YAMAZATO

Address: 6303 Little River Turnpike, Alexandria, VA 22312

The Potomac Roll on the left and the Hole-In-One Roll on the right. Presentation is gorgeous.

A very intricate outer layering on the Potomac Roll. Crab stick, fish roe, Japanese mayo, and scallions.

Ever since moving down here to D.C., I’ve been keeping an eye out to try to find a good sushi place. I’ve tried a few places already, but wasn’t very impressed with the quality. I did a little more research online and upon reading some reviews, stumbled across Yamazato, a place relatively close to me. I headed over today for lunch, in the hopes that I’ve found a potential “go-to” sushi place.

Walking up to the door, I immediately noticed the column of Zagat Rated stickers that lined one of the windows. Yamazato has been in the Zagat dining guide since 2005, which potentially indicated to me that the quality of the food has remained constant over the years to merit its place in the guide.

The inside of the restaurant feels has an elegant feel to it, with a green color scheme and finished wooden tables. You can opt to sit at the sushi bar or at their smaller wine bar immediately next to it. Open displays in the back showed an assortment of wines available for diners to purchase along with their meals.

In addition to sushi rolls, Yamazato also offers the traditional Japanese teriyaki and tempura dishes. It also features a number of Thai dishes too, for those that might not be as into Japanese food. However, Yamazato really dials in on the sushi roll offerings with almost 40 chef’s special rolls and 20 regular rolls. With such a wide variety, it made it really tough to choose what to get, since everything sounded really delicious. In the end, I chose the Potomac Roll and the Hole-In-One Roll off the chef’s special menu and I was certainly very happy with my decision.

The Hole-In-One Roll featured three different types of fish on the inside (salmon, yellowtail, and tuna) wrapped up with avocado and then rolled on the outside with tobiko (flying fish roe). You could make out the individual flavors of the three fish that went into the roll, and everything tasted very fresh. The fish roe gave each piece a subtle sweet note.

As for the Potomac Roll, there’s really only one word I could use to describe it: wow. The presentation is absolutely fantastic and really pops when the plate gets put in front of you. I could equate it to being a fancily-dressed shrimp tempura roll. On the inside, you had your shrimp tempura and avocado, with crab stick layered on top, a dab of Japanese mayo, finished off with tobiko, scallions, and eel sauce. Each piece that you eat gives you such intricate levels of flavor: saltiness from the shrimp tempura, tartness from the Japanese mayo, and sweetness from the tobiko and eel sauce. The crunchy texture from the tempura is also balanced out by the smooth texture provided by the avocado and Japanese mayo. This is certainly a roll that I would recommend to others and has made it onto my list of top five favorite sushi rolls.

At last I’ve found it, my “go-to” place for sushi in the area. It took about 7 months of living here, but I’m very glad that I’ve been able to find this place. I’m excited to return next time to sample more of their rolls and other items on the menu.

Here are my rankings for Yamazato:

Food: 5 / 5
Great variety and quality of food. Fish was fresh and presentation was awesome.

Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5
A nicely decorated dining room with the “elegant feel” and some light music playing in the background. Even if it got a little busy, it seemed like it would still be a relatively comfortable noise level.

Service: 4.5 / 5
The waitress was very prompt in coming around to take my order and refill my drink. The sushi was also prepared expeditiously.

Price: 4.5 / 5
If I’m going out to eat sushi, I’m expecting to be paying on the higher end. In this case, I think that the cost was well worth it, especially for that Potomac Roll.

Overall: 18.5 / 20 (93%)

THE M16 ROLL

When I was younger, one of my favorite sushi rolls to order was the M16 Roll from Sono Sushi back home. It combined both cooked and raw salmon, and provided a little crunch with asparagus, topped off with spicy Sriracha mayo sauce. After my first attempt at making sushi several weeks ago, I decided to set my sights on recreating this dish from my childhood, with a few added tweaks. Refer to my full sushi post to learn more about the sushi-making process.

The M16 Roll sits at the top, complimented by two other rolls I threw together with extra ingredients.

Let’s take a look down the line.

