Ani Sushi

Ani Sushi opened in November, a block away from me. On the second floor of a building on Montague, I'd noticed several times that the place looked full. It seemed popular. So the other night, after Elizabeth and I had gone to Target and returned to our neighborhood very hungry, we were craving sushi. I suggested we try Ani; it was 8:30 and I hoped it wouldn't be too busy.

It turned out only one other table was occupied.

We sat in the room looking out on the street. I loved the way it looks: elevated platforms, sleek white tables, purple-ish lighting.

Wanna see some photos of the menu? Okay.

We took several minutes to decide what to order. I was thinking about getting one of the "dinner sets" with tempura and karake, but decided that if I liked the food I would just come back and get those items as a lunch special one day. We settled on three different kinds of sushi, figuring that if we were still hungry we could order more. At the last minute I said I wanted gyoza, too.

First things first: I wanted a cold Sapporo.

And then I wanted another.

Let's start with the best: the lobster tempura roll was outstanding. We both loved it. Tempura-battered "baby lobster" on top of tuna, with sesame-soy sauce and a spicy mayo (that was actually spicy). I did not like this quite as much as the Fire Snow at B.A.D. Sushi that I wrote about last month, but it was still one of the three best sushi rolls I have had in the last year.

The "Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna" roll was good, too. The crispy rice base tasted like a rice tater tot, topped with decadently fatty tuna and a sliver of jalapeno. When the plate was done, I wasn't left wanting more - like I was with the tempura lobster roll - but I enjoyed these.

Someone snagged a gyoza before I could take a picture of the plate. The gyoza were fine. Nothing special and no different from scores I have had before at dozens of Japanese restaurants, but still pleasing. The sauce was the highlight: a touch sweet with plenty of vinegar to it. Often these kind of sauces are dominantly soy and thus a bit too salty for me, but this one was great.

The Jupiter Roll: sauteed shrimp with garlic butter, cucumbers and green onion. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The flavor was good, no question. Very light with the unmistakable kiss of garlic butter. But something just seemed missing. Maybe I was expecting more shrimp in each bite. Maybe I was getting frustrated at the way every roll fell apart. Or maybe I just found it silly that this cost the same amount ($9) as the tempura lobster roll, which was much larger and much better. At any rate, I liked this just fine, but I won't be ordering it again.

The waitress came to check up on us and saw that we had finished everything. "Wow, you ate that fast," she said with a look of astonishment on her face.

I definitely enjoyed my meal at Ani Sushi. But if not for that tempura lobster roll, I would not return. Within three blocks of me are Iron Chef House, which I love, Nanatori, which I really like, Tenda, which was good, and Ozu, which I did not really like. And there is still another place I have not yet tried. (And this is just within three blocks; if I expand the radius to ten blocks, there are at least a dozen more places I have yet to try.)

I could see myself returning to Ani, but I could also see myself never stepping foot in there again. I loved the tempura lobster roll but I merely liked everything else.