Page 41 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2019

pickled red onions, jalapeno and avocado was delicious.
On the night I stopped by, Meinka was quite proud of some very fresh bigeye tuna
he had procured. Although his usual yellowfin tuna was of
the highest quality, he let me sample some of the bigeye tuna and it was like eating butter the way it melted in my mouth. Also included in the fresh fish sampler was some Faroe Island salmon which was also quite good.
Fatsumo’s rolls are divided into three categories — lightweight rolls, middleweight rolls and grand champion rolls. Chef Meinka brought me a sampling of some of the grand champion rolls. The Electric
Eel Roll featured tempura eel, mango and green onions, cream cheese and avocados. First of all, I love eel sushi; it’s my favorite. If you don’t think you like sushi, try the eel and I think it may change your mind.
The roll was topped with one
of Meinka’s house-made sauces, ginger-orange marmalade. This is where his culinary training really shines by using French techniques and Asian flavors to create near-perfect sauces. “We make almost all of our sauces
in house and we blend our own vinegar,” he said. “All of our sauces are gluten free and that’s important to us.”
Next, I sampled the Jamaican Me Crazy Roll, which is tempura shrimp, cream cheese, toasted coconut with a dusting of jerk seasoning with mango, avocado and the ginger orange marmalade.
It’s a little on the sweet side, but it could make for a great “desert sushi” as a way to end a meal at Fatsumo.
“We’re not trying to do pretentious sushi — the Coast made us,” he said. “And we’re not doing LA-style sushi or New York-style sushi, we’re doing Pass Christian sushi.”
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January 2019 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 41
TOP: SMILEY Roll MIDDLE: MISO soup BOTTOM: YELLOW tail Tuna