M16 Roll

Core Components:
~ Inside:
Cooked salmon
Asparagus
Avocado

~ Outside:
Raw salmon
Sriracha mayo sauce

The roll itself had the overall structure and look that I wanted it to have. The Sriracha mayo complimented the raw salmon on top very well and the asparagus inside the roll gave it the crunch that I remember it having from the restaurant. I underestimated both the amount of cooked salmon I needed as well as how thick the roll would be with all the ingredients in the middle. Because of that, I would recommend using a seaweed sheet that is at least 4″ wide (mine was closer to 3″). The wrapping didn’t fully close at some points, which made it difficult to cut without some stuff falling out.

For the salmon, I only cooked up a few chunks I had lying around after cutting the slices for the top. Next time, I’ll cook at least a 2 oz. salmon filet to use for the filling. Any leftovers could be used in another roll or just eaten straight up (a snack perhaps while making the sushi?). With adding in more cooked salmon, that flavor will be much more pronounced to balance out the roll.

The avocado slices were added inside to try to provide a texture contrast from the rest of the roll, and the panko breadcrumbs sprinkled on top to give it another crunch as well. Next time, I’ll use some more Sriracha mayo on the top and garnish it with some fresh cut scallions.

I’m definitely looking forward to trying this again in the near future, and will update this post after I give it a second shot.

A SUSHI BUFFET IN YOUR OWN HOME

This is a project that I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while. The last time that I made sushi, I was a TL for a Chinese School summer camp, where one of the classes they were taking involved how to make California rolls. In the years since then, I can’t even count the number of sushi rolls I’ve eaten. From Rainbow Rolls to Dragon Rolls to Spicy Crunchy Whitefish Rolls, it’s always a blast to sample new specialties at different Japanese restaurants. After hearing about the availability of sashimi-grade fish in some of the local Asian markets, I went out to buy the ingredients to give it a shot. Also note that you’ll need a good sushi mat to make doing the rolls a lot easier. I’d recommend the mat that I used. It has one flat side and one rounded side and did the job really well.

A closer look at the rolls.

Three different rolls, all with the same core ingredients of salmon and avocado.

Sushi rice takes time to make, but getting it right is the key to good sushi rolls.

The concoction station for making the spicy chili sauce.

Salmon & Avocado Sushi Rolls
Makes about 22 – 24 pieces (4 rolls)

Rice:
~ 1 cup Nishiki rice (sushi rice)
~ 2 tbsp sushi rice vinegar
~ 1 1/3 cup water

Sauce:
~ Equal parts Japanese mayo and Sriracha sauce

Main components:
~ Seaweed sheets
~ Sashimi-grade salmon
~ 1/2 avocado, cut into strips
~ 1/2 cucumber, julienned
~ Panko breadcrumbs
~ Sesame seeds

Preparing the rice:

• Start off by putting your sushi rice into a bowl and then filling it about halfway with water. The water will start to get cloudy; this is just the rice’s starch coming out and mixing with the water. Rub the rice in the water and then drain out the cloudy water. Repeat this process until you can almost clearly see the rice through water (after you’ve rubbed it a little bit).
• Put the rice into a saucepan and fill it with the 1 1/3 cup water. Let that sit for a half hour so that the rice can absorb it.
• Once the half hour is over, cover the saucepan and heat it up on high. Turn it down to a simmer on low once the rice and water inside start to boil. After 15 minutes, remove the saucepan from the stove, use a fork to fluff up the rice a bit, and set it aside for 5 minutes. I opened the lid to let the excess steam out and have it cool down a bit. I’d recommend this, since the sushi rice needs to be around room temperature before you can work with it anyhow.
• After the 5 minutes is up, transfer the rice out of the saucepan and into another large bowl. Once it’s all there, throw in your sushi rice vinegar. I was able to find Nishiki sushi rice vinegar imported from Japan at my local Asian supermarket. However, if you can only find regular rice vinegar, make your own sushi rice vinegar with: 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt.
• Mix everything together gently, as using forceful motions could mush the rice together.  When you feel like the rice vinegar is evenly distributed, set it aside to let it cool down. Return occasionally to mix it around a little more to let the other pockets of rice cool down as well. During this time, you can spend it preparing the main components that will be going inside your rolls (slicing fish or vegetables). Once you feel like the rice is at a good temperature to work with, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Preparing your fillings:

