Food that is visually appealing as well as full of fresh flavor can be a true delight. Tucked away on a side street not far from the center of Copper
Square and some of the sport venues; you will find a restaurant that is pairing delicious flavors and artistry all at the same time. With street
parking on both sides of the street, but you will need to feed the parking meter. There is a generous amount of sushi bar seating as well as tables.
On the cooler months or for the more intrepid you can sit out street side. Tastefully decorated the chairs can be a bit snug, so you may want to look
for one of the couple of high top tables or sit at the sushi bar.
They have a generous Happy Hour schedule for certain food and drink items. On Monday through Friday, happy hour runs from 5pm to 11pm.
We started with the Sichuan Garlic Edamame ($5), which had a great extra kick of flavor from the eel sauce drizzle. The eel sauce helped
balance out some of the garlic kick.
Then we started on some of the different sushi offerings that were on both the happy hour menu as well as from the regular menu. The Salmon
Cannoli ($8) was an inventive and delicious bite of food. It is a piece of salmon thinly sliced that is wrapped around seaweed and a slice of
avocado. It was the first bite of sushi and we were thrilled with the freshness of the salmon. It was also a very creative dish, and look forward
to ordering it again.
The next item was the Vegas roll ($6). This roll is rice that is wrapped around crab, salmon, avocado, and cream cheese that is all wrapped up
and then lightly tempura battered and then flash fried to a crispy exterior and warming the inside. It is then finished with an eel sauce drizzle that
adds an extra layer of flavor to the pieces of sushi.
The next item that arrived at the table was the pieces of Unagi (2 pieces for $6). This is a slice of eel that is put on top rice and then with the added
sweet eel sauce. The eel is very fresh, just like the salmon, and you could tell it was high quality. Those of you that may have some trepidation when
it comes to raw fish or eel in particular this would be the place in my opinion to try it in the Valley.
The Hamachi Belly or Yellowtail belly (2 pieces for $8) arrived to the table next. I love when any of the fish belly options are available as we
have never been disappointed in the flavor. But beyond the tremendously fresh and rich flavor of the yellowtail belly, it came in such a creative way.
It looked like little fish on the plate, using black sesame seeds as pseudo eyeballs.
Staying with the traditional an artistic manner of sushi presentation, the next item to the table was the Maguro Sashimi ($11). This was little slices
of Ahi Tuna served on top of sliced cucumbers and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. The presentation came out as little slices of watermelon. As
with all the other sushi that had been presented, it was also extremely fresh. But the creative presentation adds a bit of whimsy to the meal as
well.
The Sakura roll ($13) was the next item to the table. This roll is also unique and creativity in flavor development. This is eel, crab, spicy tuna,
and avocado with rice that is wrapped in soy paper instead of sushi. It is then drizzled with eel sauce after slicing into traditional sushi bites. The
mixture of those three types of seafood together and then with the added creaminess of the avocado perfectly blended together. The addition of the
soy paper also gave it a different twist over more traditional sushi rolls. The one of the more humorous rolls arrived, the Dragon roll (13). The
makeup of the Dragon roll is similar to many other locations. It was a mixture of crab mix, avocado, and cucumber. It had slices of Unagi layered
across the top and finished with toasted seaweed. But unlike many places that I have enjoyed the Dragon roll, this one look like an actual Dragon.
With cream cheese eyes and Sriracha fire to finish the creative presentation. The flavors were delicious as all the other items, but this
extra layer of time and creativity makes it fun.
There are a lot of great sushi places in the Valley, but with the creative skill and the freshness of the fish, I would highly recommend making the
trip to this great spot. The service was amazingly quick and with the added savings for Happy Hour, it is hard to pass up even if you are not
down in the area for an event. While the menu is not vast, it does have a good selection of both rolls and creative other concoctions. It is easy to
pass the side street, so I do recommend you map it out for your first visit. I feel like you will be as amazed, as I was, with the skill and flavor that you
will want to spread the word of this sushi locale.
215 E. McKinley, ste 102, Phoenix, AZ 85004 – http://moirasushi.com