Yum Yum Sae What?

If the US lacks culture, it makes up for it with the most diverse set of self-proclaimed new age 'fusion' restaurants, fusing all sorts of different types of dishes. Some restaurants end up losing any type of identity, whereas others veer very little away from their original culinary roots. Zutto, which calls itself a Japanese American Pub was more asian than American (C suspects the American pub aspect just comes from the fact that it's located in Tribeca) but was an interesting experience nonetheless. We began with the  Kobe beef steamed buns (steamed buns, by the way, are all the rage in these types of fusion restaurants thanks to Momofuku which if credited with anything, should be credited with elevating steamed buns through its signature pork belly buns):

The bun was quite substantial and had strips of seaweed salad (which I appreciated), a bit of red onion and spicy mayo. I kind of wished there was more spicy mayo or something because the beef was a bit dry and sort of reminded me of the beef in a mcdonald's cheeseburger (sorry Zutto-chef, you must be aghast if you read this). Next up was my favorite dish of the night: the most randomly named maki roll called the Yum Yum Sae Woo which was stuffed with tempura shrimp, crab, and spicy sauce in a lettuce wrap instead of the typical rice and seaweed. I was a bit unsure of this choice as it sounded pseudo-thai, but it ended up being a winner, with the lettuce pieces chosen carefully so that the skin was dry and tough enough to hold the chunky pieces of shrimp and crab inside. I liked the smear of spicy red bean sauce on the side which added a kick to the lighter roll. Yum yum indeed! J, bonus points to you if you can figure out where the name of this dish came from.

Last up was the seafood ramen which had healthy chunks of shrimp and clams. My favorite was the juicy clams inside. The broth was a bit on the salty side, but otherwise pretty tasty. I can't figure out whether I'm just not a big ramen fan because I haven't really been blown away by any ramen I've had so far. Overall, more Japanese than American, but appreciated the twist, thought the ambience was really nice and would like to try more yum yum yummy rolls again.