Sushi in Stinktown - We Have a Winner!!!

After what has felt like an eternity, Jay and I finally found a decent sushi place not very far from our homestead on the outer fringes of Stinktown. Kitaro Bistro of Japan has been in business for at least a year but for some reason we never dined there - probably because of our snooty bias against purveyors of sushi in Stinktown, most of whom just can't compare with the fishie culinary joys we've experienced in Florida. The restaurant has a sushi bar as well as a main dining room and a hibachi area. They also have an extensive bar menu with a nice selection of sakes, which we will no doubt have to sample when we pay them another visit.

Honestly, we didn't know whether to laugh or cry when we first entered the restaurant - the hostess asked us if we were there for the all-you-can-eat buffet.

BLEH, NO!!!

We're here for sushi and nothing but sushi; seat us at the bar and let us rrrrrevel in the rrrrrrraw and wrrrrrigling fishes that taste so good nobody can eat just one order. It was really kind of sad ... all the patrons there were gorging themselves at the buffet which was mostly fried foods, some of which I'm not even sure were Japanese. Jay and I were the only two people at the sushi bar and apparently the only two people in the entire restaurant ordering sushi. And let me tell you ... we ordered sushi!!

Actually, before we ordered sushi we ordered a drink - a potent and very tasty beverage called the Volcano for Two. For the bargain price of $13 we were served a huge bowl filled with light rum, dark rum, triple sec, pineapple & orange juices, Meyers dark rum, Creme de Almond, and a splash of Flaming Bacardi. It's hard to tell from the pictures I took, but the shot of rum was ON FIYAH!!!

We loved this drink - it was potent and tasty and so much fun to share, especially with straws that were something like two feet long.





Once the alcohol was taken care of, we placed the first of our two sushi orders. In the picture below there is salmon, tuna, and hamachi nigiri, a spicy tuna roll (four pieces on either side of the platter near the nigiri), a pink lady roll (four pieces on either side on the back of the platter), and a rainbow roll.

The Spicy Tuna Roll included tuna, cucumber, green onion, mayo, smelt roe, and spicy sauce. It was very good and not nearly as spicy as I thought it was going to be. The Rainbow Roll, which is something we order almost every time we go out for sushi, was a traditional California Roll wrapped with salmon, shrimp, tuna, red snapper, and avocado. While this was tasty, I thought it was actually the weakest entry on the plate; it just didn't wow me like it has when we've tried it at other sushi places. However, the Pink Lady Roll made up for it - the roll was smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, tamago, and black caviar wrapped in soybean nori instead of seaweed. I am a big fan of the soybean wrapper because it's much easier on my tender tummy and we always try to order at least one roll like this when we can. Our only complaint with this particular roll was that it was a bit heavy on the cream cheese, which we though overpowered the rest of the ingredients. The nigiri, by the way, was everything that I hoped it could be and more.

We were so happy with the first batch of fishie goodness that Jay and I decided to place a second order ... cause we're incredible hogs and that's just how we roll. The picture below includes another soybean nori roll - the Yellow Rock, which was crab rolled with crab, smelt roe, scallion, and spicy sauce. This was good, but for some reason this time it was incredibly spicy so I didn't eat much of it - I don't think Jay minded finishing this one on his own. We also ordered two more pieces of tuna nigiri, two pieces of smoked salmon nigiri, and one piece of eel nigiri. The tuna was wonderful - sweet and light - but I didn't like the smoked salmon at all; it was too salty and fishy for me. And while I'm not opposed to eel I don't really like it very much so Jay had that one all to himself as well.

The last item we ordered was all for the hubby because I knew he wanted to try something weird and scary that I wouldn't necessarily enjoy. To that end he chose the King Kong Roll which was soft shell crab, cooked shrimp, asparagus, crab stick, and radish sprouts topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo. He loved this and said it was incredibly tasty. I, of course, didn't try it; my favorite type of sushi remains nigiri and I don't care for rolls that have a lot of sauce ... I am not, and never have been, a sauce kind-of-girl. But for those of you who enjoy some sauciness with your fishies this would be a terrific selection for you.

All in all we felt that Kitaro gave us everything we've been looking for in a local sushi joint - good service, fresh fish, and lots of variety. We definitely plan on dining here again when we start jonesin for the raw fishies again.