100 Favorite Dishes: Uni at Origami

As a countdown to the Best of the Twin Cities 2010, coming this spring, Hot Dish is serving up a hundred of our favorite local dishes. Send your own nominations to hotdish@citypages.com.

The waitress at Origami sets the sushi on the table: Gene Simmons' tongue in hunter orange. Are we really going to eat that? Hai!

It's uni, otherwise known as the sea urchin's reproductive organs. Sounds gross, right? It's true that uni's mouthfeel is rather slimy, but each bite quickly melts into a softness so creamy you'd swear it was dairy. The flavor is briny, oceanic, and a little sweet--and a lot more adventurous than a salmon or tuna roll.