The "menu" at Sushi Bar
Nashville is experiencing a bit of a sushi boom of late. (Not as much as with tacos, but still a lot of new options.) I haven’t been to the new 888 yet, but I’m hearing good things about the vinyl listening room and sushi bar. I have now made it to Sushi Bar in the Golden Sound building at 610 Magazine St. in the Gulch, and I can attest that it is quite the experience.
The omakase service offers four seatings a night in two sushi rooms on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights, and five seatings on Fridays and Saturdays. Diners are encouraged to arrive 15 to 20 minutes early for a complimentary welcome cocktail in the vibey lounge before the meal. And I gotta say, dining at 5 p.m. and being finished by 6:30 after an incredible 17-course nigiri tasting is this old guy’s definition of heaven.
Once the entire seating group is assembled, a curtain is drawn separating the lounge from the sushi theater, and guests are seated at a U-shaped bar with name plates, a delicious bowl of pickled vegetables to clear your palate between courses, and a presentation plate where the three chefs place their art. What you won’t see are any utensils or chopsticks, because this is strictly a hand-to-mouth experience, lest the artistry of the nigiri get crushed by tools.
While the service is traditional, and the cuts of fish are familiar, I wouldn’t call it a straight-ahead Japanese omakase experience. The culinary team, led by Michelin-starred director of culinary development and strategy Chef Anthony Martin, enjoys injecting playful elements into the menu. For example, an offering of madai (sea bream) was served with a bit of fun molecular gastronomy flair thanks to the inclusion of small globes of gelatinized ponzu to both mimic roe and add a little hit of acid to the fish. An outstanding Ora King salmon dish was cold-smoked over peach wood and sprinkled with bourbon-smoked salt in a development you’d never see in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. In their homage to a fish taco, the chefs presented a tender slice of ruby snapper that had been cured in kombu and topped with a salsa verde and a sprinkling of tortilla powder. It was crazy-good, and just a little bit crazy.
Site set for portion of JW Marriott Hotel property near Eighth Avenue South
The menu changes seasonally and is based on the availability of outstanding fish, so the evening’s offerings are displayed on small signs behind the chefs so they can be swapped in and out. The fish butchery was immaculate at our meal, the fish were amazingly fresh, and watching the chefs create the dishes through deft manipulation by soft hands was dinner theater at its best.
The meal is $165 per diner, and beverage pairings are available including two levels of sake flights, wine, Champagne and Japanese whiskey. In addition to the three dedicated chefs for each sushi room, two talented and knowledgeable beverage directors take care of the drink service and advise when it’s time to switch to the next glass. You’re also welcome to revisit a past pairing to see how it goes with different plates. I enjoyed the Signature Sake option, although the higher-end Exclusive pairings list looked phenomenal.
The pace of the meal was speedy without feeling frenetic or rushed. Each course between the opening hand roll and closing dessert is meant to be eaten in one bite, so there’s no reason to dawdle, and the chefs often work a couple of courses ahead anyway.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience. If you go into Sushi Bar with an open mind and wallet, you’ll find flavors and artistry that are rare in Nashville.
On the decidedly more affordable end of the sushi spectrum, Ikura Sushi opened up a few months ago in the Cool Springs area at 8113 Moores Lane, and what makes this casual spot stand out to me is the family behind it. Himmi Vasquez represents a local success story I doubt many people have heard, and I’d love to share it.
He grew up on a farm in El Salvador with no electricity until he moved to the second-largest city in the country, Santa Ana, in 1991. A 2001 earthquake destroyed his house and leveled much of the city, so Himmi moved to Nashville, where his uncle lived. While completing his studies locally and learning the new language, he worked two restaurant jobs at the same time, as a prep cook at Blackstone and as a dishwasher at the original Virago location on Division Street.
The sushi rollers at Virago fascinated him, and Himmi studied them from the dish pit. Eventually, he moved up in ranks from dishwasher to prep work on the hot side of the kitchen to pantry to salad to sauté, but all the time he wanted to get his hands on some fish.
MStreet Entertainment Group founder Chris Hyndman gave Himmi his first opportunity to move to the sushi side after seeing the pretty cheese plates his young employee was assembling. So Himmi was moved to plating sushi, laying out the rice on the nori, but still not touching any fish yet.
“The rollers were too busy to teach me anything,” Himmi tells me. But eventually he started to pick things up along the way, while still also working at Blackstone. After Virago moved two more times, Vasquez met chef Andrew Whitney, who helmed culinary operations for MStreet. Whitney brought in new ingredients for him to experiment with and pushed him to develop new dishes.
Himmi finally quit his second job and became a salaried employee at Virago. “I was over everything, but I didn’t have a title or anything,” he recalls. Himmi ended up working at Virago for 23 years, and his wife was an 18-year employee. By the time he left in June of this year, Himmi had risen to executive sushi chef before he decided to strike out on his own with the support of his former employers.
Without any outside investors, Himmi and his wife took over the former Fuji Japanese Restaurant space in Brentwood. “The former owners left everything behind,” he explains, “so I’ve cleaned and repaired everything, painted the walls, changed the floors and painted murals for decoration.”
Starting over hasn’t been too difficult, as he is still sourcing his fish from the same vendors as he used to, and several of his favorite Virago creations are on his new menu. He’s especially proud of the colorful Katana Roll, the first dish he ever came up with on his own.
He’s excited about the smaller size of his new operation. “I want to take my time,” he says. “Virago is a big place, and I want to focus on quality — and new types of fish and styles of presentation.” With 64 seats, including a 10-person sushi bar, Himmi has the time to add panache to his rolls with elements of color and dramatic presentation that could include clouds of dry-ice smoke. His plating is still immaculate, and the chance to get a little playful with it every now and then just adds to the charm. Plus you can eat yourself silly for about $20, and sometimes you don’t need the glamour of Sushi Bar.
Personally, I love them both!
