14 March 6-12, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents sashimi and nigiri, with a lineup that varies with the season. On a handful of occasions a year, Namo will bring in a nearly whole Pacific bluefin tuna to break it down in the center of the su- shi ring. Mabuchi says the event requires some changes in logistics. “We have to rent a truck from U-Haul,” Mabuchi says. “The fish is wrapped in a sil- ver [thermal] bag, and they pack it in ice in- side of a large styrofoam box.” Before a whole tuna arrives, Mabuchi places a request with his seafood buyer for what he’s seeking. While some Pacific blue- fins can be 200 pounds or more, Mabuchi is somewhat limited by the space in the res- taurant. “I usually tell my buyer what size I’m looking for and from what region,” Mabuchi says. “Then they go to the tuna auction on a Monday morning and bid on the fish.” For Namo’s tuna breakdown dinners, Mabuchi looks for a tuna around 70 kilograms, or 150 pounds. Mabuchi sees this size as a point where the tuna yields great amounts of quality o-toro (fatty tuna belly), chu-toro (medium fatty) and akami (lean), but is still manageable to break down. How- ever, the nature of the auction for- mat means that Mabuchi doesn’t know the exact size (or cost) of the tuna until it arrives. The tuna that Namo receives was likely caught over the weekend off the coast of Japan, sold at auction on Monday, then packed and shipped for its 13-hour flight to Dallas, a journey of over 6,400 miles. Add in the 10,000 miles the bluefin swam in its round trip from the Sea of Japan to North America, and the years of travel in between (like most fish, blue- fin never stop swimming in order to keep oxygenated water mov- ing across their gills), and it’s safe to assume that a Pacific bluefin might have traveled 100,000 miles or more on its way to your plate. Knives Out Mabuchi arrived around 2 p.m. on a Tuesday in late February to pick up his 130-pound bluefin tuna at a cargo building at DFW Airport for a breakdown later that day. He tries to get there as soon as he gets a notification that shipments arrive. Mabuchi often Facetimes his contact at the Toyosu Market in Japan for many of his items, but the bluefin tuna auctions are more secretive; no phones or photos. At the airport cargo facility, the tuna and other seafood for Namo are loaded by fork- lift into the back of the van. The other boxes go in first, but the bluefin requires a little more maneuvering; the chef is able to make it fit with a little help from the forklift. Back at the restaurant, several employees come out to unload the smaller boxes, but then the chef has to drive to the front of the restaurant, avoiding a narrow hallway and stairs, to get the tuna inside. Just before 6 p.m. that same day, the tor- pedo-shaped fish — an array of metallic blues, resplendent and strong — is on full display in the dining room. Phones are out and knives are sharp. Its head is large and black with a protruding lower jaw gaping open. Diners spent $400 per person for this feast, which benefited the Children’s Cancer Fund. Within 20 minutes, platters of fresh tuna are passing around the room. Quite Cheeky It’s still hard to imagine small delicate slices of sashimi coming from such a large fish un- til you see a whole bluefin in person. While Namo only does tuna breakdowns a handful of times each year, in Southlake, Nikko hosts a weekly tuna breakdown that’s become popular. While a reservation at this Japanese restaurant in Southlake’s Town Square is relatively easy to obtain on most days of the week, reservations for the Thurs- day tuna cutting are booked out for weeks. At Nikko, the weekly supply of whole tuna is sourced from the Caribbean instead of Japan. Western Atlantic bluefin make similar migrations as their Pacific relatives, journeying from spawning waters in the Gulf of Mexico through the Caribbean and into the Atlantic Ocean, ranging as far north as Newfoundland. Atlantic bluefin are among the largest tuna species and can grow to 13 feet and 2,000 pounds. On the Thursday we visited Nikko, the tuna was decidedly smaller. Nikko’s restau- rant space comprises a main dining room that borders an L-shaped sushi bar, and Nik- ko’s staff rolled out a nearly 6-foot-long tuna onto a table in the middle of the dining room. Head sushi chef Dave Ip told us that this evening’s tuna weighed in at 168 pounds. Whole tuna will generally have their organs and gills removed prior to ship- ping, but Nikko’s example was otherwise in- tact, save for the tail. Shortly after 7 p.m., the restaurant was packed, and two chefs began breaking down the tuna as patrons watched. Using a combi- nation of long knives and a saw, they first re- moved the head from the body of the fish and brought it to Ip’s station at the sushi bar. Prized cuts like noten (head), hoho-niku (cheek) and kama toro (back cheek) are sourced from the head and neck and Christopher Durbin The tuna’s cold case is loaded into the U-haul. Christopher Durbin Chef Mabuchi prepares to cut the whole fish. Christopher Durbin Chef Mabuchi makes an exact quarter cut down the tuna. Christopher Durbin The sectioned tuna has different parts for sushi, like lean “akami” and fatty “toro.” City of Ate from p13 >> p16 Christopher Durbin The bluefin tuna arrives at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on a cargo plane.
