Sushi Saint marches onto the scene with sumptuous simplicity, serious quality | Review
The snow crab roll at Sushi Saint is a labor of love.
Every delicate and deliciously rich ounce of meat in this high-style temaki is removed from the shell by hand and picked through meticulously. Twenty pounds of it a day.
“The quality is so much better doing it this way that there wasn’t an option to say we can’t,” chef/owner Michael Collantes tells me. “This is the standard. And we’re making this drawn butter, brown butter with all those beautiful, nutty notes, that gets folded into the crab. We’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s just butter and shellfish and citrus, done well. There’s no secret to this.”
Then, I asked about the nori, which was quite exquisite. Crispy-chewy-toasty with gorgeous notes of salty sea and floral tea, it is the dark, shiny vessel for just about everything on the menu at Collantes’ new venture, where hand rolls are the focus. It is sourced from a small, highly specialized Japanese purveyor.
“What’s the name of the company?” I query.
“Uh, yeah … no,” he says.
So, there are secrets. But in an operation this simple, where quality and attention to detail is the sauce, some of it is bound to be.
Sushi Saint is Collantes’ first expansion since dialing things back post-Michelin. (Pause while I pour a little sake out for Taglish, which closed the last of its operations at the end of 2022.)
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And while Soseki Modern Omakase (at present, a $245 per person multicourse experience), with its eat-it-how-you-want-to utensil drawer and chill custom playlists, is about as laid back an upscale experience as it can be, this new venture, with rolls from $6 to $25, goes from basic to baller.
You can do this two ways: with preset handroll menus or via a la carte selections, but whatever you choose, plan your first visit to this gorgeous space with a reservation at the bar. It’s where we met chef Max Wang, whose favorite offering is that aforementioned snow crab roll and who, like the myriad food and beverage staffers on hand that evening, drove home the hospitality part of the experience.
In fact, I’d estimate that at least two-thirds of the team touched us in some way during the meal.
“Whatever you need, I’m here for you,” at least two of them said.
And they were, almost telepathically, materializing with info about the sake selection or shishito peppers when needed, leaving us to sample after each hand-off. The lounge is gorgeous, a beautiful space designed by Collantes’ wife, Jahaziel, and sister, Melissa Le, with intimate, two-top arrangements I’d love to hit up for a future date night, “but it is a different experience when you have the sushi made for you by the chef, one by one,” says Collantes. “It’s the best way.”
I’d agree, as Wang walked us through the elegantly simple, if sumptuous, rolls of the Holy Grail 7-set ($80), the second of which featured cucumber, umeboshi and shiso. It’s a stunner you can grab for $6 a la carte.
“That is the secret killer!” Collantes tells me. “People come in and say, ‘It’s just cucumber?!’ but we take a lot of time in how we prepare it. The cucumbers. That beautiful shiso. The salted plum. These are flavor profiles you’d typically find in a traditional Japanese restaurant.”
The rolls themselves, however, are not. Cones, not cylinders, are designed for an easier hold and an aesthetically pleasing delivery.
“It showcases all those beautiful ingredients. You can really see what you’re getting.”
And what you’re getting is quality: Spanish bluefin tuna, as buttery as it gets. Japanese uni, briny and bright. Ikura is unlike any you’ve likely had, courtesy of executive chef Lwin Siss’ marinade expertise, which renders the lovely, boba-like salmon eggs into something truly transformative, washed in delicate soy and citrusy yuzu flavors. It’s the sort of thing that can bring about conversion. Think you don’t like ikura? It might make you think again.
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“There are a lot of techniques that go into the process,” says Collantes. “The moment I tasted it, I knew it was a star.”
Though the Saint ain’t cheap, price points have come down in its first couple of months. That Holy Grail preset was about $10 higher at the outset. They’ve just gone to seven days and added lunch. Collantes says it’s been a process, noting that the downtown/Creative Village neighborhood is a new animal with no real rhythm yet. Some Fridays are quiet, others see the place full to bursting. In an area notoriously challenging for parking, Sushi Saint’s adjacent lot (there is a fee) is a coup.
I showed up early on a weeknight and got a free spot, just steps from the door.
That’s also when temaki sets go for 15% off between 3-5 p.m. Talk about a happy hour. It’s a great excuse to add The Trinity ($25) as an a la carte, a harmonic handheld that caught my eye even as we polished off the A5 wagyu that brings the Holy Grail to its climactic close.
The Trinity is a decadent denouement you don’t want to miss.
Herein, fatty tuna and earthy urchin embrace the salinity and texture of Osetra caviar in a very merry ménage à trois.
Fresh-grated wasabi, house-made soy sauce and the rice, assertively acidic and punchy, slice through all that richness with Fruit Ninja-style finesse.
“You’re going to dream about it,” Wang told me. And here I am, days later, dreaming it up in words.
Not that I want to spoil anything, but The Trinity is poised as the likely Miss January for my year-end “Best Bites” look back.
I don’t mind telling you now, though. I have no secrets.
If you go
Sushi Saint: 400 Pittman St. in Orlando, 407-412-6000; sushisaint.com
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
