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Cuisine: Japanese

5776 Frantz Rd., Dublin OH 43016
614.889.1275

Click here to map it!

Yoshi’s is reputed to be a popular restaurant destination for the Japanese folks living in town, and we expected to find enjoyable food. Spoiler alert – all true.

What we didn’t expect, though, was to be so thoroughly entertained by the proceedings.

A bit of background – we’re lucky to be able to rely on a friend fluent in all things Japanese (thanks, KC) for help with evaluating what dishes we should try. As such, we walked into Yoshi’s with a good deal of knowledge of the more unusual options on their menu.

So, long story short, we ‘order like the Japanese’. Or so said the perplexed hostess, prior to asking if we’d lived in Japan.

Before that, our waitress did a double take on a few of our requested dishes, politely explained what they were, and went to some effort to verify that we actually wanted them.

While we ate, we occasionally felt 3 or 4 pairs of eyes on us, as if to suggest, ‘they ordered it, but will they really eat it?’

If this sounds intimidating, it shouldn’t. All was smiles, conducted with a good natured curiosity and genuine concern for our experience. It culminated with Yoshi himself, on the other side of the sushi bar, peppering us with questions, offering up specials and tips on ‘off the menu’ items, and showing off some of his more exotic sushi preparations.

Maybe we have an odd sense of fun, but fun it was. We left with big stupid smiles on our faces, smiles smudged with things like this:

That, in the image above, is onsen tamago. Reminiscent of an oyster shooter, this very soft boiled egg is served chilled and topped with a little seaweed and a light dressing. We were advised to slurp it down in one go, and very much enjoyed the how the soft egg white yielded to reveal the wonderfully custardy yolk.

The tako wasabi was one of the plates that, upon ordering, raised eyebrows among the staff. It’s a simple dish – raw octopus marinated in wasabi and salt. It was, at best, moderately chewy, and tasted mildly of the ocean. Even the kick of the wasabi was surprisingly mild. It all came together beautifully, and we loved it.

We also loved the moro q – strips of cucumber served with a nutty and deeply savory miso relish. It’s a great example of how two simple ingredients can sing when they’re so perfectly matched.

Then, we took Yoshi up on his offer to taste the daily special, shishito peppers filled with a shrimp pate and tempura fried. Think green pepper but subtler, shrimp flavor but denser in texture, and a pleasant contrast between crunchy and chewy.

Finally, we were let in on a secret – Yoshi’s often prepares a few servings worth of okonomiyaki. It’s not on the menu, and not always available, but it is emphatically worth asking about. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake filled with shredded cabbage and (in this case) small bits of octopus, and topped with an okonomiyaki sauce, a mild Japanese mayo, and bonito flakes. Yoshi’s version was easily the best we’ve ever tried.

Yoshi’s also offers a wide variety of noodles, including soba, udon, and ramen.

Cuisine: Japanese

2800 Festival Lane (near corner of 161 & Sawmill)
614.766.7733
website

Click here to map it! 

As is often the case in quality Asian restaurants in Columbus, Ba Sho shows different sides of itself to different people. Should you not be conspicuously Japanese, it tends to provide the menus that show you the items they assume you’ll prefer. Though this may be frustrating, it’s worth keeping in mind that it’s intended as a courtesy.

And, should you be Japanese, an extensive a la carte (small plate) menu also shows up. One that, until recently, was only printed in Japanese, and even now may be a bit difficult for gaijin to get their hands on.

Don’t relent. At minimum, you’ll want the option of ordering from this menu (front, and back). It’s a big part of what makes Ba Sho distinctly different from every other sushi joint in town.

For a great example of this, see their salt-grilled (shio-yaki) items. Both the salt grilled tuna collar and yellowtail collar exhibited a wonderfully crispy char on the outside that concealed the almost creamily tender flesh within. The similarly prepared and distinctly non-rubbery ika-geso (below) has become my new favorite squid dish in town.

Ankimo (monkfish liver with daikon, ponzu, and green onions) is considered one of the great delicacies of Japan. Since Ba Sho is only the second restaurant we’ve encountered in Columbus to carry it, we had to try it.

We’re glad we did. With pleasantly mild overtones of both liver and fish, it was both firm and velvety, and was well accompanied by the tart tang of the citrusy ponzu.

The above represents the highlights of our orders from the a la carte menu, though much remains to be explored. Andrew Zimmern-style curiosity seekers may find additional interest in the natto, fermented squid, and grilled blowfish (fugu) skin.

