Raw deal

Sushi lovers in the market for good value have a world of possibilities

February 25, 2009|Devra First, Globe Staff

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On the weekend, Sushi Island has live jazz. There's some connection between this genre of music and this genre of food. At many of the places we visited, jazz was playing - not cheeseball jazz but the good, smooth stuff. Perhaps it has something to do with the artistic temperament of the sushi chef.

Toraya

More jazz (recorded), more artistry. The tiny room that is Toraya feels a bit like a boat with its sloped ceilings, shipshape and tidy. Here chef and co-owner Shinji Muraki quietly plies his craft, piling up square boxes with sushi rice topped with a cornucopia of sashimi for an exquisite chirashi-zushi. The jewel box contains sweet shrimp, raw salmon, and charred salmon, slabs of tuna, and much more. It's $16.95, or $11.50 at lunch, and it's beautiful.

Muraki also makes oshizushi, an Osaka specialty where rice and fish are pressed together in a square box, then sliced. One made with eel is delicious, the sweet sauce set off by shiso leaves (the herb perilla). Here, too, you'll find daily specials in addition to the usual roster of nigiri and maki: one recent evening, fluke so fresh it practically flips off your chopsticks and into your mouth.

Eating here feels like eating in Japan, in a tiny mom-and-pop shop where the care is evident.

Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.