Our latest sushi endeavor took us to Kumo in Plainview. The restaurant is in a large shopping center. A little dark inside, the restaurant is intimate, cozy and busy. There is one private room with a few tables and a sushi bar in the back. Japanese styled wooden and paper screens add a decorate touch and divide tables to optimize the space. Also decorative are the exposed wooden walls and the brick behind the sushi bar. The place comes across as a good mix between modern and traditional. We are greeted by the manager Louis and placed at a table where Sofia and Sammy take very good care of us.

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  Mango Martini The Mango Martini is very refreshing. It is lighter and sweeter than the Apple. Very tasty.
  
  Apple Martini We start by having two specialty cocktails. The restaurant has a small alcoholic bar in the front. We start with an Apple Martini and a Mango Martini. The Apple Martini is light and tart, with a hint of sweetness. It is a strong drink.

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  Edamame We are brought some edamame to munch on while we enjoy our beverages and wait for our meal to start. The edamame is perfectly cooked and well seasoned with salt.

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  Soft Shell Crabs Our first dish of the evening arrives and it one of the hot specials they have. The dish is Soft Shell Crabs. It is currently the perfect season for crabs, April through September is the best time to harvest them, and many places are offering dishes with them. The crabs are deep fried and served with a delicious garlic sauce. When it comes to soft shell crabs, you eat the whole thing and these crabs are tender inside and crispy on the outside. The dish is a little heavy, could have used less oil, but has a great flavor.

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  Keith Special The next dish is another special they are offering that evening the Keith Special. This dish is a dumpling stuffed with spicy tuna and then deep fried. While a little different everywhere, spicy tuna is typically diced raw tuna mixed with chili oil or sriracha sauce. Some places will add Japanese mayo for creamy texture and scallions for taste. Each tuna filled dumpling sits on a dollop of homemade guacamole. The entire plate is garnished with cilantro and spicy mayo. We happily crack into one and the tuna is spicy and well seasoned. The guacamole is amazing. Their chefs can make this for my next BBQ or Super Bowl party anytime! It is rich and creamy. The mix between the crunchy dumpling and soft avocado is a treat in the mouth. Very enjoyable.

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  Close up.

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  Molly Special The Molly Special is next and if you couldn't tell by the name its dish you won't find on their regular menu. The dish is diced toro with mangos and wasabi sauce, stuffed into individual baked chip filled with guacamole. The mix is then garnished with jalapenos. The chips look almost identical to Tostitos Baked Tortilla Scoops. At first bite we are blown away. The toro is tender, the mangos are bursting with juice and the jalapenos add a subtle heat. The dish is a great fusion of Tropical, Japanese and Mexican flavors. We easily finish this one and if you're lucky it will be available when you go in.

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  Toro Carpacio More specials and more toro arrive next. We are treated to Toro Carpacio. Toro is an exquisite cut of fish from the Blue Fin Tuna. It comes from their belly, which is the fattest part. This leads the fish to be oily and it nearly melts in the mouth. However, this is the first time we have had toro cooked and the heat does change the character a little. The toro is seared, topped with jalapeno and served with a wasabi yuzu sauce. It is garnished with pesto, spinach and tomatoes. When cooked, the toro loses some of its fat, but still retains that light and luscious flavor. The sauce is equally light -- a blend of spicy, tart and sweet. If you enjoy toro, you'll like this dish very much.

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  Mitch Next we have the Mitch Special. This one you will find on the menu. It is a mix of spicy kani, shrimp and avocado inside. It is then wrapped with seared tuna and topped with an onion dressing. The seared tuna is very large and stayed perfectly in place wrapped around the other fishes. The salad mixture inside is spicy and delicious. The tuna has a strong pepper taste and the onion dressing has a great flavor. It is easy to see why this special found a permanent place on their menu.

