Meet Noodles

Struggling for a place to get a quick dinner on Sunday, I remembered reading about Meet Noodles and so we headed over there. It was impressive to see such a large crowd for a small local place in Castleton on a Sunday. It’s a warm feeling interior—more so than many of the Asian places we like on this side of town. The wood tables are cute, but strangely awkward to sit at if you are on the booth side as you can’t cross your legs under the table. But I switched to a chair and was good. 

Shoyu

So they specialize in ramen and noodle bowls made with homemade noodles. We got 2 of the ramen choices—the tonkatsu ($12) and the shoyu ($12) as well as the lanzhou la-mian with the hand-pulled noodles ($12).  Honestly, they were all good, but if I had to pick a favorite it was probably the shoyu ramen. It was a clear soy-based chicken bone broth base with the classic ingredients—sliced pork belly, corn, bamboo shoots, soft boiled egg, scallions and black mushrooms. I loved the crispy garlic bits that were sprinkled on top. I really enjoyed the salty taste of the broth and even if the noodles aren’t hand-pulled, they are quite tasty. And I preferred the soft-boiled egg to the one that came with the hand-pulled noodles. 

The Lanzhou la-mian was also very tasty—these were the hand-pulled noodles and I liked the slightly different texture to the noodles—not sure how to describe them exactly, but they were a little softer and more delicate. The beef bone broth in this dish was really good—deep and rich even though overall it was a more delicate flavor as well. The thin sliced marinated beef was very tender even though it was thoroughly cooked. It was paper thin. While I appreciate the idea of the soy marinated egg, it was more like a hard-boiled egg and didn’t have that rich creaminess like the soft-boiled egg. I liked the freshness of the bok choy and the cilantro. It needed a little of the chili oil from the table to jazz it up a bit, but it was good. Simpler but good. It was more like a pho than a ramen.

Tonaktsu

The tonkatsu ramen was similar in toppings to the shoyu but had more of the garlic and was in a pork bone broth. I am not sure why, but this was my least favorite—the broth had a slightly fishy taste maybe? Maybe fish sauce? Maybe from the nori in there? It was just a little unexpected I guess. The rest of the ingredients were really good—and the pork that they use in the ramen is cut very thin, making it easier to eat with chopsticks and a large spoon.

All in all, a really nice addition to the Castleton area which is so notorious for bad food and chains (with some distinct exceptions of course). It’s beer and wine only if that matters to you—and when they say wine, they mean sake and that’s it. The service is fast and friendly and the place is already seemingly very popular.  Who else has been? I am curious about the appetizers… what have you tried?

Meet Noodles

6368-B 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/863-8058

https://www.meetnoodlesusa.com/

Ukiyo

I was excited to try Neal Brown’s new restaurant venture, Ukiyo. I have been a couple of times, but am mainly focusing this post on the most recent visit, as the first one was very soon after they opened and I like to wait a bit longer than that before I write about a place. We were with another couple, which was nice so we could order more items.

First of all, I really like what they have done with the space. They took the old Recess which was always sort of industrial in its feel and warmed it up with some texture and color variations. The sushi bar area is light and bright and the main part of the restaurant is dark and more dramatic. I was happy to sit in the sushi bar area this time because it was still light, and it made my pictures prettier. It’s pretty dark in the main room. But it gives it a nice ambiance,