On a visit with a Japanese-speaking friend, we were told of an off-the-menu dish well worth noting – kani zosui (crab & rice soup with egg, mushrooms, scallions, seaweed, shown below). Though it’s traditionally consumed when ill, we’d gladly partake of its deeply savory comfort-foody qualities on most any occasion.

Ba Sho has an abbreviated lunch menu featuring bento box specials, noodle dishes and katsu (fried panko crusted meat) options. Among those we’ve tried, all were perfectly fine and largely consistent with what you’d find at most Japanese restaurants in town.

Japanese restaurants in the US tend to lean towards being bright and somewhat upscale, but Ba Sho takes a more traditional route. The relatively dark, highly divided, and clean but somewhat cluttered space makes for one of the most genuinely Japanese restaurant environments we’ve seen outside of Japan. The space, plus liberal use of the a la carte menu, amounts to a short, delicious trip to the East.

Cuisine: Fusion

Location and hours: Check their Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter
614.581.5413

If, over the past week or so, you’ve been on High St. around Dick’s Den in the evening, or on Broad near the Columbus Museum of Art during the day, you’ve probably seen a relatively non-descript delivery truck parked along the side of the road. Perhaps the more perceptive among you even recognized its shape as that of a converted Wonder Bread delivery van.

Actually, to call it ‘converted’, is something of an understatement. While Fusion Cafe’s rolling kitchen is recognizable by its white paint job with blue accents on the outside, it’s most notable for being green through-and-through.  A partial list of their eco-bonafides include:

•They have a 45 watt solar panel array on the roof feeding 4 deep cycle RV batteries, which in turn provide for the majority of their electric needs.

•They use recycled packaging for their to-go orders, and word is that they’ll even keep your utensils for you, wash ‘em up, and have them ready for you on your next visit.

•They’re proud to source many of their raw ingredients locally, sometimes from their own back yard.

•They’re fastidious about the eco-friendliness of their cleaning products.

Fusion Cafe is the brainchild of the personable Chef ‘JP’ Potter, and his charming wife, Marie. Potter is a graduate of the ECDI’s business training program, and participated in it alongside the folks who run the ’3 Babes and a Baker’ cupcake truck as well as Michael Hemrick, the man behind ‘Zapico Foods’ (a local producer of pasta sauces).

Fusion Cafe’s menu rotates daily and is ambitiously wide-ranging, though on any given day there are 2-4 menu items being prepared and served. As being a good neighbor is particularly important for mobile vendors, beverages (smoothies seem to feature prominently among them) are only offered when the truck is not parked near other establishments that carry them.

On our visit, they were serving jerk chicken legs with rice & peas and ‘Fusion’ slaw, and veggie kabobs with the ‘Fusion’ slaw and tortilla chips.  We (of course) ordered both.

Among our group of 5, the jerk chicken legs were unanimously well received.  There has been some discussion about the authenticity of the jerk recipe – was it ‘toned down’ for the American palate? – and I will cop to having very little experience to fall back on in evaluating the authenticity of Jamaican/’island’ food.  And, really, in this case, I’ll admit to having little interest in the discussion in the first place. Let’s put it this way – if given a choice between your average properly grilled chicken leg, a typical fried chicken leg, or this, I’d easily pick the jerk chicken 9 times out of 10 (yes, there are the rare occasions when only crispy fried chicken will do).

The rice & peas were a nice accompaniment, and the ‘Fusion’ slaw was nothing short of a sesame oil-powered flavor bomb. This Asian-inspired approach undoubtedly sounds a bit incongruous, but actually worked quite well.  Fusion indeed!

The veggie kebabs were also enjoyed. This wide variety of fresh vegetables on the skewer were marinaded with a simple, subtly sweet and savory blend that never overwhelmed.  An object lesson in leaving well enough alone, these kebabs showcased the bright flavors of the vegetables and were accompanied by the aforementioned cabbage slaw and some (relatively forgettable) tortilla chips. All in all, a nice snack.

There is much left to try at Fusion Cafe (examples from the rotation include jerk pulled pork sandwiches, fish tacos, and bison sliders), and our first tastes gave us more than ample motivation to do so.  We liked the concept, had a great time talking with the owners, and certainly enjoyed the food.

Perhaps most of all, we love thinking about this converted, solar-powered, onetime Wonder Bread truck as a metaphor for everything that’s right about the direction of Columbus’s food scene.