If you’re a seafood lover, you’ve likely seen and ordered blackened tuna sashimi before. Because it perfectly balances a delicate umami flavor and crisp freshness, blackened tuna sashimi has become one of the most popular seafood appetizers in the United States. What if we told you that it was first prepared and served at Skipjack’s?!
Here’s how the story begins. Skipjack’s has always been committed to serving fresh fish. In order to do this, we became some of the first to fly in fresh fish (whole fish, sometimes weighing over 230 lbs) from all over the US and the world to serve at our restaurant. Whereas most restaurants at that time only had local fish on their menu, seafood from Hawaii, New Zealand, Florida & Louisiana were staples on the Skipjack’s menu.
Because of this innovative approach, In 1987 Seafood Leader Magazine voted Skipjack’s as the Best Fresh Seafood Restaurant in the country.
So the pressure was on to continue creating new and exciting dishes. As cajun seafood became more and more popular, we added Blackened Redfish (flown straight from Louisiana) to our menu. But we wanted even more inspiration.
So in the spring of 1988, Jeff Senior visited California with our chef to eat, drink and develop ideas for the brand new Skipjack’s menu, which was opening soon in Boston. While there, Jeff decided to visit some of the servers who’d helped open Skipjack’s in Brookline and were now working at a restuarant in Santa Monica.
The restaurant was lovely, but what stood out the most was this amazing tuna steak that had been prepared with blackening spices.
When we returned to Boston, we were determined to put together our own version of the tuna steak. But for some reason it wasn’t well-received. After a ton of experimenting, we finally decided to cut the tuna into smaller log-shaped pieces and prepare it in the same style as the cajun-style blackened redfish. The final result became the first ever blackened tuna sashimi.
So come try it yourself, from the originators and pioneers right here in Boston!