We started with the salmon tartare ($12), the octopus “dumplings” ($10) and the fried chicken kaaragge ($12). That fried chicken is great. I have had it both times and once for lunch (review to come) and it’s always been delicious. It is pieces of fried thigh meat, which is very crisply fried and it is lightly tossed in a honey sauce and sprinkled with matcha powder. It is an interesting combination of flavors. I always think I won’t love that much sweetness in a savory course, but this is balanced nicely and the chicken is just so well done. Definitely a must order. As far as the others, the salmon tartare is beautiful and bright, but is not seasoned a lot. The melt in your mouth fish was just crying out for some acid. But then again, you know me, that’s how I am. I just would have liked to see a little more to it that what it was. The toasted bread underneath was very good—light and soft but toasty too. As for the the octopus dumplings, I think they are misnamed. When I am in an Asian restaurant and I read the word “dumplings” on a menu, I am expected soft wonton-wrapped bundles filled with something. These are actually more like fried balls of dough that are dotted with bits of octopus inside. They are more like a bread ball and less like a dumpling. It’s a matter of preference I guess, but they weren’t my favorite thing, but maybe if I had expected something different, I would have enjoyed them more. I did enjoy the bonito flakes waving in the air on top. I think that’s always a very cool effect.

From there we went on to order sushi. We got the ”Hachiman,” ($15) which is farm raised blue fin tuna roll, which was avocado on the inside and chunks of the tuna on top. We also had the “Izanami” ($12), which was spicy shrimp kaarage and Japanese mayo. Finally, we had the “Uke mocha” ($19), which was crab and avocado inside and salmon on top. I think the sushi is certainly the star here based on what I have had. Both times the rolls were my favorite part for sure. Even the “designer rolls” are pretty simple though, and the fish is certainly the focus. They aren’t hiding the quality with showy things like lighting it on fire, and they aren’t dousing it with sauce. I’m not saying I don’t like a good gooey roll when I am in the right mood, but these were nice in their simpliciy. I am trying to think which was my favorite of the rolls we have had and I might say the shrimp kaarage because I liked the texture variation. But they were all good. Again, they are on the simple side (there was certainly a part of me that was thinking a little thin slice of lemon or a touch of jalapeno would have jazzed it up a little), but hey, I’m not the chef. Fish-wise, it is some of the best and freshest in town. 

As we ordered the sushi, we also decided to add one more hot dish to our order. We ordered the barbecued catfish on our server’s recommendation. Honestly, as it turned out, I was so glad we ordered this one—it may have been my favorite all around item of the evening. It was catfish sort of done in the style of barbecued eel (which they don’t serve because it is endangered, which I respect). This dish was great. Nice sticky rice, lots of scallions and several nice pieces of very tender catfish in a slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce. I would happily eat this whole bowl myself. There’s always a next time right?

Overall, I feel like Ukiyo is still finding its exact groove, but it is off to a nice start, and it’s a place we need in Indy. I hope they keep tweaking things and I am hoping maybe one day there will also be some full-on dumplings on the menu because they’re one of my favorite things and now that they’ve said the word I really want them. But in the meantime, get the sushi and the catfish and the fried chicken. You’ll be happy. I will say I was a little surprised they weren’t busier on a Friday night, but it’s certainly a place worth checking out. And they take reservations! So that’s always a plus.

Ukiyo

4907 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/384-1048

www.ukiyoindy.com 

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

You know I am on my search for a new favorite sushi place, so I was excited when I got some emails about the opening of a new place in Ironworks, which is conveniently located near my house. I have been twice since they opened. They may still be working on some kinks with consistency, but I am pretty sure this is a place that I will return fairly regularly based on what I have had so far and the its proximity.

On both trips we had the tuna tataki ($13) and the truffle salmon ($11). These are both sashimi style presentations—or like a crudo. They were both thin slices of the fish. The tataki was seared with pepper on the edges, crispy garlic chips on top, and in a light sauce. The first time we had this, we really enjoyed it. The second time, while we enjoyed it, it was much more peppery, almost to the point of making it not enjoyable. Almost. I’m not sure which is the way they intend it to be, but I am  hoping it was the first version. I am sure we will try it again and find out. The truffle salmon is really good—and unique. Again, thin slices of fish, topped with hot sesame oil, salmon caviar and sitting in ponzu. These are both also on the happy hour  (HH) menu—you can get them for $10 and $8.50 during that time.