This section is kind of subjective, as it really depends on what you want to put into your sushi rolls. Do you want raw fish? Cooked fish? Avocados? Thin-sliced? Thick-sliced? Feel free to play around with different ideas and combinations, as sushi rolls are a very versatile platform for experimenting. Since this was my first time in a while making sushi from scratch, I decided to keep it more on the simple side in terms of ingredients: salmon, avocado, and cucumber. To supplement that, I would use panko breadcrumbs to give it a nice crunch, sesame seeds to provide a little bit of an earthy flavor, and the spicy chili sauce that always adds that extra kick to any sushi roll.

In terms of making the spicy chili sauce, I found that the best way was to mix it in even parts first (like going with 1 tsp of Sriracha sauce to 1 tsp of Japanese mayo). From there, you can adjust to either going more spicy by adding more Sriracha or less spicy by adding more mayo. This is purely on an individual’s preference, but I usually liked to keep the sauce more on the hot side and left it at a 1:1 ratio. Using Japanese mayo is also key to nailing the flavor just right, but American mayo can also be used too. Japanese mayo doesn’t have that slight sweetness that American mayo does.

I decided to make salmon & avocado rolls three ways:

• The first roll, which you see as the eight pieces on the bottom, is just salmon and avocado slices rolled up and cut into pieces. Sesame seeds coat the outside layer of rice.
• The second roll, which you can see in the middle, is salmon, avocado, and panko breadcrumbs rolled up. After rolling, I took thinly-sliced avocados and salmon and laid it on top of the roll before cutting it. I finished it off with the spicy chili sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
• The third roll on the top was made with salmon, avocados, panko breadcrumbs, and a thin line of pure Sriracha sauce on the inside. Once I cut that up, I put the spicy chili sauce on top and sprinkled some panko breadcrumbs on there as well.

I actually also had some cucumbers julienned, but unfortunately I completely forgot to add them into the rolls. Adding that into all the rolls probably would have given it a little bit of a contrast and a cooling effect to compliment the spicy chili sauce. I’ll certainly have to add that in for next time.

Making the roll:

• Take your sushi mat and wrap it completely in Saran wrap. This will make cleanup a lot easier later and also prevent the sushi rice from sticking to the mat. Take a small bit of mayo and spread it over the Saran wrap to prevent sticking.
• To keep your hands relatively clean, wear a pair of latex gloves and spread another small dab of mayo on the gloves to prevent rice from sticking to them.
• Take out your sheet of seaweed and place it onto the sushi mat. (You can buy seaweed that is perforated to help you with sheet sizing when making the rolls). Take clumps of rice and start to spread it out onto the seaweed sheet, spreading it out to form a 1/4″ layer of rice that cover the piece of seaweed. Now would be the opportunity to add anything to the outer layer of the roll (some examples: sesame seeds, fish roe).
• Take your sheet and flip it over so now the seaweed is facing you and the rice is on the sushi mat. Line up your filling ingredients right in the middle of your sheet, lengthwise. Take one end and fold it over the ingredients lined up in the middle. Continue to fold and “tuck in” your ingredients until you’ve reached all the way on the other end (kind of like rolling up a poster).
• When you’ve completed the roll, wrap the sushi mat around it, forming a tight grip around your sushi roll. Pull at the other end of the sushi mat to compress your sushi roll even further.
• Once your sushi roll feels solid, take it out of the sushi mat and transfer it over to the cutting board. Here, I found that spreading a bit of mayo onto both sides of your knife makes cutting the rolls much easier. Trim off both ends and cut into however many pieces you’d like. A typical roll might cut into six or eight pieces. The cutting of the roll is also the time when you’d put any garnishes or sauces once it’s been transferred over to the plate.

