hi
There's a Carnaval goin' down at the sushi bar
by: Gail Shepherd

A couple of newlyweds are necking at the bar. He's a dead ringer for Mick Jagger at twenty; she's long, dark and lithe-the human version of mink. He's wearing a suit Mick would have loved: flared trousers, double-breasted jacket, a spray of white ruffles at the breast. Her white wedding corset is so miniscule she can't raise her arms without popping out of it. Photographers flash and click; space-age bachelor pad music wafts from hidden speakers. On a big screen behind it all, Godzilla is decimating yet another Technicolored Japanese dream city.
Eisenhower-on-acid décor, Japanese river crabs, fashion shoots, sugarcane cocktails, hopped-up Bossa Nova, vintage mega-monster flicks - where else could we be but Sobe, where every new club or restaurant has to meet and surpass the outrages of its competition? Specifically, we're dining at Sushi Samba Dromo, a restaurant that's exactly what it sounds like, and then some. The food here is Peruvian-Japanese fusion, and four-starish - from the yellowtail sashimi seviche to the big chunks of Toro served raw and unadorned the way god in heaven intended; the crispy fried oysters, the dreamy beef tenderloin tataki salad, the miso soup thick with tiny clams and tasting of ocean, the tuna cana de acúcar - words to roll off the tongue, flavors to put you back in your body, or take you out of it. Unless you've already been to Sushi Samba, you can bet you've never done this before. You're a virgin.

closermagazine How to describe these space-age curves, these limeade and mellow-melon and chartreuse accoutrements? Who'd argue with a mosaic tile floor as brilliant and stylish as anything at the Copa? What to say about the ceiling, comprised of a gaggle of (pick one) 1) mini flying saucers 2) out-of-control mushrooms 3) upsidedown A-bomb explosions? Sushi Samba has managed to reinvent the fifties, leaving in the salsa and teeny bikinis and erasing from memory the suburbs, the gray-flannel suits. This is fifties cool and fifties hot, and the food goes down just like that-invented to slide down the throat like a just-shucked oyster.

They sat us in front, at one of the microtables banked against the snaking couch. We were close enough to rub elbows with our neighbors, but the seat's designed to make you feel like you're alone with your Sig-Oth. Waitrons wafted around in wrinkled whites, the "I just rolled out of bed" look looked fine on them. Everybody was pretty in the puce lighting.

I'll tell you, you can't beat this city with a stick, it just keeps getting better. 93 minutes to get to South Beach from Lake Worth, hitting the causeway at the exact moment water, harbor, sky, windows of all Beemers and Audis and Land Rovers turn that serious shade of pink you'll never see anywhere outside Miami. And Lincoln Road's like Epcot on steroids - where in the world are you? Cuba? Peru? Japan? Paris? Morocco? It's not faked culture you get here-forget the simulacrum. HybridReality is the new Truth.

Anyway, we drank our Pisco sours (lime juice, pisco brandy, egg whites). We had an amazing sake called Meibo, served chilled. Followed those with crispy seared oysters in their shells and the aforementioned yellowtail seviche infused with ginger, garlic and soy. So many seviches, so little time! Tuna with lemon and fuji apple vinaigrette. Fluke with lime juice and chile amarillo. Or be brave and try the Sawagani, tiny river crabs flown in live from Japan then flash fried-you pop them down, shell and all, like fat spiders. And beware the Toro, you can't stop ordering it - at $8 a pop, that shit can add up.
There's no stew anywhere as ravishing as the Moqueca Mista, whitefish, shrimp, octopus and pitu in coconut milk and dendê oil, served with chimichurri rice. I'm not even going to try to describe it. My darling's spiny lobster, served in its shell, was appropriately tender, flagrant, and sensationally seasoned.

A dessert of Pudim de Arroz com Doce de Leite, caramel rice pudding served in green tea leaf cups, topped with fresh mango and currants was light and bite-sized, just the thing. And more sake - Hanahoto this time.

Tab will run you a bit over a C-note for two, if you're drinkers. You can get in and out ordering just the sushi and sashimi appetizers for a reasonable sum; most of it's under $15. Entrees are in the $23-39 range. Service was rushed, overbearing, and obnoxious on our first trip -maybe he was having a bad night. It was charming, delightful, and leisurely on our second, including her pierced navel, which we were totally into. Somebody take me back soon.

Sushi Samba Dromo
600 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL 33139
305.673.5337
Mon. - Sat.: 11:45 a.m. - 2 a.m.
Sun.: 1 p.m. - 12 a.m.
Brunch: Sat. & Sun.: 11:45 a.m. - 4 p.m.