On both trips we also had the crunchy rice cakes with spicy tuna ($11/$8.50 HH). Again, they were a little different on each visit—the first time the rice cakes on the bottom were a little over fried and overly crunchy, but we really enjoyed the flavor of the spicy tuna. So we wanted to try them again. This time they were perfect and probably my favorite thing we had. These will be a regular thing. Basically, they are fried bits of rice cakes, topped with spicy tuna, scallions and ponzu sauce. They were definitely a favorite at the table with our friends. The first time we also ordered the blue balls ($7/$4.5 HH). This was one of the items that made us realize we do not care for their spicy “crab” mixture. It was a tofu skin stuffed with spicy crab and deep-fried. Now, the fry on these was so good, and I love tofu, but the fishy taste of the spicy crab was not good. Again, it was the classic problem of a place calling something crab that was decidedly fishy.

So I guess this didn’t bode well for our luck with the “thriller” roll ($11), which was shrimp tempura inside and spicy crab mix, creamy “thriller” sauce and ponzu. It was broiled on top with the spicy crab and creamy sauce. The heat did not add to the already questionable taste of the spicy “crab.” However, a friend told us you could substitute real snow crab, which we did the second time (for an upcharge) and I really enjoyed it the second time. It had a touch of heat on the top of it, and the fresh crab was much tastier.

That second time we also had a couple of other rolls. Probably the most popular one at our table was the “spicy gringo” ($8/$5.50 HH), which is salmon, tuna, white fish, ginger with garlic chips and a barbeque wrap and shallots on top. It had interesting flavors and texture and like I said, everyone enjoyed it. We also enjoyed the “beach,” ($13+ $3 for snow crab substitution). It was albacore, spicy tuna and in our case, snow crab (normally spicy crab), burdock root, and avocado on the inside. It had ponzu and Serrano peppers on top. It was also tasty, although again, we subbed out the spicy crab for snow crab. I didn’t really care for the burdock root, as it was really hard—didn’t add to the texture component to me. So, it’s weird because the spicy tuna is really tasty, but the spicy crab is too fishy.  Finally, we also tried the maguro tuna nigiri, just because it’s a good way to see the quality of the fish in comparison to other places. It was excellent. 

The service was good on both visits, and I like the atmosphere of the place. There are people of all ages, and the restaurant has a modern feel. The wine and drink list is decent, and like I said, it’s close to my house.  They also take reservations through yelp, so that’s always a plus in my book.

It’s solid, and easy, and will probably go into my regular rotation, even though I wish it wasn’t a chain. But it’s a pretty small one anyway.  I also wish that it was a little more consistent, but hopefully that will come with time.  There are a lot of interesting things to try, and lots of good happy hour specials. The menus are a little overwhelming between the happy hour menu and the regular menu (if you are there during happy hour). And the print is so small; it makes me feel like I need to remember to bring some reading glasses, which just makes me feel old. Boo. But overall, I enjoyed the food and experience.

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

2413 East 86^th Street

Indy 46240

317/489-3151

www.bluesushisakegrill.com 

Watami All You Can Eat Sushi

Ok, I am finally getting this written. It has been awhile since this visit, but I needed to get it out there, because it is unlikely we will return. Watami is one of those all you can eat sushi places. You pay about $22 and you can eat whatever sushi you want, as well as random other items on the menu. You can’t just crazy over-order though. They will charge for the pieces you don’t eat if you leave more than 7.  Not every menu item is on there, but there’s a pretty wide selection. We were torn about getting the all you can eat, because our normal order is about 3 rolls, and for 2 people, that would not really be a deal to spend $44. In the end, after ordering a few other things, it was close, but still not a better deal, because the salad I ordered was not a choice for all you can eat.

This place is also located in the old H2O sushi location, which may have me a bit jaded because that was my all time favorite sushi joint and will forever be missed. But I tried to keep an open mind. They have added a lot of booths to the interior, and changed the décor. When we were there, it was really hot outside (I told you it was awhile ago) and the air conditioner was not working. It was fairly stifling in there, which didn’t help our experience.

