Blue Claw All You Can Eat Sushi & Bar

FOOD

TNT is a useful introduction to Blue Claw’s more elaborate rolls. Spicy tuna fills the center, with pepper tuna, spicy ponzu and green onion on top. The appeal is the combination of two tuna preparations with a citrus-soy finish, rather than a long procession of creamy toppings.

Salmon Lover takes a sweeter approach. Spicy salmon and mango form the filling, topped with torched salmon, eel sauce and crunch. It gives salmon enthusiasts both a spicy filling and a torched topping in the same order, with mango adding something quite different from TNT’s pepper-and-ponzu combination. Choosing between them is optional. This is, after all, the sort of meal that allows further investigation.

Cooked-roll fans have Snow Mountain and Shaggy Dog to consider. Snow Mountain starts with shrimp tempura and avocado, then adds crab meat, crunch, spicy mayonnaise and eel sauce. Shaggy Dog also combines shrimp tempura and crab with those familiar sauces. Both belong to the generously dressed style of sushi roll; simpler maki and individual nigiri provide a change of pace when you want fewer ingredients competing for attention.

Hibachi and teriyaki give the hot kitchen a substantial role alongside the sushi. For smaller accompaniments, there are miso, onion and hot-and-sour soups, plus seaweed and avocado salads. Hot-and-sour soup is a welcome detail in a menu dominated by Japanese-style sushi and grilled dishes. A bowl of it offers a very different start from going straight to a tempura-filled roll.

Dinner expands the seafood selection with sashimi, yellowtail, poke and carpaccio, as well as lobster rolls and a seafood boil. Those evening additions matter when choosing between lunch and dinner: they broaden the meal beyond the regular sushi-and-kitchen selection. They also explain why Blue Claw deserves to be considered as a seafood outing, with several ways to enjoy the fish and shellfish rather than an evening devoted entirely to rolls.