Tokyo Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar

 pickled bar Summer is the season of less, and this principle of economy fitswell with the current frugality. Current seasonal correctness inrestaurants dictates shellfish in summertime and humanelyslaughtered animals on consciously heavier menus in fall. Whilethis whirlwind of endless menu changes are the predictable beat infood emporiums around town, some outposts of various culturessimply offer their stalwart menus all year, allowing the diner tochoose according to whim. To me, summer is sushi, rich and robust in taste, not weight. Thesesmall bites are as visually appealing as they are tastefullytempting. Traditional sushi, neither the kind doused in excessivesauce nor hiding bits of cream cheese or mayonnaise, has thatephemeral earthy taste of a carrot just plucked from the ground.Yet in Charlotte, evidently, for sushi bars to be good they need tobe sexy. While traditional Japanese restaurants with cozy tatami roomsand shakuhachi music are not the only way to go, neither areraucous rooms filled with turquoise-colored snakeskin Manolos.Somewhere in the middle is the hardworking Itamae Yang. Food lovers have come to revere chefs and murmur words ofappreciation when booking elusive reservations at the FrenchLaundry (Napa Valley) or El Bulli (northeastern Spain) or excitedlyretelling a chef's table dinner at (insert name of famouschef-driven restaurant). At the same time, taste-obsessed, yethumble, chefs in our midst can be overlooked. Take Hyunseok Yang, for example. Last November he opened the90-seat Tokyo Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar , his first restaurant venture. Previously this Korean native hadbeen in the construction business, but turned his passion for sushi(yes, Korean and Japanese cuisines do have commonalities) into abusiness. Yang trained at his cousin's Japanese restaurant inMaryland before coming to Charlotte to open Tokyo. With Yang is hisson Paul, who has taken time off from his studies at the Universityof Georgia to help establish the business. Itamae Yang commands the sushi bar in the back of the dining area.Tokyo has that modishly stark, yet serviceable, look that a numberof other dining establishments have tried in this windswept expanseof asphalt that is Ballantyne, an area which, as some whisper,devours restaurateurs. Yang's traditional menu is devoid of endless variations ofsaccharine names such as Queen City or Booming Granny (a sushi itemI saw once that had tempura-fried Granny Smith apple slices).Instead, Tokyo's rolls have straight-forward descriptions --Dragon, Spider, Spicy -- and feature some Americanized items (creamcheese and avocado) as well as the traditional uni, toro, anduzura. Also on the menu are chirashi, a bowl of sushi rice withscattered slivers of raw fish; tempura; teriyaki; and noodles. Thewine list is small, unfortunately, but there is a beer list aswell. Even with a language barrier, Yang is convincingly hospitable. Heprovides customers with complementary dishes and cares about theirreaction. Paul Yang notes all his father's sauces are made in-houseand says they "use the highest quality ingredients -- even thepickled ginger." We watched casually from the sushi bar as Yang sliced cucumbersmaking a pre-meal, entrée-sized amuse for us, as it turnedout. Our chatter momentarily ceased and we tasted. Wow. We fell tostunned silence. "Make more," we thought. So we hurriedlychecked off a cluster of nigiri and maki, throwing in another salad-- this one with fabulous octopus. The next salvo included somewondrous shumai and an elevated interpretation of una don. Yangseared opulent strips of fresh water eel (unagi), spiking them witha sweet soy-based sauce, and used them to cover a deep bowl ofrice. In Japan, unagi is eaten to revitalize the soul from thesummer doldrums.