I have asked, but no one has an emphatic answer for "Where is the best sushi around here?" The City Paper food reviews give Asahi, on Broadway, and Kawasaki, right around the corner, the best marks. I wasn't as wowed by Asahi as they were. But Kawasaki has become my reliable favorite. (I can't provide a link for Kawasaki, because their website is chronically broken; however, citysearch gives a restaurant profile with all of the pertinent information.)
I've been to Kawasaki numerous times. Recently, a few of us had lunch there, and we were all so happy with our meals that it deserves a review.
There's nothing particularly great or awful about the ambiance of the restaurant. The best feature is the bank of 4 traditional sunken tables along the windows, where you must remove your shoes before seating. There is also a standard sushi bar for about 5 people and another 10 regular tables. The outside seating on the sidewalk of the cobblestone street, overlooking the water and people on the promenade, is ideal - and a bonus for when you want to bring your dog!
So, the food is best described as "reliable". I go there because the fish is always a good quality and the preparation is always better than average. First, let's start with the basics. If I am having a lunch or afternoon snack, my regular order is the appetizer portion of tuna sashimi, which is simply 10-12 slices of tuna for around $10 and a seaweed salad. The seaweed salad is as good as any I have had - a standard that they get right. Their version of the spicy tuna roll is covered with a spicy sauce that is a little smoky and tangy, and most importantly, not the dreaded mayonnaise-y version. At our recent lunch, we discovered some of their yummy rolls, including the Western Roll and the Sashimi Roll. The Western Roll is crunchy and tasty with tempura salmon. The Sashimi is salmon and avocado with a mint leaf wrapped in cucumber and topped with a delicate dab of wasabi mayonnaise. Their Spider Roll, with light tempura softshell crab, is actually one of the best I have ever had. All of these rolls reveal that they tend to use a delicate and creative touch, never overwhelming the star of the show - the fish.
This solid menu of good sashimi and sushi and lovely maki, conveniently located down the promenade, is enough to make it my goto sushi spot, but it gets better! Kawasaki offers a lunch special menu. There are lunch boxes and sushi specials, all with a LOT of food for the money. Choose 2 or 3 rolls from an abbreviated list, for only $7.95 or $11.95, respectively, which includes miso soup and house salad. Usually, "bargain sushi" scares me, but I wasn't afraid here.
Having no interest in anything BUT the fish, I have yet to try Kawasaki's non-sushi Japanese food offerings. Next time I go, I will bring my sushi-loathing husband so he can amend this review. And while I imagine there is a fancier or better sushi place in all of Baltimore, until I find it I will recommend Kawasaki. It get 4 out of 5 chopsticks for it's reliable and delicious food and ideal (walkable) location with outside seating.
We have driven by Red Fish on Boston Ave quite a few times and we thought the sign was cool, so the restaurant must be good, right? We arrived after 6:00. There were a few people at the bar and another couple in the small restaurant. The first smell I noticed was lemony floor cleaner and dirty soapy water, you know the smell, as though it had just been cleaned for the dinner crowd. Ew. The interior is cute, with beautiful old wood details, brown painted brick and an eclectic mix of grandma-meets-Anthropogie crystal chandeliers. Next, the truely bizarre choice of music hits us. It was a little TOO loud for a small restaurant and it included “Rapper’s Delight”.
The waiter was endearingly awkward but had to go to the bar to find out what beers were on tap, then again to find out the vodkas. The only vodkas were Schmirnoff, Stoli and a Swedish brand called “Svedka”. Donavon decided to try to Svedka, up with olives, since there were no premium vodkas. To be fair, he said the shipment hadn’t come in, yet. I ordered the Sam Adams White Ale. I can take endearing awkwardness in a waiter, but unfortunately service was just plain lacadaisical. We got the feeling that the boss was out sick. It took too long to bring our drinks. When they arrived, the beer was warm and Donavon was disappointed with the vodka and its mushy olives.
The menu is impressive and promises good stuff. We ordered - Donavon got the coconut crusted mahi mahi with cumin scented pineapple salsa, I ordered the Tuscan shrimp on warm white bean salad. We asked for some bread while we waited. He hadn’t offered any, but a server had tempted us with some when she mistakenly brought bread to our table before finding its rightful owners (the only other couple in the restauarant). We waited a little too long, about 20-25 minutes, while listening to Sister Sledge, before our entrees were served. During our wait, we couldn’t avoid hearing the server to the neighboring couple. He was trying to find a pepper mill. He came back a few times apologizing that he couldn’t find either of the 2 pepper mills anywhere. Hearing this inspired Donavon to ask for ground pepper, of course. Either way, if our server could or couldn’t find it, we wanted to see what would happen. Side note, no bread mistakenly or deliberately made it to our table during this wait.
The good news is that Donavon’s mahi mahi was great. It was the best part of the dinner. The basmati rice was soft and creamy, the coconut crust light and delicate and the pineapple salsa a beautiful tangy accent to the sweet meatiness of the fish. So, I was really impressed with this dish. The flavors were kept subtle enough and the fish was lovely. The portion, like my shrimp, was big. Oh, our server DID find the pepper mill. He had to explain this to our neighbors.
My Tuscan shrimp and warm bean salad was almost really good. The idea was great but it fell short of stardom for two reasons. Although the shrimp was cooked to the perfect point, it wasn’t the best quality shrimp. It lacked the really fresh flavor and tenderness of a nicer quality shrimp. It was a dish that depended too much on the shrimp for them to not be a real treat. I even left one shrimp uneaten, as there was nothing particularly exciting about it. A little like tofu right out of the package. The second, subtler shortcoming was that the flavors only began to work. The predominant ingredients added to the white beans were tomatoes and capers. That would have been really good if it had been developed into a full putanesca style mixture. I wanted some more garlic and some glistening olive oil to match the heft of the white beans. The flavors stopped at the caper-tomato acid. It was edible and ok, but again, I couldn’t help but think ‘what if’ the shrimp had been better and there had been a little more complexity and lustrousness to the bean salad.
And the bread - we had to ask for it again when our food came. Somewhere mid-meal he brought out a plate of warm triangles with an explanation. He informed us that, “We don’t have dinner rolls here, so they grill up a pita .” Indeed, it was one piece of pita, grilled to black at the edges and cut into eight. The explanation was a lame as the bread. Who should have to explain “bread”? I’m thinking they need to have a meeting about this.
Overall, the FOOD could be really good here. The mahi mahi gives me hope and the shrimp had potential. Tonight, the service, the music (Sugar Hill Gang?) and even the drinks were a huge damper on a nice dinner out. But since the food was good and could be great, I can’t totally diss this place. What are the odds we will go back? Ambience and service can vary from day to day and when the food is good like this, it deserves another chance. Maybe if we show up a little later, skip the well drinks and settle in for a long dinner, it could be a better experience. We want it to be a better place than this. I’d give it 3/5 forks and our best wishes.
