Austin Sushi News #14 December, 2001 Welcome to Austin Sushi News, a friendly by-product of the sushi website for Austin, Texas, www.austinsushi.com Once every month or so, we bring you the latest scoop on sushi bars and related matters in Austin, Texas. CONTENTS: 0. RECAP: the year in sushi 1. NEW sushi openings NOW -- Go, Go, Go! 2. Can you trust your sushi? Fish Fraud in Texas 3. Zamfir sucks! Disco night at Seoul Sushi Bar 4. Sushi nights at the Lemon Grass 5. Sushi Christmas Ornaments =============================================== 0. RECAP: the year in sushi 2001 started with the remodeling of Musashino and the opening of Kenichi (our number one and two rated sushi bars, respectively), and now finishes with the opening of Austin's first full-scale, all-you-can-eat sushi buffet, Oishi Sushi House (see below). Overall, not only did ten new sushi bars open in the past 18 months, but your favorite tree-eating media outlets, the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman, both jumped on the sushi bandwagon and started seriously looking at the sushi phenom in Austin. ====================== 1. NEW sushi openings NOW -- Go, Go, Go! No less than two new sushi establishments have just opened their doors. Midori Sushi and Oishi Sushi House both opened on December 18th and it's time to check'em out. Oishi Sushi House, which is located in the former Mason Jar restaurant building in the parking lot across from the General Cinema 10 theatre, has a 20 foot long sushi buffet (yes, that's 20 feet of assorted sushi), a 20 foot long buffet of hot (mostly seafood) dishes, and a 10 foot appetizer buffet. The cost for this all-you-can-eat banquet? $24.95 at dinner, $11.95 at lunch. While a bit pricey, this is all-you-can-eat *sushi*, though it remains to be seen if this sushi is worth the trip. CALL FIRST to make sure they're open (especially for lunch). Oishi Sushi House 6718 Middle Fiskville Road Austin, Texas (512) 302-9811 (call 302-9800 if no answer) Midori is a snappy new sushi bar that has a tidy interior with high ceilings. We dropped by to check it out but didn't have time to eat. We'll review it soon. Midori Sushi 13435 U.S. Highway 183 North, Suite 301, NE quadrant of 183 and Anderson Mill Road, next to the Albertsons. (512) 257-1411 ====================== 2. Can you trust your sushi? Fish Fraud in Texas "Who regulates fish sold by Texas restaurants? The short answer is: no one," writes food critic Robb Walsh in his revealing Houston Press article about the seafood industry in Texas. Among his findings are the fact that some restaurants have knowingly substituted less expensive or less desirable species of fish in their dinners served to customers. "Restaurants are outside our jurisdiction," says an FDA spokesperson quoted in the article. "We can only regulate wholesalers and retail stores -- businesses engaged in interstate commerce [not the restauranteurs]." The full story is here: http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2001-11-01/feature.html/1/index.html ====================== 3. Zamfir sucks! Disco night at Seoul Sushi Bar Disco and sushi anyone? Every monday night at Seoul Sushi Bar, the Pipes of Zamfir play back seat to 70's disco tunes. Dancing and sake bombs are the norm, and they're even planning on adding disco karaoke in January. It's a pretty small restaurant but I've heard this gig is fun. Seoul Sushi Bar 6400 S. 1st Street (Between Stassney and William Cannon) (512) 326-5807 ====================== 4. Sushi nights at the Lemon Grass Ped's Lemon Grass Asian Grill, which has two locations in Austin, recently started a sushi nite at their newer downtown location. Sushi nite is every other thursday at their downtown 6th Street location, and every other saturday at their Lakeway location. No details on the quality yet. Ped's Lemon Grass Asian Grill 601 W. 6th St (512) 457-1233 Ped's Lemon Grass Asian Grill 1310 Ranch Road 620 Lakeway (512) 263-2221 ====================== 5. Sushi Christmas Ornaments If you're one of the many, many........MANY mono-cultural celebrants of the birth of Jesus, there's still time to pick up your sushi Christmas ornaments! http://www.freecfm.com/e/electramax/fd/category.cfm?categoryID=37 (Note: this link seemed to have stopped working, but hopefully it will come back soon) ==============================================