Ichiban Restaurant

Ichiban Restaurant

By Teresa Pione Friday, 12 June 2009

Slipping off their shoes to step onto the wooden floors surrounding lowered tables, guests at Ichiban sushi settle into a relaxing dining experience. The restaurant features both table and floor seating — the latter with thick, wicker mats for use as cushions. The shaded lanterns hanging over tables contribute to a quiet ambience where sushi chef Isaac Yantz dreams up creations perfect for the Texas sushi-lover.

Ichiban, which means “number one” in Japanese, opened in 1997 as a family-owned restaurant.

“Back then there were no other sushi restaurants, so it was really busy,” co-owner Eddie Choe said. “But then 9/11 came up and after 9/11 our business started slowing down. That’s when we decided to sell it.”

After a short two-year hiatus, the family took ownership once more with a renewed interest in providing the Austin area with a high-quality, Japanese restaurant.

Choe, who previously owned the Seoul Market on North Lamar Boulevard, said although his family is from South Korea, their restaurant’s main focus is sushi.

“When we started, we didn’t have any Korean food,” Choe said.

Today Ichiban chefs prepare Korean barbecue such as Bulgogi, a Korean-style marinated beef, and short ribs prepared like they are in Choe’s native city of Seoul. But Choe said business thrives on the Japanese seafood specialties.

To stimulate the senses and get the meal started right, begin with the seaweed salad. It’s a blend of crisp, bright green seaweed with shredded beets and turnips, sweetened with soy sauce and flavored with red pepper for a hint of spice.

Fully enclosed in a thick, buttery, fried batter, green beans, squash, broccoli and sweet potato slices comprise the vegetable tempura appetizer plate. Each vegetable stays true to its own flavor.

A long list of appetizers, sashimi and sushi rolls makes ordering an exciting yet arduous undertaking.

The Shiro Miso soup ($1.95) is a light option that eats like a meal. Soybean stock blended with rice, Miso soup is actually high in protein. Ichiban’s rendition also features small chunks of tofu and tiny slivers of green onions all creating a rich flavor, which accounts for a cloudy rather than clear appearance. Sushi roll pairings include smoked salmon and cream cheese (Philadelphia Roll, $6.95), radish cucumber and gourd (Vegetable Roll, $5.95) and fried shrimp, mango, avocado and tempura flakes (New Crunchy Roll, $9.95.)

A unique creation, the Texan ($10.95 for a 9-piece roll) adds local flavor to an Asian classic. With crabmeat inside and a layer of thick crabmeat on top, the white rice sushi roll is topped with a dot of barbeque sauce on top. Easy to underestimate, the unassuming small drop of barbeque sauce is actually quite potent.

The art of sushi rolling

The art of rolling sushi begins by laying out sticky white rice, adding a sheet of seaweed and then topping it with the desired combination of raw fish, fruits and vegetables. Sushi chef Isaac Yantz chooses crab, avocado and salmon in this roll and uses a sushi mat made of small, threaded wooden sticks to compact the ingredients and create a circular shape.

Ichiban Restaurant, 7310 Burnet Road, 458-3700

• Sun.-Wed. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Thu.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.