Sushi Ichiban

FOOD

Sushi Ichiban’s food includes substantial choices of nigiri and expands into an extensive family of specialty rolls, including baked and deep-fried versions. Cooked appetizers give the table plenty to share between sushi orders. The selection accommodates a meal focused on individual pieces of fish, but it also leaves considerable room for combinations involving tempura, avocado, fruit and several kinds of sauce.

Salmon, tuna and yellowtail provide a straightforward introduction to the nigiri. Albacore broadens that selection, with seared and Cajun preparations adding alternatives to the plain piece. Eel, shrimp, octopus and mackerel offer further changes in texture and preparation. Ordered a few pieces at a time, these let the meal remain centered on fish even when a neighboring plate is piled with a more elaborate roll.

The simpler cut rolls are useful in their own right. Spicy tuna puts seasoned fish inside a compact roll; eel and cucumber combines a cooked filling with a crisp vegetable. California, salmon skin and vegetable rolls offer familiar choices alongside them. These smaller compositions give the table a pause from the stacked toppings and overlapping sauces that characterize much of the specialty selection.

The Spider Roll is one of the more substantial combinations, bringing soft-shell crab together with avocado, cucumber, burdock root and radish sprouts, finished with eel sauce. Mango Style takes a different approach: mango, crab and cucumber beneath salmon, tuna, yellowtail and avocado, with spicy garlic ponzu. Fruit is woven into the roll itself, adding sweetness alongside several types of fish. These two choices show how far apart successive orders can be, even before reaching the baked section.

Cinderella extends that interest in fruit with shrimp tempura, avocado and cream cheese beneath salmon, kiwi sauce and crunchy onion. The cream cheese and fried shrimp make it a richer construction than Mango Style. For a sharper combination, Arizona pairs spicy yellowtail and cucumber with more yellowtail and spicy garlic ponzu. The differences are worth noticing as plates arrive: fruit, citrus-based sauce, fried fillings and creamy additions each produce a distinct kind of roll.

Baked and deep-fried rolls add another set of preparations to the meal. Mistake uses a spicy chopped fish mixture and cucumber beneath torched salmon, with sweet onion sauce and spicy garlic ponzu. Its cooked surface offers another way to approach a fish-topped roll. Sharing these richer choices, or ordering half rolls, leaves more opportunity to try a second preparation while the first is still on the table.

Among the cooked dishes, shrimp tempura and calamari tempura bring fried seafood in separate portions. Baked mussels, pork belly and agedashi tofu give the meal substance beyond rolls. Gyoza and takoyaki fit readily into a shared order, while garlic edamame, cucumber salad and miso soup provide simpler accompaniments. The appetizers allow a group to build a varied spread without everyone following the same sequence of sushi.

Chicken teriyaki and chashu-and-egg fried rice carry the selection into more substantial cooked food. They suit a table where enthusiasm for raw fish varies, though rice dishes naturally take up more of the meal. The sweeter finish includes green tea ice cream and mochi, small enough to follow a final order of sushi without requiring another elaborate plate.