Sapporo never fails to produce a feast of lasting impressions
(Review in Maine Sunday Telegram)
By C. Z. Cramer
Food: 4 star / Atmosphere: 4 star / Service: 4 star
When it comes to sushi restaurants in Portland, it’s hard to pick favorites. This is a sushi town. In countless meals, I have yet to encounter any real missteps in the skillfully cut and garnished seafood and vegetables. And so was the case on a recent night at Sapporo.
Having eaten at Sapporo many times, I am always struck by the hospitality. A conscientious host or hostess is always there at a small desk at the entry to the dark, busy sushi bar, where knife-wielding masters work solemnly behind glass cases, turning seafood into sculpture. On this occasion, we were led straight through this room and into the newer dining area, which was packed on that rainy night.
The airy dining room is a haven of mellow lighting, gentle beiges and other pale, neutral tones, translucent paper screens and attractive wooden furniture. Even when it’s very busy, this dining room sets a tone of calm and tranquility. The windows overlook a small dining patio. An automated piano stands near the door to the sushi bar, emitting phantom background music.
Sapporo has a full bar, so there are jazzy cocktails detailed on the dinner menu, and there is Japanese Kirin beer along with a few domestics, and glasses of house wines. We ordered a carafe of warm Gekkeikan sake to sip from porcelain thimbles while we considered the menu ($7).
As with most sushi places, the menu is divided into the sushi categories of sashimi - unadorned raw seafood; nigiri - pieces of seafood set on small pedestals of sushi rice; and seafood and vegetable maki rolls that are fashioned in cylinders with black nori seaweed and rice inside or outside the seaweed. Fancifully named dragon, alligator and caterpillar rolls are dramatic looking cylinders involving thinly sliced avocado, barbecued eel, crabmeat and other ingredients.
Quite a bit of Sapporo’s menu is devoted to sushi dinner combination platters, presumably to make it easier to order an assortment without spending too much time poring over the long lists of individual choices. Combination #1 contained, in 12 pieces, a beginner’s survey of shrimp, tuna, salmon, yellowtail, #e2e2e2 fish and surf clam sashimi and nigiri, plus a tuna roll and the reliable California roll, beloved of those who can’t face raw fish ($13.95). The 20-piece Combination #3 upped the ante a bit by adding flying fish roe and eel to the selection ($21.95).
Even larger party platters of 30 to 49 pieces ($25.95 to $39.95) were well conceived for streamlining the ordering process for large groups. There was even a vegetarian party platter of 36 pieces that included vegetable, cucumber and gourd rolls plus shiitake mushrooms, pickled burdock and radish, fried tofu and wakame. Vegetarians have good luck all over this menu.
Sapporo also serves hot entrees including chicken, beef or salmon teryaki ($9.95 to $15.95), battered and fried vegetable, seafood and chicken tempura combinations ($8.95 to $13.95), and a number of curries ($9.50 to $11.50). There are the requisite noodle dishes, which here include udon (broad) and soba (buckwheat) dishes ($7.95 to $9.95).
We never ordered much hot food when we go to sushi places, because we prefer to hand-pick our own choices from among the raw seafood. But we can always make an exception for tempura, because we love delicate, crispy, batter-fried anything. This time we tried squid and vegetable tempura, which was satisfying stuff ($6.50). The squid was cut from a fairly large beast from the look of the broad rings, and the meat was so tender it had likely been boiled beforehand. Vegetables included broccoli, summer squash, and carrot, all cut into long blades that were challenging to manage with chopsticks. The soy-based dipping sauce was delicious.
Seaweed salads are among those simple, magical little side dishes that define the healthy, economical but lyrical nature of Japanese cuisine. This one was nothing but a tangle of skinny, tender and delicately crunchy bright green shreds that tasted fresh and bright in a very mild vinaigrette ($3.95).
The delicacy called uni - sea urchin - is a nigiri sushi menu staple and a personal favorite ($2.25 per piece). Here the squishy urchin was heaped onto a bit of rice wrapped snugly in a strip of nori. The flavor was dizzyingly fresh and mild.
Ankimo is another choice nigiri ($2.50 per piece). Soft pieces of orange monkfish liver are presented in the same fashion as the uni, heaped onto a seaweed-wrapped cylinder of rice. The soft, slippery nature of ankimo and uni make them a pure gross-out for timid eaters. To those of us who love them, though, they are the sheer essence of the sea, maybe even more so than raw oysters.
Tobiko - flying fish roe - appeared to bubble up volcanically out of its seaweed cup ($2 per piece). As bright orange as Jell-o, the dainty roe is mild and tasty, and not as salty as caviar. The faint crunch to the tiny eggs made a pleasing counterpoint to the slithery texture of the monkfish and urchin.
Crunchy spicy tuna roll was aptly named. Each bite offered colorful contrasts between the dark, rich fish and crisp cucumber and other wasabi-spiked vegetable shreds ($5.50). The same light-and-dark sensations were at play in the gokuda roll ($4.50). This wonderful maki had bold, oily mackerel paired off with bits of spicy fresh ginger.
With the rolls, we shared cold Ozeki saki, served in a clear glass “teapot” with a separate chamber for ice so that the melt did not dilute the wine ($6.95). This refreshing beverage is the perfect partner for seafood rolls dipped in soy and dressed with the bright green, searing wasabi paste and ribbons of pickled ginger.
This meal at Sapporo was feast of flavor and texture. It had the light, bright, cleansing clarity that makes a meal of sushi so unusual and appealing.