Aurora Avenue North is best known for strip clubs, sleazy motels, and pawn shops; good, classy food isn’t part of its reputation. With the recent arrival of Yamashiro, however, things may be looking up for the haggard, ironically named stretch of highway. A menu boasting 36 types of maki, 26 kinds of nigiri, six pan-Asian entrées, and two family-style dishes (in addition to separate lunch and happy-hour items) makes it clear that Yamashiro is aiming high. Fortunately, its achievements don’t fall short of its lofty goals.
On two visits to this tiny slot in a six-store strip mall, the food and drinks were not only gorgeously presented but also fresh and flavorful. The restaurant’s pseudo–cherry wood and taupe walls make it seem more spacious on the inside than it appears from the parking lot. Diners can perch under the dainty pink lights at the sushi bar and watch the chefs roll and slice their meal, or they can check out the Sonics game on the full bar’s flat-screen TV. For a more formal experience, they might sit at a table adorned with a baby bamboo shoot in a small glass pot.
Even more expansive is Yamashiro’s menu. All the maki (sushi rolls) we sampled were superb, from the California roll ($5.50)—crab, avocado, and tobiko, or fish roe—to the more complex spider roll (tempura soft-shell crab, $6.50) and Las Vegas roll (eel and crab, $7). Yamashiro also offers wilder choices, like the “mango tango” roll ($6.50), filled with tempura shrimp, red pepper, mango, and cilantro. For a triple dose of fish, try the Aurora Avenue roll ($9), packed with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado and topped with three kinds of tobiko.
For those who want to keep it simple, nigiri sushi—also known as finger sushi, since the “filling” actually lies atop a finger-shaped rice ball—is a good option. Yamashiro’s numerous varieties range from grilled shiitake mushroom ($1.50) and tuna and salmon (both $2) to geoduck ($2.75), sea urchin ($3.25), and even seared beef ($2.50). To make things easier on yourself, opt for the chef’s choice of sushi or sashimi; both are available in three sizes. The only letdown we experienced came as part of the chef’s choice sampler: a completely flavorless roll topped with what looked like a giant white earlobe, presumably a sea scallop.
But that’s where the disappointment ended. Yamashiro’s macadamia nut–crusted Chilean sea bass ($21), perfectly light, buttery, and flaky, is simply divine. The pepper-specked fillet lounges on a mound of sticky rice bathed in a yellow carrot-ginger curry sauce in which green peas, carrots, peppers, and mushrooms are submerged.
Where drinks are concerned, the $6.25 specialty cocktails are not to be missed. Most use soju (a distilled liquor from Korea) as a base. Both the Cherry Blossom and Habana Cuba martinis taste pleasantly subtle and arrive in style, nested in a glass bowl filled with ice and water.
To end the meal, mochi ice cream coated in sweet rice flour ($3.50 for three small balls) is a must, if only to see the small glass dish it comes in, reminiscent of a ’60s egg chair. The chocolate mochi, which contains bits of something like rich cake, is the best choice; strawberry, green tea, and mango are the others.
During our first visit, my cousin, somewhat of a Japanophile, not only raved about the food but compared Yamashiro to a fashionable restaurant she had frequented in Shibuya, Japan, during her nine months as an exchange student. But even if you aren’t well versed in Japanese culture, Yamashiro’s grade-A food and subdued atmosphere, enhanced by light piano music, will undoubtedly make you forget you’re still on Aurora.
Yamashiro, 13754 Aurora Ave. N., 206-361-2620, NORTH SEATTLE. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; dinner 4:30–11 p.m. Happy hour 4:30–6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.–1 a.m.; sushi served until 1 a.m.; bar open until 2 a.m.
