Small Bites

The other day, the food crew and I headed to Flirt in Irvington to plot out some holiday story ideas. I think you’ll like what we have planned (including a guide to all the different kinds of turkeys on the shelves for Thanksgiving), but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a look at what we shared for dinner.

We started by sharing two appetizers: the salmon skin salad and what Flirt calls “Bed for Two.”

The salmon skin salad, “Show Me Some Skin” ($7.75):

If you’re a fan of salmon skin rolls, you’ll love this dish. I’ve never liked them much, but I was still happy.

The “Bed for Two” ($16) was more my style:

It was tuna, salmon, avocado and rice, piled in a little cake and topped with tobiko. It was like eating a rainbow roll, but with a different format. Creative and fun, and tasty, too.

Then we ordered three special rolls. From left to right, Double T’s ($24), tuna and cucumber with spicy tuna on top; Latin Lover ($19) fatty tuna, yellowtail avocado and mango; and the Flirt roll ($19) eel, tuna, salmon, avocado and pineapple:

The Double T’s was my favorite. I know people say you shouldn’t eat spicy tuna because it’s the “leftover” from slicing tuna, but just because it’s made from scraps doesn’t mean the fish is old: it just means the pieces were too small for slicing for sushi. I’m a big fan.

The Latin Lover and the Flirt were both good, but too similar. Choose one or the other for your meal. We got all our sushi with brown rice, which I don’t usually do, but I found it added a nice nutty flavor to the rolls.

Closeup on the Flirt:

Close up on the Latin:

We thought we should try some of the regular rolls, too. We got “Trust Me” ($9), the only roll on the menu where the seaweed is on the outside:

and Hot Mexican ($9) tuna, yellowtail,
avocado and jalapeÃıo.

Frankly, both of these were tasteless. And I really didn’t like the raw jalapeÃıo in the Mexican roll. I thought for some reason, either it would be sliced thinner or it would be sauteed or pickled. The texture was just off-putting. I wished we’d ordered something else off the specials menu.

I liked Flirt, and I’d go back. The atmosphere is great: wood floors in an old warehouse with views of the Hudson. But I’d stick with the apps and the “Funky Flirt Rolls.” Next time, though, I’d like to sit at the sushi bar and and ask the sushi chefs what they’d recommend. Of course, then, I wouldn’t get much holiday story planning done.

Photo Caption: 2006-sept-13flirt-08.jpg