THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Fuji-Ya

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Fuji-Ya Restaurant Review:

Serving sushi in Minnesota requires a special kind of will. Carol Weston Hanson, Fuji Ya's owner, has spared no effort or expense in creating a beautiful sushi bar to complement her restaurant's traditional Japanese cuisine. Hanson drove to Los Angeles to buy her neta, the refrigerated display cases that keep popular ingredients handy, and buys her fish from a special Japanese distributor. Her secret weapon is head sushi chef Tengo Thao. Like an art expert picking out a real Rembrandt from a stack of fakes, Thao knows when sushi is right. Fuji Ya's fatty fishes such as the maguro (tuna) and sake (salmon) are consistently dense and buttery with a hint of sweetness, while white fish such as the stripped sea bass have a silvery lightness. Rolls are a wonder, from the restrained spicy tuna roll, which uses less Japanese mayonnaise than most, to the whimsical caterpillar roll, an inside-out roll that looks exactly like its namesake. Made with unagi (fresh water eel), cucumber, and avocado, the caterpillar roll has a segmented back made from staggered avocado slices and a head featuring two springy green antennae made from kariware. Fuji Ya has been plagued with service problems since it opened and non-sushi dishes such as the teriyaki and tempura are decidedly lackluster. But request a seat at the bar and stick to the fish and you'll be amazed at how effervescent sushi in the Midwest can be.