For dinner, I had vegetable tempura, a cucumber roll, a spicy tuna roll, and some sake. It was all rather unexceptional. The location was Azuma, a mini-chain of Japanese "sushi and robata bars". I had never heard the term 'robata' before, and wondered if it was some sort of robot kitsch takeoff on Benihana. If only.
The food wasn't bad, just boring and average and kind of pricey. I usually end up spending too much time and brainpower with the menu at this sort of place trying to cobble together a meal out of appetizers and a la cartes, because all the yummy-looking entrees are $20+.
The tempura was doughnut-like. Tempura should NEVER be doughnut-like. Anything deep-fried is still delicious, but the whole point of tempura is a light coating of crispy batter. The cucumber sushi tasted clean and refreshing, but it's pretty hard to screw up sushi rice, cucumber, and seaweed. I got a chunk of cucumber by itself, and the flavor was not very good- they had some produce sourcing issues. Likewise, the salmon was spicier than any I've ever had (good), but it smelled pretty fishy (scary). Jon said his hirame was likewise very fishy tasting.
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