Category Archives: Sushi Bars

Morimoto

Posted on by

***** (5 stars)

Morimoto offers an upscale sushi experience at a surprisingly reasonable price. The dining room is elegantly trendy, and although large, sounds treatments keep it from being deafening.

Sushi and sashimi are top notch. We had the omikase, which is different than other restaurants I’ve been to, because the emphasis is not on sushi or sashimi (although there is a course of each) but rather cooked foods. We particularly enjoyed the smoke from the burning herbs that accompanied the scallop, and the lovely wagu beef.

Service was efficient, and the wine prices, while not inexpensive, offer a number of nice selections that aren’t exhorbitant.

Morimoto
88 10th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 989-8883
http://www.yelp.com/biz/morimoto-new-york

Anna’s Asian Grill & Sushi Bar

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

Anna’s offers a broad range of Asian cuisines and preparations–eight pages worth, in fact. From sashimi to Thai, curry to noodles, dumplings to roti, you’ll find a bit of everything here. I sampled a number of their small plates, and a noodle dish, and all were good.

There are quite a few house specialties, but perhaps the best known is the Stuffed Avocado, a tempura fried avocado with spicy tuna. The dish is quite rich, and the four pieces would make a good starter for a party of four, or a heavy one for a party of two.

The Trio Blossom is served on three spoons, one with squid and basil, one with hamachi (yellowtail in this case, often amberjack) wrapped around jalapeño and cilantro, and one with kani kama (fake crab) wrapped with salmon. I found the exterior of the squid pleasant, but the interior was rather slimy compared to others I’ve had. The yellowtail was the most successful, the jalapeño nice and crisp and not too spicy. As a result, I think the Rising Sun Roll would have been a better (and cheaper) choice.

The Chef’s Sake Baby Ribs was actually one rib, marinated in a tasty homemade tamarind sauce. It was good, but seemed a small portion to share, and too expensive to justify for one.

The Pad Laos was a nice variation on Pad Thai, with an emphasis on ginger and scallions rather than a typical heavy Pad Thai sauce. The lime wedge provided a nice dose of acidity.

Service was extremely friendly and attentive, and I felt welcome from the moment I stepped in the door.

Anna’s is BYOB, and they did a nice job serving the Champagne brought by a neighboring table. I found it odd in a gourmet Asian restaurant that the green tea was a Lipton tea bag.

I wanted to try a wide variety of preparations, and took my server’s recommendations of the house specialties. They were all good, although I didn’t feel there were any home runs. I think on a return visit I would focus on the sushi rolls.

Anna’s Asian Grill & Sushi Bar
1804-06 W Irving Park Rd
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 975-3404
http://www.yelp.com/biz/annas-asian-grill-and-sushi-bar-chicago

Sunda

Posted on by

*** (3 stars)

I had high expectations for Sunda, and they were met in some areas, but not all.

The best item we sampled was the Crispy Brussels Sprouts, a superb house specialty; thin slices of broccoli are almost toasted, then tossed with red cabbage, carrots, chilies, fried shallots, and minced shrimp and served with nuoc cham (a rice wine vinegar dressing). I couldn’t stop eating this!

Tiger Shrimp Tempura was interesting in that it was served with candied walnuts, but the creamy honey aioli was really slathered on and made it very rich.

“Grilled Spare Ribs” are actually Korean style kalbi ribs, not my favorite.

Sushi was less inspiring. We tried several house special rolls, and none was greater than the sum of its parts. Spicy Salmon Shiso was particularly odd, with very finely ground salmon tartare and a dollop of sriracha on top of a thin slice of jicama and a shiso leaf. The ingredients were fine when picked apart, but the combination was a bit of a mess.

The wine and beer list in interesting, with many selections, including some excellent Champagnes, available by the glass. The space is stylish and vibrant, and the service was efficient, if not inspired.

Sunda
110 W Illinois St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 644-0500
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sunda-chicago

Oishi Japanese Restaurant

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

Based upon the tourist location and other reviews I wasn’t expecting much, but I really liked this place.

The room is great, almost a tiki bar decor, with nicely partitioned booths and stylish tables.

The extensive menu offers a huge selection of sushi rolls, plus a page of noodle dishes and two pages of teppan steak offerings. We sat at a table and had sushi for lunch.

A lot of the rolls feature cooked eel or tempura ingredients, making them slightly sweet, so those new to sushi will find it very accessible. There are also very reasonably priced combinations and sashimi samplers.

Of everything we tried my favorite  was the orange blossom roll, which involved no orange, but did look orange. A creamy salmon concoction with crispy fried bits of roe, it nicely incorporated salty and sweet flavors with a crispy yet chewy texture.

Service was extremely attentive and friendly, and pricing, especially for a tourist area restaurant, was extremely reasonable.

