Swimmingly good sushi at Red Fin

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! You're made of tasty su-shi.

So I've been busy stuffing face this week.  On Wednesday night I grabbed a couple of girlfriends and we braved the stupendously chilly night and headed to Red Fin on Main, a new sushi place in downtown Greenville that has been all the buzz in Facebook land.  My friend Ruta Fox (president of Divine Diamonds and a fellow freelance writer in town who is a bright shining force of a woman) has been raving about it for a while and begged me to give it a try.  So, being that she said go there, and my BFF's brother works there, too, I gathered the troops and we gave it a try.

 The atmosphere in Red Fin is uber laid back.  I've been in the place several times in it's incarnations as other restaurants,  but this was my first time for sushi.  Blue lights mark the door (no sign yet) and there's a tree in the middle of the room on the main level and a plush couch that just screams sit on me and order a martini.  After walking downstairs and settling into the lit bar for a pre-dinner drink or two, we headed upstairs to the sushi bar, which serves up fresh made to order sushi until midnight most nights.  The place is great for grabbing a few drinks and rolls after a show downtown, or for hanging out with friends.  You won't find the rowdy drunk crowd here that frequents other popular downtown bars.

I apologize for the picture quality in this post.   The dim lighting and my iPhone camera were not cooperating, but I wanted to share the pick of our salt block. One of the sections of the Red Fin menu is Stone Cooking.  You pick from five items: salmon, tuna, scallops, steak and shrimp, and they bring the sushi grade meat along with a hot Himalayan Salt Block to your table.  You put a little butter on the block, let it sizzle, and then throw on the meat and accompanying veggies and sear to your liking.  They also brought us three dipping sauces including mustard sauce, peanut sauce and an herb aioli (this was my favorite).    The salt block gave the meat the most amazing amplified savory flavor.  The scallops melted in my mouth and the tuna was salty, buttery heaven. 

We ordered the daily specials to split among us and a few rolls including the Red Fin roll (Spicy tuna, avocado, kani, jalapeno, topped with peppered tuna) which I highly recommend. Don't let the jalapeno deter you.  It was a little kicky but not super hot.

There's a host of sushi places downtown now, but this one definitely has incredibly fresh fish, creative creations thanks to a fantastic sushi chef and super service, so go check them out and tell them I sent ya.