"Blue Fin Sushi Revisited. <br/ <br/ We 've been here a number of times. This time the results were mixed, but overall we still consider Blue Fin Sushi to be one of the best restaurants of this genre in Bellingham. We both started with the Monkey Brains appetizer. Don 't take that literally, it 's really an avocado stuffed with spicy tuna, topped with crab and lightly fried. It was delicious. My wife ordered the vegetable udon with tempura. The udon was great, but the tempura, while acceptable, was slightly oily. I had the spicy chicken bento box. The sushi, rice, salad and miso soup were all good. My tempura was also slightly oily, but still acceptable. If you 've read my previous review of Osaka Japanese restaurant, you can skip the rest of this paragraph because I am going to rant again about how these types of places prepare chicken. My spicy chicken was basically chicken teriyaki with a little heat thrown in. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were used. This is not the way the Japanese do it. If you ordered this dish in Japan, you would get dark meat (legs or thighs) with the skin on, marinated, slightly charred, and possibly lightly sauced. You can 't use skinless breasts in this dish, because it is impossible to put a char on a skinless breast without drying it up, especially when the chicken is cut into quite small pieces. Nonetheless, as far as I know, every restaurant in Bellingham does exactly that. To their credit, Blue Fin 's version is well above average for Bellingham, but the standard here is so low that you shouldn 't take that as much of a complement. I think that the ubiquitous use of skinless chicken breasts is connected to the local obsession with 'healthy ' foods. Dark meat does have slightly more calories, and of course leaving the skin on adds significantly to the calorie count. On the other hand, the Japanese don 't slather their chicken with prodigious amounts of ultra sweet sauce. It 's often served without any sauce other than that used for marinating and grilling.<br/ <br/ So, this wasn 't a stellar meal, although it did have its high points. We 'll be back, but I will continue my (probably fruitless) quest for authentic Japanese style chicken dishes elsewhere.<br/ <br/ 03 Feb, 2010 <br/ A Fine 'Japanese ' Restaurant. <br/ <br/ I 'm not aware of any Japanese restaurant in Bellingham that is truly authentic, in the sense that the menus are always abbreviated (no ingredients which would seem weird to American tastes). In fact, this is pretty much true of all Asian restaurants in Bellingham. Given that caveat, Blue Fin Sushi is a very fine place to eat. We 've had several meals there, and they were all first rate, including the sushi and sashimi. It 's a tiny little place that you wouldn 't necessarily think had much promise, but it 's possibly the best restaurant of this type in Bellingham."
