Kanau Sushi & Izakaya

FOOD

Kanau’s dinner selection gives sushi the leading role, with enough variety to mix straightforward pieces and more elaborate rolls in the same meal. Salmon, tuna and yellowtail are among the nigiri choices, joined by eel, tamago and shrimp. A few pieces make a useful beginning before committing to the larger rolls. The full dinner offering gives you more choice than weekday lunch, particularly if sashimi is high on your list.

The seared preparations add more seasoning to that sushi order. Salmon comes with spicy mayo and masago, while tuna is paired with wasabi salsa. Yellowtail has jalapeño and cilantro. Eel offers another cooked-fish option alongside them, making it possible to enjoy a sushi-focused meal without ordering only raw fish.

Shaggy Dog is one of the fuller combinations: shrimp tempura, cucumber and avocado beneath kanikama, spicy mayo, eel sauce and crunch. Houston Star starts with a similar shrimp-tempura filling but adds fried white fish, tosazu and chili sauces. Both put cooked seafood at the center, with several toppings sharing the roll. If the table wants one elaborate roll to pass around, these give it something substantial to consider.

The namesake Kanau roll supplies the surprise, combining tempura shrimp with peanut butter and cream cheese before adding spicy mayo, eel sauce and crunch. Peanut butter is quite a calling card on a sushi menu. Volcano uses a California roll as its base, topped with seared spicy crawfish and the two sauces. Those choices have a very different appeal from a modest order of nigiri; there is room for both in dinner.

For rolls built around raw fish, Lake Charles combines spicy white fish and cucumber inside with salmon, tuna and snapper on top, finished with spicy ponzu and green onion. Nemo keeps to spicy tuna and cucumber inside, with salmon, avocado and spicy ponzu above. The fish combinations make these useful alternatives to the fried-seafood rolls, especially for a group interested in sampling several kinds of fish within one order.

Dinner sashimi offers salmon, tuna and yellowtail without the rice beneath, while the smaller maki list includes familiar tuna, salmon and eel-cucumber combinations. Avocado and cucumber rolls provide simpler choices among the more dressed-up offerings. This is where a little selection helps: a heavily topped specialty roll, a few pieces of fish and a simpler roll can make a more varied order than several similarly elaborate rolls at once.

Fried Oreos and green-tea ice cream give the meal a sweet finish. Leave a little room if that ending appeals; it is easy for the specialty rolls to take up more of dinner than originally intended.