Anyone who has had consistently good sushi in their lives, and now live on the Eastern Shore, very quickly resigns themselves to a world where one can drive for over an hour in any direction and still not find the kind of “right off the boat”, brilliantly presented sushi found in the big cities. That is, until now.
For reasons that only the sushi gods can answer, the outrageously good U-Sushi has quietly opened in Easton over the past few months and is quickly becoming a haven for those yearning for the real stuff.
The good news about sushi these days is that it’s growing in popularity. The bad news is that there are no guarantees that these rural outlets are offering the real deal. In fact, most of them, alas, never seem to match the experience of those great little neighborhood sushi places in New York or San Francisco. Great, not because of impeccable service or ambience, but for a certain and quite palpable dedication to freshness.
Now the Mid-Shore finally has one of those places. For those who know sushi, this is the place to drive to. Located within a very nondescript shopping mall, and with very little decor to speak of, save for a very dominate but rather odd Buddha statue overshadowing the dining room, this little place rocks with an astonishing list of sushi variations, as well as some Japanese country food for those not into the “raw fish thing” quite yet, including great tempura, good noodle dishes and solid teriyaki.
But the sushi… oh the sushi! And an out of this world choice of rolls, sashimi and a la carte sushi. From an Autumn roll, offering spicy tuna with fresh mango, salmon and U-Sushi’s special sauce, to Dinosaur, with king crab with seaweed salad, the menu will take any sushi aficionado back to memories of the “steady eddie” joints where one could feast at length on fresh but affordable sushi and strong warm saki on cold nights.
U-Sushi is not perfect. The ritual of arriving with the sushi chefs greeting you with yelps of “irasshaimase” seems to fade after three visits, and nor were there those warm wet towels part of the reception, but the desire to please is so unmistakably genuine, the patron is quick to settle in to read a hundred plus items on the menu.
And also like those good old dependent city sushi places, U-Sushi does not break the bank. Even with generous sake for the table and no withholding on the sushi order, a group of four sushi fanatics can walk out completely satisfied for well under $100.
On the three nights the Spy was visiting U-Sushi, it was rare to see more than five tables being used at any one time. Perhaps the sign of a new business starting, but U-Sushi is a fantastic addition to Talbot’s growing list of fabulous restaurants.
U-Sushi
108 Marlboro Avenue
Easton
410-763-8869
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lynda carlson says
U Sushi is really excellent. When I took our 8 year old Manhattanite granddaughter, who is a sushi expert she was really impressed. In fact, she told the owner of U Sushi that his miso soup was better than her favorite restaurant in the whole world….HARU Sushi Bar on Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan.