Sushi restaurant Namo in Dallas unveils omakase menu featuring a 130-pound bluefin tuna from Japan

Namo is a small, 20-seat sushi restaurant in Dallas, but it went big in introducing its new omakase menu in December.

The 600-square-foot sashimi restaurant flew in a 130-pound farmed bluefin tuna from Ehime Prefecture in Japan and sold $40 tickets to guests to observe executive chef Jorge Dionicio and his team breakdown the fish and serve delicacies accompanied by sakes and beers.

Namo owner Brandon Cohanim, who expanded into Japanese handrolls and sashimi with Namo in August 2018 from his Pōk The Raw Bar next door, said the “Bluefin Tuna Breakdown” event let guests at the U-shaped service area experience how their meals unfolded from fin to finish.

“We initially did a smaller scale bluefin tuna breakdown at the recent Chefs For Farmers event in November,” Cohanim said. “The breakdown had a great turnout and people were surprised with how big the tuna was. It can get as big as 600-700 pounds.

“We wanted to fly in a bluefin tuna from Japan and host a breakdown at the restaurant to educate Dallas on the fish,” he explained.

Customers enjoyed learning more about preparation of the tuna, he added.

“People loved it,” Cohanim said. “We are going to make it a regular occurrence.”

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