We tried our three rolls, the sexy girl ($12.95), the rock & roll ($12.99) and the watami roll ($12.95). We also had the tuna nigiri sushi ($4.25) and the avocado salad ($4.50). The sexy girl is spicy tuna and crunch inside with spicy crabmeat on top. So, they said it was crab on the menu, and I saw no little stars next to it and it wasn’t spelled with a “k.” I even directly asked, is this real crab? The server told me yes. Nope, it was that weird stringy stuff that is not good. It tasted fishy and detracted quite a bit. The rock and roll was a fried shrimp inside with avocado on top and crunchy tempura crab bits. It was fine, but not worth getting excited about. The watami roll was tempura crab (here comes that crab issue again), which was also “krab” and tasted fishy and not so good. I mean, I get that they aren’t going to be serving amazing fish at an all you can eat place (someone online said they will eat like 60 pieces when they go!), but if it isn’t real crab, I think you need to be up front about that, especially if you get asked directly. It was topped with seared tuna and avocado. The tuna at watami is somewhat weak as well. In fact that nigiri was pretty inedible because it was so fatty and stringy. And you know they are saving the best pieces for the nigiri. So you get the idea. The best part about the rolls for me was their size. They were very small pieces, which I like because they’re easy to eat. Assuming they probably do this for cost cutting. My avocado salad, which looked really pretty on the menu, was pretty boring. A few pieces of iceberg topped with sliced avocado. I mean, I love avocado, but some acidic gingery dressing would have been nice.

Hubby really hated this place. I don’t think he will ever step foot in there again. I could probably be persuaded to try it again just because I am always willing to give a place a couple of chances. But I certainly wouldn’t order anything with crab in the name. And the fish is certainly not up to the standards of many sushi places in town, but I guess you get what you pay for. And if you are eating 60 pieces of sushi for $22, well you can’t expect the highest quality. I know several people who really like this place, but if you ask me, there are much better places for sushi, and even better places for all you can eat (try Asaka during their happy hour). But for those of you who get really excited about the potential for large amounts of food for a little amount of money, I have included pictures of the all you can eat menus for your perusal.

Watami Sushi

1912 Broad Ripple Ave

Indy  46220

317/991-3355

45 Degrees

Sushi quest. Day 342. Hubby and I had an event downtown and decided to try 45 Degrees beforehand to continue our ongoing search for our new favorite sushi. This place has been around forever and it was about time. 

The first thing about it is the interior—I really like the funky, modern feel of it. It has a nice atmosphere for sure. Our server was also very friendly and quick. We had drinks quickly to enjoy while we looked over the menu. We started with an order of the tuna nachos ($14). These were an interesting concept and were quite tasty. Possibly my favorite item of the evening. So there’s a layer of wonton chips and they are topped with chopped seared tuna, pico di gallo, Mexican cheese, wasabi mayo, and a mango habanero glaze. There was a lot of tuna on there, and I enjoyed the various flavors that were mixed in, especially the acidity from the pico. I was worried the cheese would be weird with the tuna, but it worked. Even though it was pretty big, we managed to eat the whole thing.

For sushi, we ordered just two rolls since we had the nachos. We had the spider roll ($15) and the piranha roll ($15). The spider roll was fried soft shell crab inside along with some fresh crab and avocado (we had them hold the cucumber). It’s wrapped in soy paper and then the whole thing is drizzled with spicy mayo and ell sauce. This was a tasty roll for sure, and I really appreciated the addition of actual crab. It was nice to even see real crab as an option. Not many sushi places do this. The rolls were also not so ridiculously big, which if you’re a regular reader; you know is a pet peeve for me. I don’t want to have to cut a piece of maki in half in order to be able to eat it.

