American Japa Sushi – Millenia

FOOD

American Japa gives familiar sushi forms a Japanese-Brazilian flourish, with cream cheese, elaborate toppings and fruit jellies finding plenty of company. Traditional, called Basic Experience on the menu, is the regular table-served unlimited meal; Premium expands the selection. The menu can change, but there is already considerable variety before an upgrade enters the conversation.

The Traditional meal has a cool, tangy side as well as all that sushi. Sunomono brings thinly sliced cucumber in sweet rice vinegar with sesame, while the tilapia ceviche takes citrus in another direction, adding tomato, red onion and cilantro. Salmon carpaccio comes thinly sliced with ponzu; torched salmon carpaccio gets teriyaki and crispy sweet-potato straws. Fish can arrive simply sliced, lightly torched or rather dressed up. All three have a place here.

Hot appetizers make room for a warm pause between fish dishes. Pork gyoza are pan-fried dumplings filled with pork and vegetables; shimeji mushrooms come sautéed with garlic, soy sauce and green onion. Then there are the sushi fried balls: battered rice balls filled with salmon and cream cheese, finished with eel sauce. A sushi meal that has found a way to include fried, filled rice balls. How thoughtful.

The rolls range from thin hossomaki with fish, kani or cucumber to Philadelphia’s salmon, cream cheese and chives. California keeps its familiar crab stick, cucumber and avocado combination. Temaki gathers rice and filling into a nori cone, while Hot Temaki takes salmon, cream cheese and chives through a panko coating and a turn in the fryer. The breaded hot rolls get even more playful, with toppings running from fried garlic and crispy kale to guava and strawberry jelly.

Traditional Djo deserves its own introduction. A strip of raw salmon wraps around sushi rice, with cream cheese above and a topping to finish. Green onion and salmon pâté keep it savory; guava, strawberry or pepper jelly bring another sort of company. That little salmon parcel tells you quite a bit about the house: recognizable sushi ingredients, happily making room for Brazilian combinations.

Premium carries the embellishment further. Special Salmon Sashimi dresses thick raw slices with lemon zest, fleur de sel and truffle oil. Tuna Tataki Carpaccio is thinly cut, fanned across the plate and finished with sesame. Philadelphia Special Roll stacks torched salmon and omelette above its salmon-and-cream-cheese filling. Salmon inside, salmon above. Apparently once was insufficient. Crunch Special adds fried shrimp, spicy kani, avocado and spicy mayo, while Dragon brings tempura shrimp, avocado, eel and eel sauce together.

Dessert continues the cheese-and-fruit affection. Cream-cheese ice cream with guava sits alongside fried banana and sweet harumaki on both experience menus. The harumaki’s Romeo & Juliet filling pairs cheese with guava inside a fried spring roll. A romance with a sensible edible conclusion. Dulce de leche and Nutella fillings also join the sweet selection.

Thursday’s separate unlimited meal focuses on temaki or sushi tacos, with one style chosen for the experience. The regular rodizio gives the broader sushi-and-hot-food appetite considerably more room to wander.