This was really a lot of fun to do and certainly costs less than going out to a restaurant to get it. By a rough estimation, I would say that to prepare all three of these rolls cost me less than $10.  I do plan to keep this post updated with links to posts of other sushi rolls that I try making in the future, so keep a lookout for them. Ultimately, you do need to invest some time into the activity, but if you’re patient, the results will pay off.

~~~~~~

Additional Rolls:

~ The M16 Roll - Inside: Cooked salmon, asparagus, avocado // Outside: Raw salmon, Sriracha mayo

SUSHI PALACE

Address: 1089 Inman Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820

Wow, was I stuffed as a bear last night.

A friend and I had been talking about going to grab some sushi for a little while. I remembered that she had told me about this place while I was still at school, but yesterday we decided that it was time to make the trip. So, the two of us and another friend ventured out to Edison in pursuit of the gem that is a quality sushi buffet. I have only been to two other sushi buffets, so I was really eager to compare the three to see how Sushi Palace stood out, and I walked out of the restaurant really impressed.

The thing that differentiated Sushi Palace’s business model from the others was that all of the sushi was made-to-order, not set out in a buffet style. That, to me, signals that the rolls are guaranteed to be much more fresh and that you could read the ingredients of the particular roll before ordering it. I know with the buffet-style you have less of a wait time, but I was at one of the other restaurants pondered what exactly was in four different “Chef’s Special” rolls that were on my plate. The system that they have as Sushi Palace is that they hand you two sheets of paper: one is for sushi orders (sushi, sashimi, maki rolls, and maki special rolls) and one is for kitchen orders (soups, appetizers, tempura, teriyaki, and other traditional Japanese dishes). The paper with the sushi had the descriptions of the special rolls right on there, so it was easy to pick out ones that you might want or ones that you wanted to try. All of the orders are grouped family-style, but that’s no problem since it basically offers the chance for everyone to try all different types of sushi.

The three of us ended up trying a little more than half of their special roll offerings, and ate about $100′s worth of sushi. The price per person: $20. A fantastic deal by any consideration, especially for this because everything is made fresh. All of the rolls were really tasty, and the wide variety that was offered made us sit and think for a little bit when we were placing our orders. It was a really awesome experience, and this will certainly take the cake for the best-value, best-quality all-you-can-eat sushi buffet for this area in my book.

Here are my rankings for Sushi Palace:

Food: 5 / 5
All of the sushi and kitchen dishes are made to order, so everything tasted extremely fresh. The eclectic menu selection really blew me away, especially for the all-you-can-eat price.

Atmosphere: 4 / 5
The interior was decorated pretty nicely, with finished wooden tables and comfortable chairs. It was a smaller restaurant, so some of the tables were bunched kind of close.

Service: 4 / 5
The waitstaff was good with promptly removing empty plates from the table and refilling our drinks.

Price: 5 / 5
Absolutely fantastic. There really is no other way to describe the value you get for what you pay here. If you can put down even two of their special rolls, you have already made back your $20.

Overall: 18 / 20 (90%)

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July 21, 2012 Post Update:

The following comments reflect my thoughts on the Middletown location of Sushi Palace that opened up this past March.

Address: 582 State Route 35, Red Bank, NJ 07701

Tonight my family and I headed over to the Union Square Mall to check out the new Sushi Palace location that had opened up not too long ago. Having tried their food at the Edison location (see post above), I had very high hopes for this particular location, especially since it is right in my hometown and effectively cuts the drive from a half hour to about 10 minutes. They certainly did not disappoint.

The first thing that I really enjoyed was the fact that the location itself is much more open than the Edison one. The dining room itself is much bigger, and now there is actually space to walk around between the tables, not to make you feel packed in like a can of sardines. I also felt that all of the food tonight tasted a lot more fresh than what I remember from my past visits to the Edison location. All of the sushi and maki was handmade to order, and the plates certainly came out looking absolutely fantastic. For the five of us tonight, the meal practically gained its value after we had just two full-sized plates of the sushi, sashimi, and maki.