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  2011 Roll Our first sushi roll arrives and it is a new addition. The 2011 roll is tuna, salmon, yellowtail and asparagus inside. It is covered with tuna, yellowtail and tobiko and drizzled with eel sauce and spicy mayo. The presentation is beautiful and the roll arrives on a bamboo rolling mat. These mats are used by the chefs to help them create perfectly shaped round sushi rolls. The roll is lighter than we thought it would be. It is soft and crunchy. The asparagus and sauce really shine through and there is a slight smoky taste. Asparagus adds a great crunch, lots of vitamins and practically no calories. We are surprised at how much we liked this one.

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  Close up.

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  Lychee-Tini We try two more cocktails at this point. As per Sammy's recommendation we order the Lychee-tini and the Sake-tini. The Lychee-tini is very flavorful. It has a nice balance to it and tastes nutty and sweet. It is a great drink and the best Lychee-tini I have ever had.

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  Sake-tini The Sake-tini has more of a pure, strong taste to it. The sake in it is light and on the dry side. A good choice if you enjoy sake.

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  Lobster Ceviche Next we try an appetizer of Lobster Ceviche. It is chunks of lobster, mangos, celery, onions, tomatoes and jalapenos all served in a large glass and covered with a light mango sauce. The pieces of lobster are large and moist. The ceviche components are tasty but you can really taste the mango and jalapeno. They bring a little spicy mayo and it enhances the flavor even more.

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  Pizza Sandwich The Pizza Sandwich is next. We have seen this dish creeping its way onto sushi menus lately and were eager to try it. It has spicy tuna, avocado, tomago, masago, shredded kani and lobster salad inside two pieces of rice covered nori served together as a sandwich wedge. The wedges each get covered with sweet eel sauce. Tomago is the Japanese term for a sweet egg omelet. Though the pizza is jam packed with goodies, it is unexpectedly light. With each bite you get a great mix of flavors however the avocado taste is a little strong.

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  Another angle.

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  King Mountain We switch back to sushi and try the King Mountain. This is another roll that hasn't found its way onto the menu quite yet. The roll has king crab and asparagus inside. It is then fried and topped with spicy tuna. Though personally we tend to shy away fried food, this roll is quite tasty. It is slightly heavy but has a great softness and crunch at the same time. The spicy tuna on top is very yummy and has small pieces of apple mixed in giving it a different and enjoyable twist.

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  Super White Next is the Super White. This roll is spicy white tuna and tempura crunch inside with seared white tuna on top. The white tuna is fresh and has a light, pure taste. This roll is simple and delicious.

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  Rock N Roll The Rock n Roll mixes some of our favorite fishes together. It is black pepper tuna and avocado inside. It is topped with pieces of toro and scallions. The toro, yet again is amazing. The black pepper tuna has a great flavor to it. Little known fact, black pepper comes from a flowering vine. The black pepper you season your food with is harvested fruit, peppercorn, picked from the vine and dried. This roll is soft and bursting with flavor. It is a must order.

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  Crazy Tuna We continue on our tuna kick and try the Crazy Tuna. It is spicy tuna and tempura crunch inside and black pepper tuna on top. The nice has a nice spice to it. If in the mood for spicy tuna, this is a great selection.

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  Spicy Lobster Roll We are almost at full capacity but find a little room for the Spicy Lobster roll. This roll has a mix of some of our favorite ingredients. It was eel, cucumber and mango inside. It was topped with lobster salad, tempura flakes and eel sauce. The roll is on the sweet side, between the eel and the mango. The lobster salad is light and creamy. The roll is quite good, but lacks a little flavor.

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  Mochi Ice Cream As dessert we try some Mochi ice cream. Kumo also offers watermelon slices to their guests, a nice light treat, when they bring the bill and that arrives with the mochi ice cream. Mochi ice cream is ice cream wrapped in sweet Japanese rice cakes. We try the strawberry and the sesame. The strawberry is light and fruit. The sesame is light, with a slight nutty spice to it. It is different and we enjoy that one slight more.