The other roll was interesting. Inside it had shrimp tempura, avocado, and cilantro (again, cucumber held) and it was topped with yellowtail, Sriracha and serrano pepper. It was served with a side of ponzu sauce.  It was an interesting combo and I liked the touch of heat and the sweet and slightly acidic ponzu. Both rolls had the combo of crunchiness I like from the fried seafood inside as well as the fresh fish richness. And avocado. Whenever there’s avocado, I’m just a little happier. I like that they have a lot of variations on rolls and that they all don’t have the stuff that I don’t like. I feel like some places we go stick cream cheese in every roll, and I just don’t believe cream cheese belongs in sushi.

Overall, I think this place meets my need for good sushi rolls. And we really enjoyed the tuna nachos. I would like to try some of their other non-sushi items as well. If it wasn’t so far, it might qualify for a regular place. Again, I also like the modern feel of the place. What do you guys think? Have you been there?

45 Degrees

765 Massachusetts Ave

Indy 46204

317/634-4545

www.fortyfiveindy.com 

Mikado

Continuing on my sushi quest, even though it’s nowhere near my neighborhood, we took the kids to Mikado downtown. This is another example of when a restaurant’s social media is working. I kept seeing posts on Instagram that looked delicious, and particularly since I have been on a quest lately, I chose it for our family night out.

It’s right downtown near St. Elmo and all the chain restaurants. It’s a pretty big place, and has a more upscale interior, although it’s old enough that it is starting to look a little worn. It also wasn’t super busy, but there were a decent amount of people in there.

We started with several appetizers and got slightly less sushi than normal. We ordered tuna tataki ($16), edamame ($6), shrimp tempura ($10) and my son wanted gyoza ($7) for himself because he was having a small entrée. The tuna tataki was great. The tuna was exceptionally tender, and the ponzu sauce on the bottom was some of the most flavorful I have had in recent memory. Hubby even ate all the spiralized radish underneath just because he liked the sauce so much. It wasn’t a huge portion, so each of us only got one or two pieces. I could easily eat this on my own and happily would.

The edamame was also really well done. Lots of chunky salt on the outside to give you a nice salty taste when you sucked out the beans inside. Everyone was quite happy with these. The gyoza (the tiny bite I was allowed) were also tasty—stuffed with pork and then pan-fried. The only disappointment appetizer-wise was the shrimp tempura. It just fell a little flat—it wasn’t quite hot or light enough. 

For sushi, my son wanted a simple shrimp tempura roll  ($7.50) and hubby and I chose two rolls—the “Fire in the roll” ($15.95) and the “sumo” ($14.25). My son’s shrimp tempura roll was nicely done for a simple roll—they included a little bit of cucumber and some pea shoots to jazz it up a little, as well as just a touch of spicy mayo. The shrimp in his roll was better than the appetizer shrimp.

The “fire in the roll” was made up of spicy tuna and avocado in the middle and was topped with sliced tuna, jalapeno, cilantro and spicy tobiko. This roll had a fair amount of heat for sure. It was well done, and the ingredients were all good. I ended up taking the jalapeno off mine because it was that hot. The “sumo” roll was filled with spicy shrimp and avocado and then topped with sliced salmon. There was a little dash of spicy mayo on the plate, but I would have liked a drizzle of sauce on the rolls themselves. They were both very good and exactly the right size to easily pop into your mouth. The only thing I missed was just a touch of crunch—but then I like a little texture variation in my rolls.

My daughter ordered the nabeyaki udon ($16) for her main dish because lately noodles are her thing.  I’m not sure that she was the biggest fan of this version. She isn’t overly familiar with udon and I think she prefers the skinnier noodles like in ramen (as do I). The egg was also much more raw than they usually are in soup dishes, which I think was a bit of a turn off. She liked the tempura that they served on the side to eat with the broth, and strangely, her shrimp tempura was also better than the one we had as an app. Not sure why. I think if we went back though, she would return to one of her classic teriyaki choices. I appreciate that she ventures out though.

