Oh yeah, we're having sushi in Texas. The first thought is obviously "NOOOOOO", it can't be good. However, this place has come highly recommended, and I'm with 5 Japanese friends, so, what the heck, let's go for it!
This restaurant is about a 15 minute ride from our hotel in DeSoto. It's located in the shockingly cool area of Dallas known as the Bishop Arts District. No bullshit, it felt and looked like Kensington as we rolled down the streets. Crazy. I never thought Dallas, or anywhere in Texas, had a neighborhood like this! I was really blown away and looking forward to the meal.
A couple of my cohorts are non-drinkers, and Zen Sushi happens to have quite a selection of real Japanese stuffs, drinks, food, sake, etc.. The dry-guys each enjoyed a Ramune. It's a sort of lemon flavored soda that contains a carbonated cap thing that makes bubbles when you push it into the bottle. See following photos...
The rest of us are simply enjoying a cold beer. Ahhhh.
The food starts rolling out. Cajun Edemame. Kinda hard to mess this up.
The standard version.
The Texas sized sushi selection list
Finally, Sake!
It also happened to be half-off Sake bottles tonight. You know we will have a few...
Fried Baby Tako (Octopus)
Decent, not amazing, but not terrible.
Bacon Asparagus Yakitori
Yeah, super yumm. A light ponzu type sauce on top.
Agedashi Tofu
I didn't try this as there were only three portions. The ones who did seemed to enjoy it. Looked cool.
Beef Gyoza
Standard pot stickers. Again, they didn't ruin it. Was ok.
Brown Sugar Braised Steamed Buns
Now these things KILLED it! A great example of how to do the hated fusion thing. We are in Texas, so to Mex-it-up, but still use awesomely light and yummy steamed buns was a terrific idea, and they pulled it off great. The pork was so flavorful and carmely, just a touch of slaw. Delicious. My favorite so far.
Yano-san! More Nihon-Shu?!?!?!?!? Hai!!
An obvious sushi platter, rolls and nigiri
A good example of how this is not Japan. On a cursory view, looks decent. But a few of these, when placed in the mouth, completely explode with a heavy hand of wasabi. Like a stupidly ridiculous amount. Most of us began coughing and choking as the first vapors attacked our sinuses. Totally crazy. Not-awesome.
Random roll
This was good, deep-fried is hard to blow also. I don't recall the innards at all, but I recall liking it :-)
Roll, refreshing, clean tasting. The wrap is cucumber instead of nori. Another big hit. Nice work Zen-Sushi!
Tuna Tartare
Terrible. Bland, lifeless, boring. Looked like Japanese Nachos. Dumb.
Jeeeeze, yes, great time for a Sake break!
Amaebi (sweet shrimp)
Another home run! Raw bodies, deep fried heads. And yes, you eat the whole head. Like shrimp potato chips. Yummy!
Tamagoyaki (egg)
Another offering that was done well. And, this is not an easy thing to make. Just slightly salty (like it's supposed to be) and eggy but not too much, texture perfect, firm but not hard. At least there is someone in there somewhere who knows what time it is.
And then another...
Green Tea Ice Cream
It had the look of green tea, but there was something not right about the flavor. None of us could put our finger on it, but it was off somehow.
In summary, for Texas we all thought this was absolutely worth the time and effort to get here and eat. A decent meal, most things worked.
My next time (and I hope it's never) in Dallas with Japanese buddies, this place will see us for sure.
Try something new, even if you think it will suck.
Have an adventure
Eat something raw
Pop a cap
DVA
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