on her Hungry Memphis blog on the Memphis Flyer website.