Based on the quality and size of the rolls, and most of the apps though, Mikado is a place I would frequent if it were nearer my house for rolls. I might just get those same rolls and ask them to throw a little crunch in. Anyone else been here lately? Is it a big downtown lunch spot?

Mikado

148 Illinios Street

Indy 46225

317/972-4180

www.indymikado.com 

Sakura - Revisit

Ok, continuing on the sushi quest, we decided to go back to Sakura. I know a lot of you guys like this place best, and it is the oldest sushi place in Indy as far as I know. The things that keep me from coming here more often are the crowds and the slow service. This time we went on the early side on a weeknight and the crowds weren’t too big yet. Our service was fine too, although as soon as it starts to get busy, it slows down.

Anyhow, we took the kids so we could all determine whether it would or could be our new go to spot. We had the standard miso soup to start, which was standardly good. Nothing unusual to mention. Hubby and I ordered several rolls—the Gabe ($6.70), the soft shell crab roll ($9.50) and the Crunch roll. The Gabe roll is their version spicy tuna mixed with some roe both inside and out of the roll. They also mix in green onions. They use nice fairly large pieces of tuna here, and it comes across like a tuna tartare roll. It’s a good choice and is probably one of hubby’s faves. The soft shell crab roll was fine. Again, it’s a lot of fried bits with spicy mayo and it gets kind of boring after awhile. The crunch roll was shrimp tempura and avocado inside I believe and crunchy bits outside. All were good—none were particularly memorable for me. We also had some ahi tuna nigiri ($4.40) as well as albacore nigiri ($4.30) and both were very good. I like the way they lightly sear the albacore and then serve with ponzu and bonito. It’s very tasty.

My daughter ordered chicken teriyaki ($12.75). They give you a TON of meat here. I like that there are lots of little pieces of the meat and that it includes dark meat. I thought the flavor of the sauce was also very good. My daughter was less of a fan. She likes a leaner piece of breast meat and not quite so much sauce. We brought a lot of it home.

My son had the chicken cutlets ($12.75), which were exactly what he likes—pounded chicken breast meat lightly breaded and fried. It was very good—and the dipping sauce that went along with it had a little deeper flavor than most. It did not come off as just sweet, like many do.

It’s a solid choice for sushi, but it’s still not luring me back in with anything that was really, really good. But everyone was pretty satisfied, so my guess is we’ll be back more frequently than in the past. If you’re a fan, tell me your favorite rolls....

Sakura

7201 North Keystone

Indy  46240

317/259-4171

http://www.indysakura.com/ 

Wasabi on 82nd - Revisit

If you are a regular reader, you know I have been on a quest for a new sushi place near my house. None of the ones I have found have been bad, but I have yet to find one to declare my allegiance. So we decided to go back to Wasabi on 82^nd because it was a place we used to go on occasion and hubby always liked their nigiri. (Note: I am not confident about the prices listed here. I got them from the website, but I think they might be outdated).

So, it was a little sketchy from the start, because it was 7:00 on a Saturday and there was literally one other table there. A sushi place with no business is always a little scary to me. We sat down and decided to get a little appetizer and ordered the agedashi tofu ($5.50). It was two large chunks of tofu that were lightly fried and sitting on top of some tempura sauce (which is a fish broth base). It was covered by lots of bonito flakes, which are cool because they are so light; they kind of move, making the dish almost look alive. It has a nice crisp exterior and soft interior—the only thing I would change is to make the pieces a little smaller in order to have more crunch ratio—the inside of the tofu was a little too creamy when you got to the inside bites. Anyway, hubby was sort of against it, but in retrospect it was one of the best things of the evening.

