Veteran sushi chef Misawa steps out on his own

The new year always opens with a dry spell in restaurant arrivals. Most restaurateurs prefer opening in time for the fall celebratory season, and all business seems to slow down during the recovery period that follows.

What better way to break the dry spell and ease into the lunar year than with something familiar, but new?

Yoshinobu Misawa, former sushi chef at the popular and highly rated Sushi Izakaya Gaku, has branched out on his own to open Izakaya Uosan in the Blackfield Building on Kapiolani Boulevard, in the space formerly occupied by Shabu Shabu House.

The interior was gutted to make way for the new restaurant’s kitchen, sushi bar and a private tatami room, in addition to open seating.

Uosan opened in late January with a test menu and warning that not every dish would make the final cut. I was happy to see more than just a one-sheet paper menu on my last visit. The kitchen half of the menu is not quite up to par with Gaku at this early date, but there’s plenty of promise and patrons contentedly linger long after finishing their meals — although this leads to a shortage of tables for late-comers.

So much is going on here that if you’re the impatient type, you’d better wait until the restaurant’s honeymoon phase is well over. Given the Gaku connection, Misawa has trouble keeping up with a steady flow of his fans and their varied demands for sushi at the tables, counter and private room.

It might seem odd that cooked food would arrive before sushi, but individual orders at tables can take a back seat to the customer sitting directly in front of the chef, as well as the flow of omakase meals ($60), during which multiple pieces of the chef’s choice of sushi selections are sent out.

The variety will appeal to the sushi connoisseur. You will find fish rarely served elsewhere, such as nodoguro (black throat sea bream from Honshu, market price) and Japan favorites such as kinmedai (golden eye snapper, $14.50 for two pieces of nigiri), aji (horse mackerel, $9.50) and sayori (needlefish, $9.50). Engawa (fluke fin) makes my life complete.

Rolls include a California ($13.50) with king crab, although the flavor of the crab disappears with the dominance of rice and avocado.

If you’re not set on sushi alone, there is plenty on the menu to keep you occupied until your rolls and nigiri materialize.

One of the dishes I was happy to see on the roster of daily specials was a comfort dish of fried rice enveloped in egg with dashi sauce, which straddles the line between Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Bits of egg in the dashi reminded me of Chinese egg flower soup. This dish changes with available ingredients. The first time I had it, it was with mushroom fried rice. Most recently I was intrigued by “Green Peace” rice, only to find it was indeed the same dish with seafood and peas! The daily handwritten menu often provides moments of unintended humor.

Uni chawanmushi ($17.50) is another tempting special but was extremely salty when I visited, overwhelming the sweet uni. On top of that, there’s too little separation between the textures of the urchin and egg custard. For the price, there’s a lot of uni in the cup, but you may be more satisfied sticking with plain uni.

Grilled specialties include the requisite hamachi collar ($16.50) and more unusual miso butterfish ($16.50) crusted with a macadamia nut-studded aioli and accompanied by green chilies and cream cheese. I wasn’t sure whether this was meant to be eaten all together, but the fish held up on its own.

Grilled filet mignon with foie gras ($46) and prime rib ($34) are other stars of the menu. Also among the meat dishes is a Kurobuta pork belly gratin ($11.50) with vegetables. The pork retains its juiciness, and the dish doesn’t register as being as rich as the addition of cheese might suggest.

Dessert of green tea ice cream ($4.50) is standard; if you want something different, try a crepe ($5.50) filled with azuki bean custard.

Last reason to visit ASAP: It’s BYOB until the restaurant gets its liquor license.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.