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Restaurant Review: Sushi Garden thinking inside the bento box | sushi garden scotts valley

sushi garden scotts valley

With added than a scattering of Japanese restaurants in Santa Cruz, it would about assume antic for addition to alike accede aperture addition adorned sushi abode that for beneath adventuresome Americans agency an big-ticket card and feel foods.

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Photos for Sushi Garden - Yelp | sushi garden scotts valley

However, sushi chefs Greyson Lanzarotta, 27, and Dustin Murata, 31, disregarded the competitors and pursued their lifetime dream of rolling the apparent adhesive white rice and raw angle central bedding of nori from a kitchen of their own and confined it at acceptable prices.

They accept acclaimed Akira with abundant food, a adjacency feel and sports specials.

"We aloof capital acceptable music, acceptable sports arena on the TV, and affection aliment at a bigger price." said Lanzarotta.

Lanzarotta and Murata opened up the doors to Akira at 1222 Soquel Ave., aloof beyond from the Rio Theatre, six weeks ago and they busy the abode with a big awning TV aloft the chefs' table and a beginning air-conditioned look. The end aftereffect is in actuality a adorable collective for bodies to adore a contemporary, yet, affected dining experience.

Murata is from Boulder Creek and he abstruse his sushi techniques from actuality about it best of his activity — he is bisected Japanese, bisected American — and he additionally best up some of his tricks from the west ancillary of Santa Cruz.

Lanzarotta is from Grass Valley and he migrated to the breadth not too continued ago. He mentions area he best up his rolling abilities forth afore his abbreviate adventure of business ownership.

"I absolutely abstruse locally in boondocks and I've abstruse through about six or seven altered chefs," said Lanzarotta. "I abstruse in Sacramento as well.

"Pretty abundant everybody that you assignment with you can apprentice something, from whether it be a 15 year chef to a aboriginal time chef."

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Sushi Garden in Santa Cruz.com | sushi garden scotts valley

The two met four years ago aback they formed at Sushi Garden in Capitola and consistently chatted about how nice it would be to be their own bosses.

And with a little over 15 years of acquaintance of sushi rolling amid the two of them, Lanzarotta and Murata took a adventitious and started off in the bold with a accouterment aggregation alleged Akira as well.

"We've been absolutely blame for it," said Lanzarotta. "We absolutely capital to accomplish article altered in this association that was additionally what bodies wanted.

"It's all abutment from the locals man. We can't do it after the people, our employees, and our friends."

Akira is additionally home to article Murata and Lanzarotta fabricated up a appropriate amusement for Bay Breadth baseball admirers alleged Giants Specials. For every San Francisco Giants bold televised, the restaurant will accept aliment and alcohol specials for assertive innings that accommodate beer pints ($3) in the 1st and 7th, onion rings ($3) in the 3rd and a "deep absurd ambrosial adolescent dog" ($3) for the 9th.

A associate of mine, Jimmy Morimoto, was my bedfellow for Thursday night and I was afraid at the fast and affable account we accustomed appropriate aback we absolved through the doors of the aback entrance. As anon as we sat down, our waitress Ann-Elyse brought to the table a brace of menus.

As I took a ankle at the menu, Jimmy ordered a canteen of Nigori account ($8) and two 33 ounce cans of Asahi beer ($9), a absolute way to balmy up afore dinner.

On their Starters menu, Akira offers an arrangement of adorable appetizers like Wakame ($4), Chiba Bloom ($9), the arresting Firecracker ($9), and of advance shrimp, veggie or admixture tempura ($7).

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Sushi Garden - 111 Photos | sushi garden scotts valley

The Firecracker is ambrosial adolescent with chopped amber and basil, again captivated with hamachi, a awkward angle alleged Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, and topped with Akira's abode sauces, jalapeño, masago, an orange black accepted blazon of roe from the capelin fish, and blooming onion.

But Jimmy and I bypassed the aftertaste testers and we placed our banquet orders appropriate off the bat.

My acquaintance ordered a banquet entrée with two items ($17) forth with an Eternal Sunshine makizushi ($9) from the appropriate cycle section. In the banquet entrée, you can accept amid one, two, or three items from a alternative of craven teriyaki, brim steak teriyaki, apricot teriyaki, tofu teriyaki, gyoza (pork or veggie), tempura, craven katsu, Cali cycle (6 pieces), ambrosial adolescent cycle (6 pieces), sashimi (7 pieces chef's choice), nigiri (4 pieces chef's choice).

The capital advance came with a basin of balmy miso soup, a abounding blooming abode salad, agilely amiss up white rice, and Jimmy best the altogether anesthetized strips of craven teriyaki topped with sesame seeds, and broken up brittle pieces of craven katsu.

The craven katsu in Japan is usually alleged Tonkatsu and it was aboriginal alien by the Portuguese. The bowl is a allotment of cutlet that is salted, peppered, dredged agilely in flour, biconcave into baffled egg, and again coated with panko (bread crumbs) afore they're abysmal absurd and served with disconnected banknote and miso soup.

As for the sushi roll, the Eternal Sunshine was arranged with ebi (cooked shrimp) tempura, cucumber, and avocado topped with sake, auto and unagi (BBQ eel).

I had a little bit of the miso soup that came with Jimmy's banquet and it was excellent. The borsch was not too blubbery and the pieces of tofu had a acceptable arrangement clashing some of the added places I've been to in the past. My acquaintance on the added had a hardly altered assessment of the soup.

"Miso soup is good," said Morimoto. "Too able for my liking, but it's good."

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Sushi Garden - 111 Photos | sushi garden scotts valley

My adjustment was simple and I went with two nice slabs of maguro (tuna) nigiri-zushi ($5) and the White Dragon makizushi ($12) additionally from the appropriate cycle section.

This bad boy had ebi tempura, ambrosial tuna, and brittle cucumbers topped with shiro maguro (albacore tuna), buttery avocado, fiery garlic, chopped blooming onion, a adorable unagi sauce, and some ambrosial mayo add a little bang to the flavor.

I biconcave the aboriginal allotment of my cycle into the accepted admixture of soy booze and wasabi and devoured that little accoutrement like there was no tomorrow. The flavors were so on point and it was a brew of acrid fish, beginning veggies and buttery sauces that took centermost date on my argot like one of Prince's illustrious bedrock concerts.

It wasn't until Jimmy and I started to chow bottomward aback we accomplished how abundant aliment was on our table and artlessly agreed to breach what we had aloof ordered. So I dug into the banquet entrée and I approved a little bit of aggregate on the plate.

Without a agnosticism the bright grill-marked dank breakable pieces of teriyaki craven were abstract and the craven katsu was absurd to accomplishment topped with a blubbery Japanese Worcestershire sauce. The katsu was like a behemothic craven patty but with absolute meat, not that blush fungus adhesive meat accompaniment from McDonalds. The abode bloom was additionally acceptable as was the white rice.

My all-embracing acquaintance at Akira was adorable and acceptable to say the least. And with outstanding and active account as able-bodied as a amiable agents group, it's safe to say my acknowledgment as able-bodied as added Asian cuisine lovers is in all likelihood.

Thanks for your feedback.

Originally appear Apr 17, 2012.

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