For rolls, we ordered the Indy roll ($15), the Fantastic roll ($16), and the Chop Chop Crab roll ($12). The Indy roll is shrimp tempura inside and salmon, tuna and avocado across the top drizzled with mayo and eel sauce. The Fantastic roll is spicy tuna and crunch topped with salmon, yellowtail and avocado. The chop chop crab is soft shell crab mixed with spicy mayo inside and out. Ok, so the first two look pretty good in the picture right? But none of these rolls were good. I can’t put my finger on it totally, but the fish was just flavorless. And some of it seemed sort of like it might have not been the freshest. The spicy tuna in one of them was a mushy paste-like substance. The chop chop crab had lost its crunch and tasted like it could have been made with fried anything. These were not good rolls. I had maybe one or two pieces of each and just stopped eating. It just wasn’t worth the calories.

My daughter had the katsudon ($10), which was a fried breaded pork cutlet sautéed with onions and egg over rice. This dish did not look very appetizing and the taste wasn’t much better. It was also extremely bland and lacking in flavor.  My son’s New York strip teriyaki ($20) was the other best thing on the table—the steak was tender and cooked just right. He was quite happy with his and we all kept sneaking bites.

All in all, Wasabi will not be a place we will be returning. Honestly, with the amount of business they had that night (maybe one or two other tables came in and one carry out order was filled), I am surprised they are still in business.

Wasabi on 82^nd

5025 East 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/594-1188

www.wasabion82nd.com 

Sakana of Tokyo

***Closed as of 12/1/17***

So you guys know I have been on a quest for a new most favorite (and close) sushi place. A friend of a friend said they liked Sakana of Tokyo in Castleton, and although I have driven by it many times, and seen it change hands a number of times, I had never been in. I figured, what the heck. So hubby and I gave it a go the other night when he had just come home from a business trip.

So the interior is sort of weird—very 80s nightclub kind of vibe, with lots of faux painting on the walls. The service was good (there weren’t many people there) and we got some wine to start.

They also have one of those all you can eat deals, but we just went with ordering exactly what we wanted and not worrying about whether we ordered too much. We started with the tuna tataki with ponzu sauce ($13). I was feeling a little nervous about the freshness of things given their small amount of business, but this tuna was really good. It was just barely seared, and served with various garnishes—some roe and seaweed. It took us a couple of bites to realize the ponzu sauce was underneath the spiralized radish (I think) that was propping the fish up. Once we realized that and dipped it in the sauce, we liked it even better.

We had a couple of rolls as well as some nigiri. The nigiri (one salmon and one tuna to just get a flavor for it) was very good and we were very impressed with the fish quality. The fish in the rolls was good as well—I liked that the spicy tuna/salmon here is not just like a weird mush, but actual recognizable pieces of fish with sauce. We had a basic avocado and tuna roll with a drizzle of spicy mayo ($6), the fire dragon roll ($13.95) which was spicy tuna inside and topped with avocado, eel and unagi sauce and the ocean roll, which was shrimp tempura and avocado on the inside topped with tuna, tempura flakes, unagi sauce, masago and spicy mayo ($12.95). So inherently, there was nothing wrong with any of the ingredients in the rolls. These are all variations of things we often get. And I didn’t care that the rolls were kind of messy if you know what I mean—not rolled very tightly. The thing that was the big bummer for me was that the individual pieces were so huge that there was no way I could eat them in one bite. I actually had to cut a couple in half, which makes it no fun because you don’t get all the ingredients in every bite. 

So overall, for me personally, I don’t think I would go back for rolls. I did really enjoy the appetizer and the nigiri, so maybe a meal of non-sushi rolls would be something I would do again. There are a lot of items on the appetizer menu that are appealing. But if you are a person who likes those all you can eat deals, you might want to look into this here. They must do a good lunch business or something, not quite sure how this big place stays afloat otherwise.

