Run, Run as Fast as You Can

When Andrew Siao and John Chen dreamed up a concept they hoped would break through the corporate-chain clutter of Cool Spring's restaurant landscape, they did more than just look at the numbers on a spreadsheet. "We prayed hard about this," Siao said of Wild Ginger, their pan-Asian restaurant that opened May 31. "For the property, for the financing, for the crew."

Taiwan natives Siao and Chen first met at church. Five years ago they teamed up to develop a high-end Asian-style restaurant. Chen had run Grand China in Bellevue, but Siao was a restaurant-industry newcomer. They first saw the property at the corner of Bakers Bridge Road and Market Exchange Place when it was still a field. In November 2006, they approached architect Michael Hindman, who cautioned them to go slow with such a big and expensive project. But in a matter of days, Nissan announced the construction of corporate offices down the street, and the architect quickly changed his cautionary tune. In February 2006, Siao and Chen closed on the acre-plus site for $1 million.

In Hindman's words, the team "opened their minds and their checkbooks" to build a stunning architectural showplace. With stacked-stone walls, concrete floors, two sides of floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking a fountain and infinity pool, and a striking graphical logo designed by Chen's son Steven, Wild Ginger has all the polish and ambition of a well-established brand. But make no mistake—it is not affiliated with Seattle's acclaimed Wild Ginger restaurant, which recently announced a second store scheduled to open in Seattle in 2009.

If we had ever subscribed to the theory that chain restaurants thrive in Cool Springs because that's what the residents want, we'd be thinking differently after two visits to Wild Ginger. On a Saturday night, we halfway suspected the hostess was playing hard-to-get when she said the earliest reservation available was 8 p.m. But she was not. We arrived to find the 240 seats in the dining room, bar area and patio packed with well-heeled, well-tanned diners whose Coach and Fendi handbags sat like obedient dogs underneath the black-granite tables. At lunch, the crowd was no less impressive, with an unusual air of workday festivity (read: People were drinking wine in the middle of the day).

There is indeed cause for celebration at Wild Ginger, where the cuisine and the setting conspire to create a memorable dining experience. Across the airy room—appointed with comfortable suede chairs, large drum lampshades and dramatic metal-bead curtains—heads turn to watch sculptural compositions of food make their way from the open kitchen. The most eye-catching of the deliveries come from Wild Ginger's expansive list of creative sushi rolls. Sushi chef Ken Theo, who formerly worked at Peter's and Virago, delivers a roster of unique maki, with signature rolls such as the Monster (black rice wrapped around tuna, salmon and avocado, topped with flying fish roe and laced with a lavender-scented Dijon sour cream) and Green Envy (lobster salad and avocado wrapped in white rice, topped with kiwi and roe and served with berry sauce and wasabi mayo).

On the counter of the open kitchen is a set of plastic squeeze bottles—citrus-wasabi, tobiko mayo, guava purée, yuzu miso, mango-chili, lemon-curry vinaigrette, eel, wildberry and other homemade sauces—hinting at the fresh flavors that adorn the gorgeous edible still lifes emerging from the kitchen and sushi bar.

Among so many memorable compositions of buttery, gem-colored fruits and fishes, our favorite was the TarTare, a sculpted mound of tuna and salmon hunks infused with sake and mango, topped with black and red tobiko (flying fish roe). Half a quail egg in the center provided a dramatic garnish that could be poured over the kaleidoscopic medley of fish and fruit to unite the many textures.

Chef Greg Epperson, an alumnus of the Marriott hotel chain, mans the kitchen, which produces 16 entrées, eight hot tapas, five sandwiches and five salads, all available at lunch and dinner. Among the cooked items, we enjoyed the robo suta maki, a play on a traditional spring roll, with a delicate deep-fried wrapper around crawfish, small bits of lobster, seaweed and wilted greens. Served with the faintly lavender-scented Dijon sour cream, the roll blended sweet and tangy flavors and crisp and tender textures for a warm and greasy counterpoint to the cool, clean sushi.

Also from the hot tapas menu, we ordered coconut ginger ebi—shrimp encrusted in coconut and deep-fried to a light crunchiness. The shrimp were beautifully executed, if not as adventurous as some of the more intriguing items. Kimchee gyoza—tender dumplings stuffed with pickled cabbage, pork and shrimp and served with a salty-sweet dipping sauce—were delicious, though the kimchee aficionados at our table were disappointed by the lack of spice.

On the other hand, Wild Ginger's miso black cod stood up well against Nobu restaurant's acclaimed version, according to people at our table familiar with chef Nobu Matsuhisa's cuisine. A thick, flaky block of the snow-white fish with caramelized edges—perfectly juicy and redolent with the sweet tang of rice wine vinegar and the saltiness of miso—was plated with a tangle of stir-fried thin noodles and vegetables and drizzled with a maple-colored blend of miso and sake. At a market price of $27, the miso cod entrée was far more satisfying than the $40 oven-roasted lobster with scallops. Plated stunningly with a double-starch combo of polenta and rice, the pretty execution did little to enhance the expensive seafood and lacked the elegant layering of flavors in the cod.