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| - Yasu. It's been on my list for a while now and I finally got a chance to go. We selected a Saturday night without reservations and hoped for the best. We arrived and immediately were seated on the benches at the sushi bar at our request. The decor was very pretty and clean, I liked the folded and tied napkin, and the smooth black river rock. It had no purpose but to be pleasant and calming. We quickly forgot we were in a strip mall in AZ.
The server greeted us immediately and we just as quickly disappointed him when we chose not to select any fine alcohols, but he was polite and began a description of the foods available this evening. I knew I was going to have a hard time picking from the decadent options, but since I needed to coordinate tastes with my husband, we began gently selecting, eliminating, and balancing all the options.
Here is what we ended up choosing:
Kampachi (baby yellowtail) Sushi
Blue Fin Toro Sushi
These two selections were divine and buttery. I looked sadly at our empty plate when they were both gone. One taste of each, but it was our first visit, I didn't know better. My regret is not selecting the Sashimi option. Next time I am getting Sashimi for sure.
Miso Soup with Clam. We needed to try the home made Miso. Wherever you go it's one good indicator of quality and while it was good, we should have chosen one bowl to share instead of a bowl each. We enjoyed it, but in the future we won't waste a selection spot on the Miso, much less two spots. That was silly of us.
Grilled Diver Scallops with Uni Cream Sauce. We looked for the bacon wrapped scallops, but they weren't an option. I loved the meaty well prepared scallops and enjoyed pouring the Uni cream all over. The presentation was pretty, but it was only a nibble of asparagus. As asparagus is relatively cheap, they could offer a bit more than one stalk quartered into a tiny Lincoln log pile. Maybe three stalks fanned with grill flavor? Still the presentation reminded me to eat slow and savor my bites. Easily the tastiest dish.
Sauteed Mirugai with Assorted Mushrooms. I enjoyed the shredded red threads that garnished the pile of earthy blended clam and mushrooms, but my husband did not like that texture. There wasn't anything wrong flavor wise with the dish, it was pleasant for me, but not a wow. In this spot we might have been more pleased with an item from the grill or something with tempura.
As our server got pulled away to the benched people next to us, we took his advice when it was time to order more things and spoke directly to Taki and Yasu, who happened to be right in from of us. We did come here for sushi, so we ordered: Spicy Tuna, Phoenix Roll and Yasu roll. How can you not order a roll named after the owner? While we waited for these next things, the benches were starting to be quite uncomfortable. No backs and a ridged lip were starting to make us shift about. We couldn't see what the Sushi chef was doing through the panel in front of us anyway, so while it was nice to be so close to the chef's we decided that next time we will sit in the dining room. Out came the rolls. I really think they are the same roll with very minor differences. Roe in one and cucumber wrapped around the other. I thought they were very tasty though. I only used a small bit of wasabi and soy, but that wasn't truly necessary, just habit. The spicy tuna didn't impress me as much, and it was here that I decided Yasu was truly more a Bistro than a sushi bar. Not in a bad way, just a note to myself that it's best for all the plated selections more so than the sushi. No reason for it NOT to be a fabulous sushi bar, as everything was so fresh, but something was missing for me and I couldn't put my finger on it. Some of the best fish I've had, yet not the best sushi? Then we ordered the Salmon Sashimi. That was fabulous! Sliced thick enough, clean, amazingly smooth it reminded me I screwed up getting Blue Fin Toro as a sushi instead of Sashimi. I ate slowly, not wishing everything to be over yet, but my husband was full. I had come starving. I shouldn't do that! I batted my eyes a bit and said softly... Dessert?
We had the Green Tea Cheesecake with Chocolate fondue. They piped the cheesecake spirally onto three skewers and laid them each onto one topping: small bit of coconut, candied pineapple and pecans. The chocolate fondue was milk chocolate and was best used as a drizzle instead of a dip. I was very indelicate with the dessert, finding the skewer quite awkward. I just used my thumb and forefinger to slide the Cheesecake off and popped it into my mouth. I shrugged. Not classy of me, but it worked. I would use a harder cheesecake format and cube it for dipping, instead of that presentation, but it was different!
Our cost with 18% tip was $125.
All in all I was very glad we went to Yasu and we will go again to try many more things. Very pleasant waitstaff, nice evening. Recommended.
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