Although I have been eating sushi my entire life (yes, my mother actually did not think it was a bad idea to feed raw fish to toddlers - explains a lot now, doesn't it?), I am only now learning the details about this Japanese uber-cuisine. We've gone through the Dos and Don'ts at the bar, and even a little bit of piscine vocabulary, but still, tuna really confuses me. Oh yes, I know tthe difference between plain old maguro and bourgie toro, but there's even more. I know. I can hardly stand the excitement myself.

Ahi is a word that is often heard in conjunction with "tuna." Ahi tuna is a type of tuna also known as "big-eye" or "yellow-fin," not to be confused with yellowtail, which isn't even a tuna, so kick back, jack! When you see bright red tuna in the case, you can call it maguro, which is the general Japanese term for tuna, and most likely that maguro is ahi tuna.

A lot of restaurants will serve seared ahi. Sometimes it's also called just plain seared tuna, and sometimes, tuna tataki. It sounds fancy, and with a little negi (green onion) garnish, might be worth that extra dollar in price, but the fish is the same. The sushi chef sears the outside of the fish, either on a grill, or right there at the bar with a blowtorch. The sear cooks the outside flesh to a light ivory color.

The best seared ahi sushi I've had is at Sushi Karen in Culver City, Ca. The restaurant is just a little hole in the wall, and doesn't have acclaimed Matsuhisa-trained sushi chefs (at least that I know of) like Mori or Nozawa, but the seared ahi was incredible. Instead of a simple sear, the fish was first dusted with salt and cracked pepper, then set to torch. The cracked pepper gave the fish almost the taste of a very fine, very rare steak.