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 "Rated: **** EXCEPTIONAL" by Miami Herald "This is not your California roll emporium, though that beginner sushi is here. This is artistry, Japanese fusion cooking, even when it's raw.....Sushi Blues pleases everyone." ------------------------- "BEST SUSHI" - Miami Herald Readers Poll - "A unique gourmet restaurant since 1989, with many imitators." ------------------------- "The best in blues and Japanese cuisine" - Sun-Sentinel - ...when the music starts all is forgotten except the beat of the blues with the ability to penetrate the soul.....The environment is modern, with indirect lighting, carpet, white and mauve walls, colored posters, high ceilings, and a tiny space around the bandstand for dancing. A neon sign on an inside wall spells out the establishment's name, one that I relate to the best in blues and Japanese cuisine. ------------------------- - New Times Magazine - "....the sushi here is first-rate....So you think you know all there is to know about Sushi Blues Café? After all, it's a downtown Hollywood institution. For years, it's both served the raw fish-loving community and provided soul food -- of the live blues and jazz type -- to local music buffs. In short, it's been a mainstay in a town where the dining and entertainment establishments seem to change with every lunar cycle....A popular mainstay with a loyal fan base, I predict the business will not only survive the site change but grow in the process, providing Harrison Street the culinary anchor that it needs as badly as a mall requires a well-known department store or two." ------------------------- - City Link Magazine **** - The Sushi Blues Cafe has never been a typical Japanese restaurant since it opened on Young Circle in Hollywood in 1989. The name itself - a hybrid created by married owners Junko Maslak and Kenny Millions - is the obvious giveaway. Where else can you simultaneously eat a dancing eel sushi roll and, on weekends, see live music with Millions on saxophone and drums and teenage daughter Melissa playing bass? The quirky combining of Japanese sushi and American roots music has been so successful that it has spawned imitators. There's Sushi Jazz located just a couple of blocks east on Harrison Street. Sushi Rock opened recently on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. What next? Sushi Soul Cafe? How about Sushi Bagpipe, Sushi Polka or maybe even Sushi Klezmer? The derivatives are endless, though it's unlikely any can keep up with the original. Maslak, who cares for the food while Millions provides the music, has made sure of that. To go along with the first-rate array of sushi, she's added an exciting gourmet menu that distinguishes Sushi Blues from it's competitors and compares favorably with those serving haute cuisine. In keeping with the creative karma of the cafe, Maslak has fashioned a nouveau synthesis of Japanese and American ingredients, with a special nod toward Florida flavors. A daunting list of 20 appetizers infuses soy, wasabi, ginger, miso and sesame into an impressive range of vegetable and seafood platters. Grilled eggplant ($6.25) is served with a honey miso sauce. Seared tuna and avocado salad ($7.50) is wetted with a champagne vinaigrette. A grilled portabello mushroom ($6.75) is seasoned with teriyaki. On two recent visits, a guest and I sampled the vegetable spring rolls ($4.75) served with a sweet and hot wasabi dipping sauce; and the super-size shrimp ($7.95) deep-fried in a wrap of nori (seaweed), panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and scallion, which was dipped in sesame and ginger. Both appetizers were big and delicious. There are 10 main courses and choosing one was a challenge. Grilled lamb chops ($18.95) marinated in a jerk sauce were tempting, as was the salmon (teriyaki or steamed) topped with shiitake mushrooms and leeks ($15.95). Filet mignon, comboed with the shiitakes in a balsamic vinegar-soy sauce reduction ($19.95), proved irresistible, though. The filet was a choice, tender cut, and the sweet tartness of the balsamic vinegar was a smart balance to the salty soy. A side of smashed sweet potatoes touched with honey and ginger came with the robust steak. My guest found nirvana in a thick tuna steak ($19.95) that was cooked rare, topped with thinly shredded leeks and placed on a garlic-ginger sauce. That, too, was served with the sweet potatoes, and a lovely ration of mesquite grilled zucchini. Results were mixed thought on the wasabi, Dijon and herb-crusted snapper ($14.95), which was served over a bed of mixed greens. The herbs - parsley, cilantro and dill - were a bit strong for the delicate snapper. My preference would have been rosemary or thyme, but that's a matter of personal taste. Those who want sushi will be more than satisfied by the nifty inventions of Yozo Masuda, who's become something of a cult figure in the sushi community. As with the menu of cooked cuisine, there's plenty to choose from at the sushi bar. If it's not listed, Yozo will entertain requests. Sushi Blues has a small, but adequate wine list, though servings by the glass seemed a bit scant. Desserts prepared by Maslak and Millions' daughter Mari are highly recommended. A cappuccino custard was perfectly sweet and creamy; a poached pear drenched in a cabernet sauce, served as a daily special, is a hard-to-come-by treat likely to induce future cravings. First-rate gourmet cuisine, the best sushi around and live music? Where else but Sushi Blues." Jeff Rusnak |