Reformed

When it comes to sushi, I am an elitist snob and a purist. Give me Yellowtail sashimi or Tuna nigiri, but give it to me straight up, don't give it to me ladeled with mayo or stuffed with cream cheese, those ingredients have no place in sushidom.

Or do they?



Sushi Zushi
3858 Oak Lawn Ave. Suite 145 @ Blackburn
Dallas, Texas
214-522-7253

Sushi Zushi took over the space formerly housing Citizen. Small remod but it is basically the same casual-chic space.

What is tremendously different is the menu. While Citizen was much loved for their Japanese fusion dishes, Sushi Zushi has taken it to an extreme. The owner, Japanese by ancestry, grew up in Mexico and now lives in San Antonio. This interesting combination of cultures is written all over the menu - standard sushi with Mexican flare. Sounds down right hideous, doesn't it? It isn't, its amazingly good.

The menu itself is an intimidating 8 pages long, broken down by Japanese dish category, within which there are many, many options, some that I have never seen outside of NYC or San Francisco.

After getting light-headed from considering all of the choices I finally fell back to my standard yardstick choices: Yellowtail, Eel and Sea Urchin. Laywer-in-waiting, Lauren, opted for several of the non-traditional rolls. I sneared, but then out of the corner of my eye I saw a roll that was non-traditional but minus mayo and cream cheese, so I tried it.



Here are the highlights:

The Yellowtail, Eel and Sea Urchin are just as good as other top-rated sushi houses in Dallas.

Acapulco Roll: Non-traditional but worthy. Take rare tuna and cucumber, roll it, then dip the whole thing in tempura batter and fry it up. Add chipotle sauce. Crunchy and spicy on the outside, soft and cool on the inside. Delicious.

Cosimo Roll: Definitely non-traditional. Take some fried shrimp, avocado and cream cheese and roll it. Tempura coat and fry it. Add Tampa Bay sauce, which is like a mildly spicy crab salad. So, its not particularly healthy, so what, its good, really good.

Monterrey Roll: Right, just strap on the ol' portable defibalator and enjoy. Take some breaded, fried crab, a little avocado, roll it all up in serrano-studded rice, then melt jack cheese on top. Serve it all with a chipotle mayo. CLEAR!

Service is excellent, I can't imagine how long it took the servers to memorize and talk intelligently about 8 pages of options. Prices are reasonable for sushi, about $25/head.

Website

Sushi Zushi