Worthington: Otani Sushi

Otani Sushi is apparently a legend in Columbus.

Tucked away in the outskirts of Worthington, you wouldn't think that Otani was anything special.  I actually was quite afraid to try it...sushi in an office building, really?

Anyway, Friday night I headed up to Otani with some friends. Surprisingly, the parking lot was pretty full; I guess there is quite the loyal following for Otani as there are for most restaurants in town.  

Um, may I just say, that the most amazing thing about Otani is? KARAOKE!

Wednesday through Saturday, Otani has karaoke in its front bar.  I was a little skeptical at first, but after a saketini, I was  brave enough to belt out Billie Jean and bust out my sweetest Michael Jackson dance moves.  The song book is pretty extensive at Otani as people were singing songs from country to Destiny's Child.

We sat down at a cute little booth and ordered an appetizer: potstickers.  Potstickers are pretty standard fare at Asian restaurants.  Some steamed, some seared, some vegetarian, some filled with meats I can't eat, these gyoza were actually pretty tasty and set the tone for the meal.  Small, great searing on the outside, and not greasy, these potstickers were filled with pork and different spices.  The dipping sauce was also equally amazing, and it wasn't salty at all. Definitely would recommend these.

Miso Soup: is miso soup the way to judge a sushi house? it may be so.  And I must say, Otani's miso soup was really tasty.  A lot of places have very salty miso soup which is rage filling.  Especially because I've been trying to watch my salt intake.  And, there are extra bits of seaweed in it which is very tasty to me.  Check plus for Otani's miso soup!

Sushi: lately, my number one spot has been Kooma, in the Arena District.  The Miahuru roll is phenomenal, you should definitely go try it.   Anyway, last night at Otani,we stuck to the basics: Spicy Tuna roll, shrimp tempura roll, Philly roll, and California roll.  I feel that those rolls are good standards to judge a sushi restaurant by.  I mean, if it's sold at Kroger, then it's a pretty universal roll.

The rolls were pretty small, actually.  Although, they were a nice change from Haiku's collassal rolls that break after one bite from your chopsticks.  The spicy tuna rolls had some funky tasting sauce though. Check minus for the spicy mayo.  But the philly rolls were really tasty.  

Nigiri: nigiri is really a nice change from the rolled sushi.  especially for people that really do enjoy fish, but not enough to take the plunge of sashimi.  Otani offered a nigiri dinner with three types of fish: tuna, salmon, and whitefish.

This is the first restaurant that I have seen lemon slices next to the salmon.  It definitely added a nice complement to the salmon.  But the real deal on this plate was the tuna.  Um, delicious, fatty, toro tuna. Beautiful and pink.  So tasty.  I would back just to get pieces of this fish.

CONCLUSION:  I am definitely going back to Otani and I hope that my friends will join me on stage for karaoke.

Short North: Haiku

Five. Seven. Five.

The composition of a haiku.

When you are seated in the dining area of Haiku, in the heart of the Short North, there are haikus posted by restaurant patrons everywhere. Some funny, some serious. Mine tend to be goofy and nonsensical, but clearly that is just me.

Haiku has been known as one of Columbus's finest sushi restaurants. A great outdoor dining area that is packed any given night in the spring and summer, and two dining areas inside with different vibes; tables with bench seats, one side with larger tables for bigger parties than the other.

Apart from Sushi, Haiku has many other palate pleasers, including noodle and rice dishes, chickens sauteed in a variety of sauces, and a slew of appetizers. However, the best kept secret of Haiku is its lunchbox.

It's kind of a tradition started by my friend Todd and I that whenever we go for lunch, we'll usually go to Happy Greek for salads, or if we are craving a plentiful meal, we will head to Haiku for the lunchbox. Todd is actually the first person to introduce me to the Haiku lunchbox.

For $14.95, the Haiku Lunchbox comes with enough food for two people: 3 pieces of an Alaskan roll, 3 pieces of of a California roll; a variety of tempura; seaweed salad; 2 pieces of sashimi; choice of chicken, beef, or fish; and three pieces of gyoza. In addition to all of this, you also get a bowl of miso soup and a salad with a light ginger-peanut dressing.

I personally think that the gyoza at Haiku is pretty gross. I always ask if I can trade out the gyoza for an extra side of seaweed salad. Sometimes the waitress is unwilling to budge; however, today, I was in luck.

Don't expect the chicken to be warm. It is slightly chilled, in a sweet teriyaki sauce. The chicken is grilled however, and has a nice char to it.

The tempura usually consist of: 1 onion, 1 sweet potato, 1 potato, 1 squash, and a broccoli. Really, a piece of broccoli? Who wants to shove a gigantic piece of broccoli that's battered in often times overly thick and greasy tempura batter into their gullet at lunch time?

Anyway...the tempura today were warm and crispy, but slightly overcoated. The seaweed salad was typical seaweed salad. Not heavy on the vinegar, which is nice. And I had a double order since i swapped out the gross gyoza...hopefully that added some nutritional value that the tempura depleted.

The sushi rolls were pretty typical. Nothing to report there. However, on the Sashimi, I must point out that the knife skills on the piece of tuna were really great. I wish I had my real camera, so I could have captured the detail.

As in typical fashion after a delightful Asian meal, fresh fruit was served (although in winter, Japanese Oriental Restaurant will serve dum-dum suckers instead). Here we had a nice half an orange, with once again beautiful knife skills on the fruit. The orange was sliced so that we could pick it up in individual diamond shaped sizes.

CONCLUSION: This is the best deal in town for any sushi lover at lunch time.

Out-of-Order Review: Sushi Rock.

