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Business & Tech

Bites Nearby: Kimono Sushi Offers Service with a Smile

This week food writer Clara Park reviews Kimono Sushi Bar.

When walking down Olive Street you could easily pass by . It blends into the row of storefronts. In fact, my friend drove past it a few times before finally finding it. The sushi restaurant formerly known as Sweets 'N Stuff Sushi now offers only savory items although strangely the ice cream containers and equipment are all still out. 

The menu is small but highly affordable. We began with the miso soup (came with the sushi deluxe we ordered) and avocado salad. The miso soup was among the most flavorful I have ever tried and had just the right amount of cubed tofu, seaweed and ribbons of nori. It was served at a good temperature that wasn't too hot. The avocado salad ($4.50) also had nori, sesame seeds, shredded carrot, thick slices of cucumber, slices of avocado and mixed greens with a peppery ginger dressing on the side. The salad tasted as good as it looked. The pork gyoza ($4.50) we ordered were not our favorite. Next time I think the edamame would be a better choice.

We ordered the spicy red snapper ($5.25), mixed vegetable ($4.75) and dragon ($9.25) rolls and they were a sight to behold. I have a feeling the sushi chef was an artist in his former life as his presentations are so appealing. The rolls were pretty standard. The spicy red snapper roll had a good amount of spicy mayo and the mixed vegetable roll seemed more like a salad wrapped in nori than the tight vegetable roll I had been expecting. The dragon roll, a favorite among unagi (eel) lovers was loaded with eel and avocado.

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The sushi deluxe came out on the most gorgeous platter and stand, surely brought over from Asia. The assortment of fish was a rainbow of colors which contrasted sharply with the pickled ginger and extra green wasabi. The sushi was probably the weakest part of our meal. But at such bargain prices, one can not expect the best sushi of their lives. Due to the nature of sushi, it is one of the few types of food where my dad's favorite adage, "you get what you pay for" comes into play. Despite the economic climate, bluefin tuna in Japan still fetches mind-boggling prices. I remember reading about a 754 pound bluefin tuna that fetched nearly $400,000 at a fish auction in Japan this past January. There are sushi restaurants that pride themselves on getting the freshest, most hard to find fish and butchering them to order for customers willing to pay a premium. Kimono Sushi is not one of those places and should not be compared to them. It's an affordable neighborhood sushi place off the beaten path.

The chef/owner is a one man show who waits tables, greets customers, cooks, cleans and handles anything else that may come up. While his sushi is not the best, his service is unparalleled. He brought over green tea ($1.50) while I waited for my friend and then brought us both galangal (young ginger/blue ginger, free) tea after our meal to aid in digestion. He was always smiling no matter what he was doing. The music from the radio featured early 20th century hits which had the warm sound of old records and while the ambiance otherwise was definitely lacking it wasn't a bad place to catch up with an old friend. There we were, seated at the sushi bar, meters away from empty ice cream containers while a Malaysian man lovingly handcrafted every aspect of our Japanese dinner as we listened to songs from a bygone American era. Food was not the best but we still had a great time.

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