Cuisine Review

I promise to go back to another continent of food for a while after this column, but I had such a stellar sushi experience that I could not pass up telling you about it.

My first choice has always been Banzai at Schillinger and Airport, but it sometimes is just too far out for my psyche. Those who live on the Hill can get out there fairly quickly, but not me.

At first I avoided Liquid, in LoDa, next to the Bicycle Shop on Dauphin Street just east of Washington Avenue. I mean, it was hard for me to think about munching sushi in a lounge where it could be eaten at 1 a.m. But several friends had exclaimed its virtues, so when the Lagniappe staff was going to lunch a few weeks ago, off to Liquid we went. They serve sushi at lunchtime, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., dinner from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. and have a chef with 12 years of rolling experience.

While we had the “B” team at lunch, we could not stop eating the sushi, almost gorging ourselves. Or rather, I did gorge myself. The menu has a multitude of selections and combinations. The categories consist of appetizers, soup and salad, 5 cut rolls, 6 cut rolls, 8 cut rolls, spicy and tempura rolls.

Most of the prices are a value, with just a few items overpriced. For appetizers, there is tuna, salmon or hamachi sashimi ($10), tuna or salmon poki ($11, the salmon, for instance, is with avocado, jalapeno and green onions) and a spring roll (two pieces, $6, shrimp, crab salad, cream cheese and avocado). The soups and salads are small and a bit pricey – you can get a regular roll for the same amount as the miso soup ($5), which is a small bowl. The endame is good, but is $5 as well, as is a good, but small serving of seaweed salad ($5). You can roll your head off later on, so pace yourself.

A few of the six-cut rolls are Sunrise ($11, smoked salmon, tuna, avocado, cream cheese – tempura fried) or the red and white ($10 tuna and snapper, fried). All of the rolls are generously sized. There is no skimping at all here, which makes the price right. And the fish could not be fresher or of higher quality. The tuna was a bright ruby red pink for example. No fishy taste in any of the rolls.

Kevin Lee sat next to me and ordered the Loco Kamikaze ($9) spicy tuna, unagi, cucumber, cream cheese and rice noodles, fried. Huge pinwheels were laid across the plate, drizzled in a rich sauce. He offered, and one bite had me hooked. The cream cheese was slightly melted, the tempura light yet crunchy. This is the best damn thing on the menu.

Even though Rob Holbert and I had already ordered three rolls to share (Editor’s Note: Kinnon ate waaaaay more than his share. Do not ever split sushi with him!) I immediately ordered this from our somewhat confused waitress.

The miso soup Ashley Toland ordered never came, so she asked that they substitute a spicy tuna roll instead (same cost as soup, $5). I had selected this as well, and while not overly spicy, or as spicy as I like it to be, the tuna was plentiful and as stated earlier, fresh and of good quality. Others to consider of the eight-cut rolls are the Liquid ($13) which consists of crab salad, cucumber with smoked salmon, avocado and shrimp on top; crusty snapper ($7) which is snapper, salmon, cream cheese and fresh ginger fried with panko or get the Cowboy ($14) – crunchy fried steak, jalapeno, cream cheese, spinach, fried potato and fried sweet potato.

Rob and I decided to try the Crunchy II ($8), spicy tempura flakes, mayo and masago topped with smoked salmon. There are crunches of tempura on top and around the platter to top on the wonderful salmon roll. You can also select the Crunchy ($10), a fat roll of tempura shrimp, spicy tempura flakes, eel and avocado on top. Rounding out the menu is a large listing of nigiri such as octopus, smelt and flying fish roe, roasted eel and sea urchin in addition to salmon, tuna and the like. All of these are market priced.

About the atmosphere, it is rather dark, keep in mind that this is really a bar. The seating is minimal and at night it tends to get packed with drinkers and smokers in addition to diners. The seats are overstuffed sectional sofa pieces that you sink into like a marshmallow. They are not uncomfortable; you just need to be prepared. For those who no longer hang out late night in bars, my suggestion is to try them for lunch during the week, an evening early in the week or early in the evening on weekends. Or hey, set your alarm and go down at midnight. Then again, when the weather is nice, you can sit outside at tables along the sidewalk.

Just when I thought I could eat no more, Kevin insisted I try dessert. Tempura fried bananas on top of chocolate ice cream, topped with fresh coconut and drizzled with a bit of cherry sauce. I don’t even like bananas, but wanted this all to myself.

In fact, I was accused several times by Rob to be a roll hog. (Editor’s note: He is!) Well, I have been known to hold back on a roll or two, but that is another story. Whether you save room for it or not, if they are making this dessert, get it.

I have really had some great eating experiences in town lately, which is a great and long-time-coming problem to have in these parts. Liquid is another favorite to add to your list.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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