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During these times when it feels as if so many of our institutions are letting us down — Congress, Baylor University, Bill Cosby, Brazil’s economy — it’s nice to know that Sushi Rock Café is still knocking it out.
The storefront restaurant owned by the Yuthasunthorn family on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale has been packing them in for 20 years. In 2013, they opened a second location in Wilton Manors with the same menu and a regular rotation plan with the chefs and servers between the two.
But the Wilton Manors version has twice as many tables as the Las Olas eatery, which has 14 tables and 12 seats at the sushi bar, so it can be a little tricky to navigate. The Fort Lauderdale location does not take reservations (Wilton Manors does), and has no website. But fans don’t seem to mind, standing patiently outside on busy weekend evenings waiting for an opening.
It’s totally worth it. Because the family is of Thai heritage, the flavor profiles are a little different. It’s hard to precisely define, but think of it as something akin to sushi made with the warmth of home cooking, the way your mom would make sushi if she were inclined to do so. Take the Wallflowers roll ($16): Shrimp tempura and avocado drizzled with sweet eel sauce and served with large dollops of baked conch, which gives it a hearty, comfort-food feel.
Of course, there are those wildly irreverent, thematic pop and rock music titles that date back to when the family opened their first restaurant 30 years ago on South Beach’s Collins Avenue and were looking for a way to stand out. When they moved the operation up to Broward County, they kept the names of dishes such as the Pink Floyd ($15), a baked seafood dynamite roll with tempura flakes and topped with pink strands of crab with spicy sweet sauce. The Strawberry Fields Forever roll ($13) is made of barbecued sweet eel, avocado, green apple, eel sauce and orange caviar and topped with strawberries. The Monkees roll ($13) has banana tempura and cream cheese topped with sesame and sweet eel.
Not feeling that adventurous, we started with the Great Balls of Fire ($6), steamed pork dumplings infused with hot wasabi; the seafood sunomono salad ($9) of octopus, conch and crab in tangy rice vinegar; the shrimp tempura ($9) and the kani salad of shredded crab, cucumber, avocado, mayonnaise and orange caviar. The seafood in the salad and the pork in the dumplings were tender. The shrimp in the tempura was just fine, although the batter was a tad on the greasy side and the accompanying sauce was a discordant and unremarkable lime concoction.
The entrees were, on the other hand, close to perfection. The mixed sushi and sashimi ($25 for solo) is a “chef’s choice” sampler platter in which all the fish was buttery soft. The reggae roll ($10), with salmon and Caribbean conch with scallion and spicy mayo tasted at once fresh and funky, if that makes any sense. The salmon teriyaki ($23) didn’t break any rules or innovate, but the sauce was a plate licker if ever there was one.
Dessert was sinful. That’s really the only word for the over-the-topness of it all. Imagine the collective guilt at our table from the Oreo tempura cookies ($10); the mochi ($6) ice cream dumpling wrapped with Japanese sticky rice dough; and — no seriously, get this — the Puff Daddy ($10), tempura-fried puffs of cheesecake with chocolate sauce and ice cream.
But think about it: Do you really want your rock without any decadence? And isn’t it nice to know an institution can still jam?
Sushi Rock Café Las Olas
1515 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, and 2199 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors
954-462-5541 (Fort Lauderdale) and 954-533-5162 (Wilton Manors)
Cuisine: Sushi and Japanese
Cost: Moderate
Hours: Fort Lauderdale: 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Wilton Manors: Closed Mondays. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 11:30 a.m.-midnight Fridays; 5 p.m.-midnight Saturdays; 5-11 p.m. Sundays
Reservations: Not accepted at Fort Lauderdale location
Credit cards: All major
Bar: Beer and wine
Sound level: Conversational
Outside smoking: Yes
For kids: Boosters at Wilton Manors location
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Parking: Metered parking lot in back, metered street parking
