Tasty Japanese cuisine
In an ethnic restaurant, should it matter where the chef comes from? In the melting pot of America, probably not.
I haven't done a census, but I'd wager that most of the restaurant-kitchen workers in Chicago -- no matter what cuisine they cook -- were born in Mexico, yet our most famous Mexican chef, Rick Bayless, is an Anglo from Oklahoma.
Back when I could say I'd visited every sushi bar in the city (and I could have counted them on my fingers), nearly all the itamae (sushi chefs) were Japanese immigrants who had trained according to the exacting standards of their homeland, where apprentices spend years just learning to cook the rice. Today, Bob Kim, Korea-born owner of Naomi Sushi, a satisfying Japanese restaurant in Prospect Heights, estimates that 70 percent of the sushi spots in the Chicago area are Korean-owned, and he's likely right.
Kim, who likes to be called "Bobu-san," makes the sushi at the restaurant named for his wife, Naomi (pronounced "nah-oh-MEE"). "She's half and half," Kim said of Naomi's Korean-Japanese heritage.
Naomi works the front of the house, with gracious friendliness. The space, in a Rand Road strip mall about a mile south of Palatine Road, had formerly housed two other Korean-owned sushi bars, most recently Fish One. The Kims took over about a year ago, but only recently changed the sign to reflect the new name. Until three years ago, they had another Japanese restaurant, Nagano, in Lombard.
Few sushi bars in America are wholly authentic to the Japanese model. Chagrinned at what passes for Japanese food over here, last year officials of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reportedly launched plans for an inspection process to certify the bona fides of Japanese restaurants abroad. I expect most of ours would fail. In Japan, sushi bars concentrate on sushi and sashimi, serving few other items, and they don't go in for California rolls, spicy tuna or the more elaborate maki that have made such a hit in the U.S.
But our standards are not Japan's, and if Naomi Sushi's menu includes bulgogi, the maki are wacky, and the nigiri-zushi pieces are a little larger and looser than you'd find in Tokyo, so what? Order the chirashi-zushi.
The chirashi, which means "scattered," is a beautiful array of pieces of fresh raw seafood artfully arranged atop a bowl of vinegared rice.
The sushi bar also turns out a wide variety of maki -- "We're like a roll expert," Kim said -- in original combinations never dreamed of in Tokyo (or anywhere else).
The Viagra, for example, features grilled freshwater eel -- considered an aphrodisiac in Japan -- avocado, masago (smelt roe) and cream cheese, and the 911 offers jalapenos, tomatoes, crab and spicy tobiko (flying fish roe).
Then there's the Jackie Chan: mozzarella cheese, beef rib-eye, garlic and soy sauce. (That, by the way, is one of the few nonseafood items on the menu. The piscine-adverse have limited options, even on the cooked-food menu.) A number of sushi combinations are also available.
The hot kitchen shows a dab hand with a deep-fryer, as the crunchy, greaseless tempura attests. For a modest upcharge, you can get some tempura (a couple of brawny shrimp and vegetables plus ponzu sauce for dipping) as part of a substantial dinner combination that also includes a slightly reduced portion of your choice of entree; a house salad, nice mixed greens and vegetables with a very light sesame dressing; three pieces of nigiri-zushi; three pieces of maki (California roll made with avocado, cucumber and crab-flavored surimi); and sunomono, vinegared cucumbers with more surimi.
Other deep-fried delights include the crab puffs, a variation on shrimp Rangoon, with triangles of dough stuffed with crabmeat and a bit of cream cheese, served with a deliciously gooey miso-paste dip.
Speaking of shrimp, if you like the golden egg-yolk-sauced version you often see at teppanyaki places, they do a version here -- both as a starter and an entree -- though they cook it back in the kitchen, not in front of you. It's eggier than most, almost like a mini-omelet draping the shrimp. It also comes in a lobster version.
More traditional Japanese starters include a prime version of goma ae, with pleasantly gritty, nutty sesame-seed paste dolloped over well-chilled boiled spinach. Another cool appetizer, the Naomi spring roll, presents melon, crab surimi, cucumber and lettuce rolled up in rice paper and cut crosswise to display its jewellike colors in a pool of citrus ponzu.
Entrees include a toothsome tonkatsu, a deep-fried pork cutlet clad in extra-crunchy panko, Japanese breadcrumbs, accompanied by a thick Worcestershire sauce. I missed the shredded cabbage that typically accompanies this, but that's a quibble.
Leaning more toward fusion fare, a superlative fillet of grilled sea bass, moist and flaky, comes blanketed under a rich and creamy horseradish sauce with a mellow tang. Other hot entrees include steak or chicken teriyaki, grilled king salmon and spicy garlic shrimp.
Desserts are sweet afterthoughts, nothing special: green tea ice cream, fried ice cream, rice-gum-wrapped mochi ice cream balls and the mochi choco brownie, wedges of chocolate mochi and bites of chocolate brownie, drizzled in chocolate syrup.
Naomi Sushi's spacious, candlelit interior is filled with light woods, plants and romantic, canopied wooden booths. If you just want a drink, there's a long bar counter as well as a pair of sofas. The full bar offers a variety of sakes and some creative saketinis, along with a larger-than-usual wine list and the usual drinks. For teetotalers or the younger set, there is, of course, tea and Japanese Ramune soda.
Naomi Sushi
1309 N. Rand Road, Prospect Heights, (847) 590-9722
Cuisine: Japanese
Setting: Pretty place hidden in a strip mall
Price range: Appetizers $4 to $15; entrees $12 to $32; desserts $4 to $6; wine $8.50 to $12 by the glass, $18 to $32 by the bottle
Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday
Accepts: Major credit cards; reservations
Also: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; full bar; free parking