Okay, I know that the plan was to post my restaurant reviews by geographic location in Columbus, but last night, I had dinner at Sushi Rock, and thought it was appropriate to report my thoughts.

Sushi Rock is located on the Cap in Columbus. Housed in the space formerly occupied by Liu Pon Xi, I have heard as much as $1 million was spent on its renovation. The vibe is pretty cool; dark floors, fluorescent lights, the bar has a very non-Columbus feel, although the bar stools are pretty uncomfortable.

I went to Sushi Rock the first week it opened, and was pretty disappointed. I was with two of my former bosses, both who enjoy sushi very much, and thought: the rolls were very large; not rolled neatly; the calamari was cold; and the service was pretty poor. I've also read pretty dismal reviews, on sites such as Columbus Underground, detailing some similar experiences to mine.

My girlfriends and I had a dinner reservation for Saturday evening. I feel that a party of six is pretty standard for a Saturday night, so I was glad that reservations were accepted. In typical girl fashion, we were running slightly behind; there was slight worry that we may lose our table, but as I entered the restaurant, it wasn't very crowded. This isn't surprising given the poor reviews received and the rumored bad reputation.

We were seated immediately, in a corner booth overlooking the Columbus Convention Center. Our waiter was prompt taking our drink orders, but there was about a 7 minute wait for the drinks. The drink menu was pretty pricey; it was less expensive to order a glass of prosecco than a glass of white wine. Most wines averaged at $8-10 per glass, and the bottles were very expensive.

We ordered a calamari appetizer, and three of us ordered a seaweed salad. The calamari came in a round wooden dish, and this time, was warm and crisp. The sauce was sweet and spicy, but the calamari were not coated in the sweet glaze, as is the calamari across the street at Hyde Park. The seaweed salad was neatly presented in a square glass bowl; however, for a scoop of seaweed, I thought $7 was a little ridic.

We all decided to order different rolls: spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, philly, rainbow, plain ol salmon, an eel roll, and some pieces of sashimi. One person at the table ordered a Filet Mignon with lobster mashed potatoes. We ordered another round of drinks, this time, it took about 10 minutes to receive them (again, the restaurant is not very crowded).

The Filet Mignon arrived to the table before the sushi. Like substantially before. Like enough time for some of the ladies at the table to go outside for a cigarette as soon as the filet touched the table, come back, and the sushi just arriving upon sitting back down down.

I'm not a cow eater, and one reader pointed out this may be a problem in efficiently reviewing restaurants, so guest commentators would be welcome...I digress.

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but a filet has to be placed to flame, right? And sushi is raw fish, wrapped in rice and a wrapper with spicy mayo or cream cheese stuffed inside/on top/all around, right? So, wouldn't it make sense that the majority of the food arrive at the same time, perhaps the sushi before or immediately after the steak, not approximately a 7 minute delay? Keep in mind, the restaurant is not full!

Anyway, the presentation of the sushi is pretty neat. The sushi comes on a marble slab that the floors are made of (hence the "rock" name I am guessing, like Cold Stone Creamery, etc).

The nori on all of the rolls was pretty tough to bite into. Normally, I am able to bite sushi into two pieces if the roll is big (I learned after an unsightly incident one Christmas break at Nagoya in Catawba Island, after choking and then being advised by a fellow patron to take "small bites, dear.") The rolls were pretty tasty; the shrimp tempura roll and the rainbow roll were the most difficult to eat. I know that the goal was to make them "big rolls;" however, do you really want the rolls to be so big that the patron takes a bite, and then have to quickly eat the rest of it and risk choking, or, have all of the delicious contents fall out because the patron has to use her fingers to assist her in ripping the nori on the bite because it's so difficult to bite into...

The sashimi pieces looked so-so. Although I didn't try them, they did not look as fresh as those served at Kooma or Japanese Oriental Restaurant.

The filet migon: The cow eater at the table ordered a filet migon, medium rare, with bleu cheese crumbles. After taking her first bite, a big "mmm!" was rendered; she has had steaks in various high-class steakhouses, so I suppose that it was satisfactory in satisfaction. When the smokers went to smoke again (cow eater is a smoker), the nonsmokers and I pounced on the ginormous pile of lobster mashed potatoes left on the plate (she finished her steak).

I love me some potatoes. Obviously, they have zero nutritional value, but there's something about the creamy deliciousness that only a potato can provide. As I scooped some potato goodness up with my chop sticks, I was kind of disappointed; they tasted like boxed potatoes! I mean, potatoes are cheap! You can go get a big bag at the Kroger for not a whole lot of dollars! I kind of tasted hints of lobster in my few bites, but did not get any actual chunks. If it were me getting the meat dish, I probably would have gone for the truffled mac-n-cheese.

Again, during the eating time, we ordered several more rounds of drinks, and the waiter became progressively slower. He picked up one or two more tables, but he seemed to disappear constantly. I didn't see him at the bar, or at the sushi bar, or walking around in the back (and those of you that have dined with me, you know I have a pretty good ability of finding people in crowded places). So, maybe he was in the kitchen whipping up some boxed taters.

At the end of the meal, the bill ended up being about $353. For 7 rolls, 1 order of sashimi,1 steak, 1 side of lobster faux potatoes, 3 apple martinis, 2 glasses of sauvignon blanc, 4 glasses of prosecco, 3 bud lights, and 4 vodka redbulls....I didn't think it was too bad.

CONCLUSION: I will probably give Sushi Rock another chance. After seeing the numerous complaints on other blogs and via word of mouth, I would have hoped that the service would be drastically improved. Our waiter was nice enough, but he was just really out of it, and not very attentive. I love calamari, and if the calamari would have been cold and soggy, I would have been rage filled.