Saturday, October 16, 2004

Awash in sushi

ERIC SAGARA

Tucson Citizen

The nearest ocean is hours away, but a great raw fish experience is only a few minutes' drive from anywhere within the city.

Take Sushi Hama at Oracle and Roger roads, where regular customers say quality, quantity and service are all abundant.

The chefs at Sushi Ten, Speedway and Swan, also consistently serve up a quality product.

More centrally located? Try Sushi Saga on Speedway Boulevard near Country Club Road for a wide variety of food, including tacos and a great volcano roll.

Then there's Sushi Cho, with its Mayor Bob Walkup roll, named after a well-known regular.

Maria Rodriguez, a pharmaceutical saleswoman, said the sushi she finds here is "better quality than what I get in San Francisco."

It's surprising how many sushi bars there are in Tucson, said Janice Berger, an engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems.

"We eat sushi 10 times more than any Mexican food," she said.

There are 18 local sushi bars listed on www.eatsushi.com, but the list is incomplete.

For example, Sushi Savvy, a restaurant in La Placita downtown that deals only in takeout and delivery, is not on that list.

Customers can call in, go online to www.sushisavvy.com or walk up to the restaurant's window.

Sushi is popular because it's nutritious and tasty, said Pancho Kim, head chef and owner of Sushi Hama, who's known for lobbing steaming-hot towels to diners.

The fish is most important, then the rice and the sauce, but Kim said all ingredients need to be high quality.

For Rodriguez, Janice Berger and her husband, Tom, sushi is comfort food.

"I never imagined in my whole life I'd like sushi until I moved here," said Janice Berger, a resident since 1998.

The Bergers aren't afraid to try new places, but they warn that there are a few things to watch out for.

Beware a fishy smell - it may mean the goods aren't fresh, said Tom Berger, also an engineer at Raytheon.

There are many things to look for in a sushi bar - for quantity, try all-you-can-eat at Sushi Garden or Sushi Hama; for large portions, Sushi Saga and Sushi Cho are safe bets. Kampai Sushi and Shogun Sushi offer nice atmospheres.

Rodriguez and Janice Berger warned that sushi first-timers should be accompanied by a more experienced friend.

"If you order the wrong thing, you're going to have a bad experience," Rodriguez said.

There are a few common mistakes the uninitiated make, they said.

First: the soybeans that often precede the meal. Take them out of the pod before eating.

Second: Use the pickled ginger and Japanese horseradish, wasabi, with caution.

Janice Berger passes on the ginger, but loves wasabi mixed with soy sauce. Rodriguez differs.

"I like both," she said. "I like to get that rush in my head and taste all those flavors."