In accordance with The Hump saga that has graced newspaper headlines from New York to LA, journalist Josh Lichtman combs the foodie boards and finds a Chowhound thread where a poster named "Brunello" writes that he tried endangered? sea turtle at The Hump years back:
"I had a truly amazing omakase there based around it (and pretty much every rare fish you could imagine.) It only shows up once the weather changes. It's also the only place I've had sea turtle sashimi (3 yrs ago and way out of my price range, but 8 Japanese men had arranged it at the restaurant and once they saw my curiosity from another table, offered me some.) Some pretty amazing stuff there sometimes. (I don't even know if that turtle was legal since I see quite a few sea turtles are protected.)"
"It was served in its very large shell (polished up and flipped to make a beautiful bowl in the center of a round table) and there was very little sashimi. I don't speak Japanese so one of the waitresses did the translation between myself and the businessmen. If I remember correctly, most of the turtle was being used to make other dishes but the sashimi came from the legs. It was meaty like a thick cut beef tenderloin (cut 1/4" thick), but the grain was distinctly in one direction. It wasn't "melt in your mouth" but it tore very easily. Flavour was distinct, firmness was of dry aged beef, did have some salt (the Himalayan pink salt they are partial to there), no fishy scent at all. I guess the closest thing it tasted to was alligator (which, I guess, makes sense) but it wasn't quite that either because 'gator is more gamey. The meat was very lean (no marbling.) I'd probably have it again except now I know of conservation efforts. It's a bit like my obsession to one day have ortolan."
·Was Sea Turtle Also Served At The Hump? [HuffPo]
·The Hump Caught Serving Illegal Endangered Whale [~ELA~]