If you’re not looking after your health, it’s great to have Isamu and Motoko “Moco” Kubota on your side. Like a protective mom and dad, the duo in recent years have tried to look after diners’ health through various forms of vegan, vegetarian and macrobiotic cuisine.
At Hale Macrobiotic, tempeh and seitan were delicious, but, given a choice between tofu products or a burger elsewhere, more people tend to choose sin today and penance tomorrow or, better yet, never.
With YuZu Hawaii in the Ala Moana Hotel, the couple introduced vegan sushi that was beautiful to look at it, but I really missed the fish. It didn’t take long for seafood to reappear, and there’s even a greater selection on the menu at the Kubotas’ newest izakaya, Sushi YuZu in Ko Olina.
Perhaps they’ve accepted that you can’t change people’s eating habits overnight, so have gone with the flow, opting for baby steps instead of wholesale change. Some of those little changes include swapping gluten-free tamari for regular soy sauce that contains wheat, and plant-based Vegenaise for the mayonnaise that would usually be mixed into seafood dynamite and other sauces.
I was lukewarm about the original YuZu, which opened in fall 2011, but I love, LOVE! its new incarnation. I have no doubt it’ll do well in its resort location. There are only so many days a visitor can eat in hotel restaurants, which can be a treat in moderation but soul-numbing over time. What’s served at Sushi YuZu is cuisine that’s vibrant, original and reflects the passion of its founders.
Named after the Japanese citrus fruit that flavors many of the dishes, the restaurant and its menu exude freshness and offer something for everyone. The menu’s must-tries are marked on the page with shaka signs. Vegetarian options are marked by an illustration of a tomato. The price range is vast, to accommodate any budget, and from low to high end, I was happy with every morsel. During happy hours from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to closing daily, those who sit at the bar can also enjoy a “Five 0” menu of $5 drinks and pupu.
At dinner time, start with crisp-skinned organic red potatoes ($6.50) deep-fried with soy oil, then tossed with truffle oil and Hawaiian sea salt. It’s served with organic ketchup that I found unnecessary because the potatoes are already packed with so much flavor. Also on the appetizer list is grilled kurobuta pork chorizo ($8.95), five whole sausages served with arugula for wrapping.
If you haven’t been to the original YuZu, the biggest must-try is Moco’s lotus root pizza ($9.50), comprising seven slices of crisp lotus, their pukas oozing with five kinds of melted cheese. It’s one more way to go gluten-free, and you don’t even miss the traditional pizza crust.
You can get regular shrimp tempura ($12.95) but vegetarian options that — in the wishful-thinking universe — cancel some of the evils of deep frying include heart of palm ($10.95) and avocado ($8.95). To make up for some of the lack of flavor of these two ingredients, the tempura is accompanied by both tempura sauce and a pinch of yuzu sea salt for sprinkling over the tempura. Be generous and ask for more if needed.
The grilled seafood dishes are perfection, from black cod ($16.95) with a touch of miso to juicy hamachi collar ($15.95). Sadly, I just downloaded the My Fitness Pal app to count calories I ingest. I won’t even tell you how many calories are in just a few bites of this fatty fish so as not to spoil your appetite.
Our waiter couldn’t stop raving about the grilled squid ($9.50), sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and sesame seeds, with the kick of shichimi pepper. He kept marveling at how tender it is, and he didn’t steer us wrong.
As a lighter course, yuzu also adds its crisp, sunny flavor to slurpable somen ($10.95) topped with tomato and cucumber.
On the splurge side of the menu is grilled Australian wagyu beef ($35.95) drizzled with yuzu sauce and served with grilled onions. There’s also a full complement of nigiri sushi and rolls, including seafood dynamite ($15.95) and rock shrimp tempura ($15.95) rolls laced with sauces of Vegenaise, eliminating cholesterol associated with egg-based mayo.
If you can’t make up your mind, there are two omakase (chef’s choice) selections. The Japan omakase ($39.50) is the more traditional, with a mix of eight kinds of nigiri sushi, a snow crab hand roll, and ahi poke accented with garlic chips.
The Hawaii version offers two pieces of seafood dynamite roll, four pieces of shrimp tempura roll topped with spicy yuzu ahi, four pieces of Ko Olina roll (see photo) and the poke. Both omakase sets start with an appetizer platter of organic edamame, local grilled vegetables, organic homemade tofu, and miso soup accented with local vegetables, recently sweet kabocha.
If you save room for dessert, there’s a dish of mango snow shave ice ($7) that should easily serve four.
The full bar features sake, shochu, wine and specialty cocktails, as well as nonalcoholic selections ranging from organic açai juice to yuzu deep-sea lemonade.
Did I say I love this place?
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Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
