Austin Sushi News

It's been almost exactly five years since the unpleasantness, and, I have to say, that Silhouette Sushi is now truly back, and in a good way. More laid back than Kenichi or Uchi, Silhouette has good sushi, a convenient Congress Avenue location (718 N. Congress Ave), and even the occasional DJ.

What's doing well in the current economy? Just about anything that's cheap. Case in point -- buffets! There's nothing more deeply American than a gluttonous all-you-can-eat buffet. And, I think all Americans need to rally around our traditions during this troubled time and just pig-out. Don't let the down economy keep you from that third or fourth belt-loosening trip to the buffet! Austin's got two new additions to the sushi landscape that are perfect for such feasting, and at everyday low, low prices.

Just North of Austin in Georgetown, Texas is the Ichiban Sushi Buffet located at 1103 Rivery Blvd, suite 210. Go stuff yourself!

Now, if you'd like some some novelty in your porcine pig-out, consider the newly renovated Korea Garden which now offers a conveyor belt buffet (called kaiten-zushi) that is common in Japan's low-cost sushi joints. Korea Garden, by the way, has changed it's name to "K.G. Sushi Train" (the "KG" stands for "Korea Garden," I suppose). The "train" is a conveyor belt, not a train. But what's important here are their prices which definitely ranks it as some of the most affordable sushi in Austin.

Quality Seafood has changed a lot since the days when it supplied 99% of all the seafood to Austin area restaurants and grocery stores. It still has its wholesale seafood business, but it's now a live music venue with some rather fun weekly events. In particular, Wednesday night is Sushi Night and there's usually live music to go along with that.

This is, perhaps, a strange category for this fish-laden Austin Sushi News report, but, especially in this age of over-fishing and mercury contamination, there is a place for our vegan brethren. And, I must say that, it's pretty hard to find high-quality vegan food in Austin. Sure, I dig Casa De Luz and Veggie Heaven on occasion, but the recently opened Daily Juice Cafe at 45th and Duval has an amazing vegan sushi roll on their menu called the Daily Sushi. The roll consists of "pumpkinseed pesto, coconut strips, shredded carrots, avocado, red bell pepper, and sprouts rolled in a crisp nori sheet and served with ginger-wasabi dipping sauce." Now that's good eatin' !

The AustinSushi.com team took a stroll over to Maki, the latest spin on "fast" Japanese food, and was mightily impressed by this new Austin operation. They are, essentially, a roll-your-own sushi roll bar where you walk up to a counter, point at the ingredients you want, and the person behind the counter (not a sushi chef) makes the requested roll. In order to speed up the delivery time and lower employee costs, they utilize a sushi robot, specifically the Audio-Technica ASM 860, that spreads the rice onto the nori. This allows for relatively unskilled labor to complete the roll.
The place has a noveau fresh ambiance with a pleasant lime green color and spiffy graphics on the wall. It's definitely "fast" food and not a sushi bar, but still a great place to get a sushi fix when you need something fast that's well-prepared.

The notorious DK has apparently revved-up his sushi making machine, and is offering classes on a weekly basis (every thursday and saturday) at very affordable prices.

Meanwhile, Andrew "Kiniakua" Grambusch is now offering catering and classes as "Sushi Anyone?". From the looks of his photos, he has some chops.

Husband and wife team, Take and Kayo, owners of delibento.com, also offer sushi catering and classes. Check out their "Little Rollers" class for kids!

The AustinSushi team trekked back to Imperia for an all-out sushifest featuring some amazing creations from head chef Tatsu Aikawa and just enough sake to to keep things chill. Imperia is positioning itself as a downtown sushi player to be reckoned with despite being only blocks from Kenichi, Maiko, Kyoto, and Silhouette.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Uchi will expand with a second sushi bar in an, as yet, unamed "North Central" Austin location, "perhaps within months."

Uchi's head chef, Tyson Cole, is also opening a third restaurant as well. It appears to be the prophesized sushi restaurant inside the new "W" Hotel rising up just North of City Hall. The new restaurant inside the "W" will be named "Canteen" and will feaure Japanese and Spanish cuisine.

Our intrepid Austin Sushi News reporter, CuddleFish, alerted us to a New York Times story about two teenagers testing sushi at sushi bars in New York City. They discovered that a full 25% of sushi served to them (from tobiko to tuna) did not match the DNA of the seafood listed on the menu. No word on which sushi bars were guilty of the bait and switch, but hopefully a portable version of this DNA fingerprinting will become available (the pair had to send their sushi samples to a lab for testing).

Austin Sushi News reported on a similar scam (the reviewer used their finely tuned palate instead of laboratory testing) in the December, 2001 edition of Austin Sushi News