EVERYONE! Not to be overdramatic, but the future is now: Impact Food’s plant-based raw sushi-grade bluefin tuna is being served for the first time in restaurants, right here in the Bay Area! I’ve been wanting to try this innovative protein since its soft launch debut last month, and I figured, what better time than #earthday? I’m Japanese-American and grew up with many fish-centric food traditions. Although I never did the whole pescatarian thing, it did take me an embarrassingly long time to #leavethefishinthesea, and as a result I’m still fairly selective when it comes to vegan seafood. The house-shoyu-marinated Impact Tuna was about 85% convincing to me — thanks to “proprietary texturization technology,” the texture was a little gummy but basically right, reminiscent of more complex konnyaku. According to their website, the fish is made with 9 ingredients, of which they disclose 3: pea protein, algae, and beet juice. The cubes had the mild iron flavor and deep red color that I associate with maguro, but lacked a bit of fat, as well as the smell and striated appearance that would have pushed the score higher. Not that I’m complaining — too much realism can also be off-putting. The rest of the bowl was also very thoughtfully assembled. From the menu: “served over haiga rice & mixed greens, hijiki, wakame salad, cucumber, corn, carrot, red cabbage, edamame, crispy onion, furikake and cilantro, with Wasabi Soy dressing.” The ordering kiosk lets you strike any of the ingredients; I kept all but one (#betterwithoutcoriander!) It also sadly informed me that the spicy version that I had initially planned to order was vegetarian, not vegan — perhaps due to the spicy mayo. It would be amazing if they could make it vegan too! This bowl was definitely a lunchtime splurge at $15.95 ($17.41 after tax.) I hope that Impact Tuna will eventually achieve price parity; it’s currently $1.70 more than the comparable fish poke at this fast casual eatery. The restaurant itself was clean, bright, and had a lot of available seating at the time of my visit yesterday (granted, I was eating a pretty late lunch.) I wasn’t sold initially on the packaging of all orders in takeaway containers, but I later came to appreciate it as it dawned on me that the bowl was much too generously portioned to finish in one sitting. One change that could limit the waste just a bit, though, would be to offer the paper bowls sans plastic lid for dine-in, with the option to grab one later for leftovers. I realize this review has become a rambling mess! — but I had so many thoughts to share. Thank you for bearing with me and happy Earth Day!
