photographs by Max Malcolms
The sea bass is served on a bed of black Thai rice with soy beurre blanc.
Many Memphians think “sea bass” when they think “Tsunami.”
Chilean sea bass has been on the menu since the restaurant opened in Cooper-Young, says owner Ben Smith. “Twenty-two years ago, when we just opened, sea bass wasn’t on just every menu in the restaurant world,” he says. “So, I tried it and I liked it. I liked the way it cooked up. The big flake on it. I liked the way it seared. It got a nice caramelization on it. I went with that when we opened up. It was on the original, very first menu.”
The dish is “basically a roasted sea bass,” he explains. “I start it in a hot skillet and finish it in the oven. It’s served on a bed of black Thai rice with soy beurre blanc. So, it’s just a reduction of sake and fresh ginger, and I whisk butter into it and fold in a particular soy sauce I use.”
photographs by Max Malcolms
Tsunami owner/chef Ben Smith.
“Patagonian toothfish” is the original name of the fish, Smith says. “That’s not a really marketable name, so somebody came up with the name ‘sea bass’ and it sounds way more sexy than ‘Patagonian toothfish.’”
The roots of the dish date to when Smith worked at another restaurant. “Back then,” he says, “the signature dish there was another dish I did, ‘Ginger Crusted Salmon with Soy Beurre Blanc.”
Smith used the same sauce for the sea bass when he opened Tsunami. “Butter and soy sauce go together,” he says. “The richness, creaminess of the butter, and the umami of the soy sauce just really makes a distinct powerful flavor on the pallet.”
He began using black Thai rice when he worked at a restaurant in Hawaii. He later discovered he could buy the rice in an Asian market in Memphis.
Smith tried tuna, salmon, cod, and other fish before he asked his local fish purveyor “about some other fish that might be good and amiable.”
“Somehow, it all works together really well. And it’s simple. Some of the best things are just simple preparations.” — Ben Smith
They told him about sea bass. In Tsunami’s first restaurant review, Fredric Koeppel, then food writer for The Commercial Appeal, “named it one of the best seafood dishes in town,” Smith says. “That kind of sealed the deal for that fish. Everyone who read that review wanted to try the sea bass.”
Smith describes their sea bass as “a whole amalgamation” of what they do with their food at Tsunami. They treat it simply and “let the flavors take center stage. It really works.”
As for the sea bass, he says, “There’s something there that goes on between that creamy umami of the sauce and the nutty flavor of the black Thai rice and the buttery sea bass. Somehow, it all works together really well. And it’s simple. Some of the best things are just simple preparations.”
Tsunami is at 928 S. Cooper St. (901) 274-2556