Sakana of Tokyo

5252 East 82^nd Street

Indy  46250

317/436-7774

www.sakanaoftokyo.com 

Asaka Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

Sadly, I have been a little disappointed with the quality of my sushi place lately, so hubby and I are on the quest for our new (close) sushi joint. I had been to Asaka years ago, and had been recently told by two people in two totally different circles that they really liked Asaka, so we thought we would give it another go. Plus, the only female sushi chef in town, which is pretty cool.

First of all, miracle of miracle, it’s in Castleton, which is notoriously awful for restaurants (although it is certainly getting better). It’s right next to Hooter’s in fact, if that demonstrates my point. It’s a cute little place inside—it has more charm and atmosphere than many, and even some little private rooms in the back where you take off your shoes and sit on the floor.

And here’s something some of you will really like—they do a “happy hour” everyday between 5:00-7:00 where they offer certain items at a reduced rate. I have included the happy hour menu with pricing so you can see what I mean. This post is about two different visits—the first time we weren’t there during happy hour and the second time we were. 

The nigiri is actually my favorite thing here, although I have enjoyed some of the rolls as well. They give you a really long, thin cut of the fish on the rice with the nigiri, and the fish is very good quality. Several of our favorite items (the tuna, the yellow tail and the salmon) were offered on the happy hour menu, so we got several pieces both times. I will say, for some reason during the happy hour visit, the fish was really, really cold, which was a tiny bit off putting to me. I’m not sure if this had something to do with the happy hour angle, but I just let it come to temp a little before eating it.

We tried several rolls on both occasions. On the happy hour menu, we tried the special roll ($5), which on this day was spicy tuna with a layer of yellow tail and some scallions. It was good, and a great deal, but had a little bigger pieces than I like. The other time we went, we had the Hoosier roll ($5.50), which was spicy tuna and avocado. It was a good basic roll. I like that their spicy tuna is nice pieces of recognizable tuna (this was true for the special happy hour roll as well). There were several other rolls as well—not sure of their exact names, but one had spicy salmon and spicy salmon on top, one was basically a shrimp tempura roll and the other was a spicy roll with jalapeno, salmon and avocado with some spicy mayo and eel sauce. They were all pretty tasty, although this is one place where I think I like the nigiri better; it was just so silky and high quality. The menu here features A LOT of rolls with cream cheese, which is not my favorite thing in a roll.

Both times we also had the shrimp shumai ($4.95)(these prices may be a little off, because the online menu doesn’t seem to be totally up to date) and the soft shell crab appetizer ($7.95). The first time we really enjoyed the soft shell crab, it was crunchy and delicious. The second time it was mostly batter and not a lot of the crab. Somewhat disappointing. The shumai were good both times though—I love a good dumpling. Our friend on our first visit just ordered a sashimi dinner and it was beautiful (it came with a bowl of rice).

The second visit (the happy hour visit), we were with the kids. My son got chicken katsu and really enjoyed it. I liked that it wasn’t just white meat and had some flavor. He inhaled it. My daughter got the shio ramen, and while it wasn’t the best I’ve had, it was certainly decent. We all ate some of it, and she seemed to really enjoy it. Again, the online menu doesn’t even show these particular items, so I am not sure of the exact prices. And in general, they have a lot of non-sushi items on the menu, so just about everyone can find something they will like.

Since it seems like I am basically going in reverse order of the pacing of the food, let me tell you about the salad they bring with each entrée. The ginger salad dressing on is super gingery and doesn’t have any creaminess to it. I could pretty much eat that stuff by itself. Just ginger and acid. It’s delicious.

Anyway, it’s a good place and will likely be a regular stop for us in the future, although I will lean more toward sashimi and nigiri here. There are some other rolls I would like to try as well. And there are a lot of appetizers that sound good. I would love to hear your thoughts on what you like here as well as other favorite sushi joints on the northeast side-ish.

Oh—and a super helpful tip, particularly for happy hour—they do take reservations, although not many make them. You can walk right past all the people waiting and be seated if you plan ahead a little.

Asaka

6414 East 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/576-0556

www.asakajapaneserestaurant.com