Fushimi Japanese Restaurant: Sushi and artistry

Photo

Photo by: Special to The Vindicator

An appetizer from the sushi bar at Fushimi Japanese Restaurant. The Tuna Dumpling ($9.95) consists of mashed avocado and crab wrapped in tuna and topped with caviar. Dumplings are cleverly designed to look like flowers.

By REBECCA S. NIEMINEN

BOARDMAN

If you’re fond of sushi and Japanese cuisine there’s a new restaurant in the Valley that will wow both your palate and your artistic sensibilities.

Fushimi Japanese Restaurant opened just three weeks ago but is already causing a sensation with its Japanese fusion cuisine created with only the freshest ingredients.

As soon as you step through the establishment’s door you will realize this is not your average sushi bar!

Sleek Asian decor, dim lighting, elegant piano music and a hibachi grill set the mood for the incredible culinary experience that’s about to unfold.

During my visit to Fushimi, I was just as astonished by the exquisite appearance of the food as I was the exquisite blending of tastes and textures.

I began my meal with the kani salad ($4.95). This dish combines crabmeat, caviar, cucumber and mayo. It is light with just enough spice to wake your taste buds, and the caviar adds an element of status to the crisp and refreshing blend of tastes.

Next I enjoyed an appetizer from the sushi bar—the tuna dumpling ($9.95). This dish is a work of art to both the eyes and the palate. It consists of mashed avocado and crab wrapped in tuna and topped with caviar. The dumplings are cleverly designed to look like flowers and are almost too pretty to eat—almost. If you enjoy sushi, you will fall in love this gorgeous dish.

The strawberry field roll ($10.95) was the first entree to arrive at my table. It features shrimp tempura and crabmeat wrapped in avocado and topped with eel sauce and honey sauce. The sweet and spicy blend of tastes and textures is perfection, hitting you all at once and making you crave the next bite.

Just when I thought nothing could surpass the sublime artistry of what I had already experienced, the angry dragon roll ($11.95) arrived at my table. This entree consists of a shrimp tempura and cucumber wrapped in eel and avocado and topped with avocado and eel sauce. The plate is adorned with the image of a dragon “drawn” with a soy sauce blend. A tiny triangular-shaped light that flashes from blue to green to fuchsia also graces the plate, making it seem as if the “angry dragon” is truly a fire-breather and lending to the dish’s ultimate wow factor.

As a lover of food prepared on the hibachi grill, I thoroughly enjoyed Fushimi’s chicken and shrimp hibachi entr e ($17.95) served with a vegetables and rice. I also fell in love with the beef yaki udon ($11.95) entree, which boasts stir fry and beef and the most spectacular melt-in-your-mouth, made-from- scratch noodles you will ever taste.

Fushimi’s owners, Xiao and Annie Wang, are Chinese and moved here from New York City. They also own Pho Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant located in Boardman.

Xiao’s father is a commercial fisherman in China, and Xiao is passionate about sushi and the art of cooking.

Fushimi Japanese Restaurant offers a kids’ menu and carry out and is also known for its creative cocktails and happy hour.