Sushi with a young, fresh appeal

January 08, 2004|DINING OUT, Globe Staff

Malts and cheeseburgers had a long run as the preferred food of the young. That's so over. All you have to do is walk into Osushi to see the generational new wave. Tucked into a nook between the Westin Hotel and the Copley Place mall, this tiny place brims with youth. One evening we sit at the miniscule sushi bar, wedged against the wall, a good place to watch two young sushi chefs diligently rolling and chopping at a rapid pace.

Two boys talking of high school sit beside us, quickly riff through the menu, and order with aficionados' taste. Farther down, a clutch of customers who look to be in their early 20s trade notes on the wild aftermath of a recent party.

The room is packed with young Asian women, their shopping bags neatly stashed by their feet, and couples comparing notes as they nibble edamame squeezed from salty pods. This isn't your parents' malt shop. Instead, it's definitely a gathering place of young and cool, and toro (tuna belly) and godzilla maki, the successor to the burger of yore.

Osushi hits the right notes in mood and menu. The spare, gray-and-red interior is devoid of frills, stylish in a contemporary way. The seating consists of a few booths, a few tables, and a few high tables with stools, which seem to be the perch of choice for those who grew up eating around an '80s island in the kitchen. The service is friendly, despite a rushed feeling when the room is busy.

The menu is concise, too: Some appetizers and salads precede a long list of sushi and sashimi. There's nothing too far out in the list of maki rolls but no concessions, either, to those unschooled in the ways of sushi.

Obviously, owners Timothy Panagopoulos and Kenichi Iwoaka know their audience. The fish is fresh. The sushi is adroitly made so that the fish sits securely on the vinegared rice and doesn't crumble apart when grasped with chopsticks. The maki rolls are pretty and the flavors distinct.

One evening a companion and I start a seaweed salad served in a hollowed-out orange, its sesame oil dressing offset with sweetness and citrus acidity of orange segments. Tataki -- tuna flash-seared to have just a tiny crunch in the mouth -- has a melting quality to the flesh.

Executive chef Iwoaka, who previously was a sushi chef at the Ginza restaurants, is obviously picky about his fish. The toro is almost pearly pink with a texture so soft it's almost like foie gras on the tongue. Hamachi is fine and firm, and even salmon, the warhorse of seafood on the American table, has a lovely fresh taste. Saba, with its forward flavor and slightly oily texture, is a great accent point with other milder combinations.