One of the hallmarks of the current dining scene is its reach into various ethnic cuisines, and the subsequent wide range of foreign flavors and ingredients that we have come to enjoy along with American favorites. It's really quite astonishing how readily many of us have embraced dishes that in the past might have been considered too weird to actually eat.Like sushi, made with raw fish. Sashimi, thinly cut veils of raw fish. Octopus. Squid. Tofu. Seaweed. And edamame (uncooked soybeans).
Though St. Pete historically is late to follow the more exotic gastronomic trends, it seems to be at least in the 21st century courtesy of one of its new restaurants, the Sushi Rock Grill. A chic enclave located in a renovated former gas station dating from 1928, the restaurant spotlights the cuisine of six Eastern countries, including Japan, Thailand, Laos, China, Korea and Vietnam.
With careful service, a notably lovely interior, and a nice mix of dishes designed to satisfy both timid and adventurous diners, it is already a popular destination for the city's hip 20-ish set. In visits there, I found the sushi just so-so, and two of the desserts so poor they were inedible. But the main entrees we tried were respectable, and there were a couple of real standout dishes as well.
The restaurant is owned by Laurie Harris — a third-generation St. Petersburg resident whose grandfather founded Dew Cadillac — and her two partners, Valarie Nussbaum and chef Hook Atsavinh. Sushi Rock opened June 18 with 49 seats in the dining room and 10 more along a well-patronized sushi bar.
Its attractive interior pairs cherry- colored, polished wood, with sleek, midnight-blue chairs and napkins. The floor is beige, textured tile, and above the sushi bar hangs the filmy Japanese paper screening that provides such a relaxed, Oriental feel. In one corner, a rock waterfall trickles melodically. On each table is a flickering candle and a velvety live orchid, its bolt of raspberry color a glamorous surprise.
The place is inevitably jammed with a young crowd that arrives casually dressed, but respects the restaurant's formal ambience. At night, the candles inspire a cozy intimacy. It attracts couples, small families with a couple of kids, big Asian families and groups of coworkers dining together.
And though there are 40 kinds of sushi on the menu, it also offers several alternatives for tastes that lean more toward the mainstream. "We have 25 non-sushi entrees," Harris explained. "My idea was to get sushi eaters in here, and get others in here, too.
"Business has been fantastic."
She said the restaurant is not affiliated with the Salt Rock Grill, another popular restaurant located in Indian Rocks Beach. The name Sushi Rock Grill originated with the rocky waterfall that is the restaurant's design focal point.
On our first visit, we started with miso soup ($2), acceptable but undistinguished, and moved along to the separate sushi menu, trying a number of different varieties. My dining companion and I agreed that by far the best sushi dish was a spicy tuna roll ($6 for six to eight cuts per order) — fresh tuna, scallion and cucumber in a sizzling sauce. It left a slow burn on the tongue that highlighted the tuna's temperate flavor.
We also tried vegetarian delight ($7.75), cucumber, spinach, asparagus and carrot; lobster tail ($9), tempura lobster, scallion, avocado and masago (caviar); and first love ($8), eel, cream cheese, avocado and salmon on top. They weren't bad, just mediocre. They lacked the glistening, just-made freshness of which I'm so fond. Maybe they had been stored a few minutes in a fridge?
On a second visit I had better luck, with more mainstream dishes. We loved the vegetarian fried eggrolls ($4), tiny fingers of pastry wrapper encasing the shredded cabbage, noodles and scallion, plunged in a deep fat fryer and served steaming hot. It was a cold night, and we were shivering from the wind. They sure hit the spot, washed down with hot green tea ($2), steamy in pretty ceramic mugs and replenished from our own teapot.
Japan chicken salad ($8) featured big chunks of grilled chicken set on a bed of greens and brightened with a fragrant ginger dressing. Probably the best dish of all during two visits was a buff Sushi Rock Soup ($7), big lumps of fish set in a light broth with luminous green snow peas, seaweed and mushrooms. It came in a big bowl, and certainly could have doubled as an entree for those just noshing.
The server was friendly, but mercifully distant, for on the second visit I was accompanied by teenagers discussing personal matters. He kept the courses moving across our table without hovering the way some servers do.
When we got to the entrees, we ordered cashew chicken ($12), generous chunks of chicken, stir-fried with cashews and vegetables. Simple but satisfying. I ate the whole thing right down to the plate — although I didn't intend to — maybe because I was still feeling the effects of a frigid pool swim that morning.
Another solid dish was Yaki soba with beef ($14), Japanese yellow noodles stir-fried with vegetables and lavished with asides of tender meat, a mellow alternative for those who don't care for the spicier dishes so common in the Orient. (The chef can tailor the spiciness of your meal to your preferences.)
Other more mainstream items on the menu include teriyaki filet mignon ($17) or strip steak ($14); teriyaki salmon or tuna ($15); and pad Thai, with chicken ($10) or beef ($12). (All entrees come with miso soup and salad.)
Dessert was the restaurant's biggest disappointment. We ordered tempura cheesecake with coconut ($5) and fried ice cream ($5). Both dishes featured sweetened tempura, used as a batter around a slice of cheesecake or ice cream filling, and then deep-fat fried. They both suffered from poor execution.
Fried ice cream when done properly is a startlingly delightful dish because your mouth experiences extremes — the cold bite of the ice cream ball contrasted with its hot batter envelope, smooth and creamy filling countered with crackly crust.
This is not what we experienced at Sushi Rock Grill: The frying process just made a gooey mess of the fillings. The desserts' crusts were inanely sweet and insufficiently firm to impart any contrast. We left them on the plate. However, during a second visit, I did enjoy a frisky lemon sorbet ($3), an icy citrus mixture frozen in its fruit shell; the only dessert made elsewhere.
All told, I would recommend Sushi Rock Grill, for on the whole, our meals there were satisfying, even if we found the final course disappointing.
Contact food critic Sara Kennedy at sara.kennedy@weeklyplanet.com or call 813-248-8888, ext. 116.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2003.