For those of you who have tried Sushi Palace’s other locations and were curious to see if this one meets the same standards, I am happy to say that it certainly does. Overall, from comparing my two visits between the Edison and Middletown locations, I would prefer to go to the Middletown location because of the more open dining atmosphere,  freshness of the food, and a seemingly lower wait time between ordering food from both the sushi bar and the kitchen. Also, the close proximity to my house certainly aids things quite a bit. The last you want is to have a long drive ahead of you after eating so much sushi….

SONO SUSHI

Address: 1098 State Route 35, Middletown, NJ 07748

Sono Sushi is a restaurant that is special to me because it was there that I really started getting into Japanese food and started to dabble into becoming a more fluent sushi eater. I remember that my family started going to Sono when I was in middle school, and back then I was more of a fan of chicken teriyaki or chicken tempura, but now I make it a point to get Sono’s maki sushi (rolls).

We took a trip back to Sono yesterday for my birthday lunch, and even though we haven’t eaten at the restaurant in quite some time, many of the things that I remember enjoying about the restaurant, such as the friendly owners, the nicely decorated interior, and great tasting food, all came back during the visit. I ordered the Maki Lunch Special, which came with three rolls of my choice: the Spicy Tuna Roll, the Spicy Salmon Roll, and the Hot Crunchy Crab Roll. We also ordered one of Sono’s signature rolls, the M-16, for all four of us to share. The lunch specials are all served with a miso soup and a light salad beforehand, so there is plenty of food for you to enjoy. Out of all the lunch specials that I saw, I felt like the Maki Special definitely gives you the most bang for you buck, since the three rolls separately would be around $19 and the Maki Special was only $12. With three rolls, each having six pieces, the eighteen pieces of sushi were more than enough to fill me up for a lunch.

Sono is a great place to go to if you’re looking for some really excellent Japanese options, whether it be the sushi & sashimi, the teriyaki, the tempura, or even the donburi. I’ve sampled quite a bit of the menu over the years and I’ve always been happy with how everything comes out. Give Sono a try, and I’m sure that you’ll like it too.

Here are my rankings for Sono:

Food: 5 / 5
The maki sushi options taste great and are always really fresh. Plenty of other variety on the menu as well.

Atmosphere: 4 / 5
Although the restaurant is a little on the smaller side, the lighting and decorations are really spot-on, with a good array of tables and then the sushi bar in the dining area.

Service: 5 / 5
The owners really make an effort to know all of their regular customers by name, and all of the waitstaff are really friendly as well.

Price: 4 / 5
If you go to eat sushi, you can expect to be spending quite a bit of money. But for how much you spend here, you do get good value. The prices are also very comparable to other Japanese restaurants in the area.

Overall: 18 / 20 (90%)

MAHZU JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Address: 1077 State Route 34, Aberdeen, NJ 07747

It was a while back that my family decided to try Mahzu as a new Japanese restaurant in the area, since we found out that the owners were another family that we knew from the Chinese school I was attending at the time. I have been back to Mahzu numerous times throughout the past few years with both my family and my friends.

The food at Mahzu is absolutely exceptional, and that quality is something that has held up over the years. From the sushi bar, the chefs offer a variety of delicious maki rolls as well as sashimi. They also offer a variety of traditional Japanese dishes, such as teriyaki, tempura, and donburi. There are eight hibachi tables in the back, staffed by extremely friendly and skilled hibachi chefs.

In my visits, I have tried numerous rolls from the sushi bar, the chicken teriyaki and the chicken tempura as well as varying combos from the hibachi menu. I have thoroughly enjoyed my food each and every time and always recommend my friends who are interested in trying Japanese food to go to Mahzu for an awesome experience.

Here are my rankings for Mahzu:

Food: 5 / 5
There are a wide array of Japanese dishes to choose from, and the sushi / sashimi always taste fresh.

Atmosphere: 5 / 5
The entire restaurant is furnished and decorated very nicely, with soft background music playing as you eat.

Service: 4.5 / 5
The waiters and waitresses are always very friendly and courteous, from bringing out your miso soups and salads to start your meal to the main courses.

Price: 4 / 5
As with many Japanese restaurants, the price ranges on the higher end, but you will always leave with your stomach satisfied.

Overall: 18.5 / 20 (93%)