Oishi Japanese Restaurant
11025 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32821
(407) 465-0088
http://www.yelp.com/biz/oishi-japanese-restaurant-orlando

RA Sushi

Posted on by

IMG_4878

Chili Ponzu Yellowtail Hand Roll

IMG_4882

RA Chips and Salsa

IMG_4880

Zonie Roll

IMG_4877

Shishito Peppers

IMG_4879

Salmon Carpaccio

IMG_4883

Sashimi Lunch Combo

**** (4 stars)

RA Sushi is a good choice for sushi in the International Drive area. Located downstairs off the valet parking turnout of Pointe Orlando, it is a large, stylish restaurant with a variety of seating options, a bar across the front, a sushi bar in the rear, and some patio seating as well.

The sashimi lunch plate is a particularly good choice. It’s available every day at lunch time, even on weekends, and offers 12 generous pieces of sashimi (tuna, salmon and white fish) plus soup and salad for a reasonable price.

I also really like the summer menu’s special hand rolls, which were light and refreshing, almost like summer rolls in a Vietnamese restaurant.

But it’s worth noting that RA Sushi isn’t exactly an authentic sushi bar. I tried ordering a salmon skin roll and was told that since all ingredients are already prepped, they can’t make items not on the menu. What that says is that the sushi chefs are more assemblers than true sushi chefs who can make anything they like. That’s not too surprising, since the chain is owned by Benihana.

Still, the fish was good quality and the price was reasonable, and I’ll certainly return.

RA Sushi
9101 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 454-5600
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ra-sushi-orlando

Hand Roll Sushi

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

This attractive sushi restaurant is a nice addition to the neighborhood. It may be the first sushi restaurant I’ve been to that seems to not be run by Asians, so I approached with some skepticism, but we had a nice lunch here.

I started with a small salad with very crisp cold greens and a nice dressing, somewhat lighter but more complex than the traditional ginger dressing.

Their twist on sushi is that they also offer tacos. I wondered what a sushi taco would be like, but it turns out it’s just a regular crispy corn tortilla shell filled with whatever sushi item you select. I tried the tuna taco, and the tuna quality was excellent. The crunchy taco pretty much instantly self destructed, but the combination was good.

The real highlights here are the “Temaki” hand rolls, though. My salmon skin hand roll was the best I’ve had anywhere, and I’ve had a lot of them: plenty of crispy salmon skin with some flavorful meat still attached, well mixed with the rice so I didn’t run out of salmon skin as I ate my way to the bottom of the well-stuffed roll.

Lunch here includes your choice of any two items from an extensive list of tacos, hand rolls and conventional maki rolls, plus soup or salad, all for $8.95. An excellent deal. I plan to return and explore some of the other menu options in the future.

Hand Roll Sushi
2595 S Hiawassee Rd
Orlando, FL 32835
(321) 754-1754
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hand-roll-sushi-orlando

Katsu

Posted on by

***** (5 stars)

This is the best sashimi I’ve found in Chicago. Interestingly, sashimi is not available by the piece, but only in various collections, such as the chef’s omakase, which is available in three sizes. The quality and presentation is superb.

This isn’t really a place to go if you’re looking for sushi rolls. The selection is limited, and they weren’t the highlight of our meal. Also, the tempura was just so so. However the eel custard was great.

Indeed, this is a sashimi place, so plan on having that when you go, and plan on spending a fair amount for it, as the quality means it is expensive.

There is a thoughtful if short wine list, and the Champagne on it goes great with the sashimi.

Katsu
2651 W Peterson Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
(773) 784-3383
http://www.yelp.com/biz/katsu-chicago

Screaming Tuna

Posted on by

*** (3 stars)

This is a great setting for a restaurant, where you can watch the endless parade of boats and the drawbridge going up and down. The service is fine, and there is an interesting menu and drink list.

The sushi itself is unremarkable, although on Sunday there are some good specials that make the pricing attractive. A lot of the rolls are extremely spicy, so if you like that, it’s a good place to get some real heat, especially in the wasabi and mustard based ones. But the reason to visit is the view.

Screaming Tuna
106 W Seeboth St
Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 763-1637
http://www.yelp.com/biz/screaming-tuna-milwaukee

Usagi Ya

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

This stylish sushi bar offers so excellent cooked and raw items.  The Tuna Tower and Hamachi Jalapeno were our favorites. Service (by presumably the owner) was friendly and attentive. You can sit in a cozy booth in the front windows, or have a more private space in the rear.

Usagi Ya
1178 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60642
(773) 292-5885
http://www.yelp.com/biz/usagi-ya-chicago

Roka Akor

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

This place offers terrific ambiance, with a stylish, open plan that lets you view the 1900 degree robata grill from anywhere in the restaurant. There is also outside seating.

While several of the sashimi items we tried were excellent, the butterfish tataki was the event, comparable to the best sushi restaurants I’ve been to around the world. The other highlight here are the vegetables off the robata grill, which are all excellent. The Brussels sprouts and the mushrooms are particularly notable.

Roka Akor
4999 Old Orchard Ctr
Skokie, IL 60077
(630) 474-5039
http://www.yelp.com/biz/roka-akor-skokie