Sushi X, the new hot spot in the Capital Region for sushi

Tonight, I decided to try a place the Dining Out meetup.com group has not gone to yet -- Sushi X, on 710 New Loudon Road in Latham.  Sushi X is located right next to the 76 Diner in Latham. 

The inside of Sushi X is unlike any restaurant I know of in the Capital Region.  As it is billed, Sushi X is more like a lounge than a restaurant.  The inside is brightly lit, with fluorescent lights and chandeliers everywhere.  Asian-themed wallpaper is on the walls and lanterns are hanging from the ceiling.  There is a huge sushi chef kitchen with four sushi chefs busily preparing meals.  The place has a very sophisticated air to it. 

As I sat down, a waitress dressed all in black handed me two slips of paper and a pencil.  She asked me to write down my order. 

As I looked the menu over, I saw a notice on my table.  It said that if I order something and I am unable to finish it, I have to pay for it a la carte.  I thought that was a little ridiculous.  On this first round, I made sure to order only what I could eat.  I checked off miso soup, seaweed Salad, a piece of Salmon Sashimi, a Salmon Skin hand roll and a shrimp tempura special roll. 

The food that I ate was pretty good, though not spectacular.  The miso soup was excellent.  It was flavorful and not too salty.  The seaweed salad was good, though the portion was not huge.  Now, for the sushi.  Unlike Sake Cafe, the sushi rolls had a lot of rice.  Clearly, Sushi X is looking to fill its customers up quickly.  The salmon skin hand roll and shrimp tempura rolls were both acceptable.  The funniest part of the first round of food was the salmon sashimi.  On my plate was a piece of salmon smaller than my thumb.  Sushi X is kind of stingy on the fish. 

As I finished my plate, I was surprised to see the waitress coming around to give me another sheet of paper.  Sushi X is pretty good about coming around to clear plates and see if you want more food.   They do not mind giving you your money's worth.  This is good, because I was determined to leave Sushi X full.  The rice was beginning to bloat me however.  On my second round, I once again had the seaweed salad.  This time I tried a crazy girl roll (crunchy spicy salmon and avocado inside topped with pepper tuna and honey wasabi sauce).  This was very good.  I loved the spicy tuna stuffed inside and the fish on the top was a bonus.  I also had salmon, tuna, yellowtail, shrimp and white tuna pieces, which were also good. 

Shortly after I polished that off, the waitress came by and asked if I wanted more food.  The place was packed by this time.  The crowd mostly consisted of young adults in their 20's and 30's.  It was generally a hip crowd.  I was determined to continue to eat, though I was feeling quite full.  I decided to stick to the hot foods on this go-around.  I had the crab wonton and the beef rib.  The beef rib was delicious!  It was 3/4 pound of beef with the bone on barbecued in teriyaki sauce.  I ate every scrap of it.  I also had a house salad which I was a little disappointed with.  It was drowned in ginger dressing, and consisted of nothing more than lettuce and dressing. 

On the weekend, Sushi X charges $21.95 plus tax.  They add a 18% gratuity, so the whole thing costs almost $28.00.  I suppose if you count everything I ate, I did fairly well.  After all, two special rolls, soup, salad and seaweed salad would come out to about $22.00 a la carte, and I ate much more than that.  If you are hungry for Japanese food, Sushi X is the place to go.

Sake Cafe for Great Sushi and Japanese Food

We went to the Sake Cafe on 1365 New Scotland Road with the meetup.com dining out group.  The Sake Cafe is located in the suburban Price Chopper Plaza right off of Route 85.  It is important to note that this is the second Sake Cafe on New Scotland Road.  The other Sake Cafe is located at 273 New Scotland Avenue. 

The Sake Cafe on 1365 New Scotland Road is a very elegantly appointed restaurant, with wood tables, an ample bar, and ample seating.  The wait staff is immaculately dressed in black.  The atmosphere is on par with the fine Chinese and Japanese restaurants in the area -- Hana and Koto. 

We got there a half an hour early, and my girlfriend was starving, so we decided to order some sushi rolls.  The sushi at Sake Cafe is awesome!  We got a California roll and a Tuna roll.  Interestingly, the sushi chef at Sake Cafe uses very little rice in his sushi.  He just barely covers the seaweed with rice.  He, however, does not skimp on the fish.  The tuna roll had a very good portion of tuna, probably triple the amount of tuna Hannaford puts in their tuna rolls.  The tuna rolls are a steal, at just $4.00 for six pieces.

Having had sushi as my appetizer, I wanted to get something different for my main course.  I decided to go with the Singapore noodles with shrimp.  This is a dish I had never tried before.  The dish was very elegantly presented -- a heap of thin noodles on a big plate with a carrot in the shape of a flower.  The noodles were incredbly spicy, but delicious.  The dish came with six very large fresh, shrimp that I throughly enjoyed.  The Singapore noodles are only $9, which makes it one of the cheaper items on the menu. 

Other items around the table looked similarly appetizing.  My girlfriend ordered the chicken teriyaki for $13.00, which was also good.  I thought the portion could have been a little larger.  Still, the chicken was very fresh, and the sauce was sweet, and not overly salty.  My friend ordered the mango shrimp, which she said was excellent.  It was a very colorful array of twelve or so shrimp with green peppers and other vegetables, mixed in an orange sauce.  They do put a lot of sauce in this dish; so if you are watching your weight, ask the waitress for less sauce. 

The only thing that was an issue with our meal was the wait.  Of course, we were a very large crowd of 12.  However, there was only one or two wait staff waiting on the entire restaurant of 20 tables.  It took us an hour and a half to finally get our food.  We did not get any personal attention from our waitress.  She did not get my friends order right, and she sent back her email.  However, everyone else's orders came out correct, and our bills were calculated correctly. 

Sake Cafe gets an "A" from me.  The atmosphere is wonderful, the sushi is excellent, and the hot food is also good.  I was really impressed. 

Hannaford Sushi - Great for a meal in a pinch

In my blog, I generally like to cover only restaurants.  However, in some cases, I will cover supermarkets when I feel it is necessary.  One supermarket that goes above and beyond with their prepared meals is Hannaford. 

One of the best prepared meals to get at Hannaford is their sushi.  Hannaford offers many different types of sushi -- california rolls, spicy salmon rolls, spicy tuna rolls etc.  The ones that I get most often are the spicy tuna rolls.  These are offered with either brown rice or white rice.  They come in either eight piece ($6.99) or sixteen piece trays ($7.99).   I usually get the white rice, 16 piece trays.
 

Hannaford sushi is just as good as the sushi you get from a restaurant.  During the working day at the Wolf Road Hannaford (I am not sure about other Hannafords), the sushi chef makes fresh rolls for you upon request, assuming the roll you desire is not already in the refrigerator.  I tasted one of these fresh rolls recently and it was absolutely delicious.  The cucumbers, raw tuna, sesame seeds, and rice really come together to form one delicious combination of colors and flavors.  It is just as good as anything you get from Ichiban, and it is a bit cheaper.  In comparison, fourteen pieces of sushi at Ichiban or Hana cost $10 at least. 

Hannaford sushi is a relatively cheap, healthy meal to get if you are on the go and do not feel like cooking.  It is way better for you than the other options on Wolf Road, like Arby's or Five Guys.  If you are in the Wolf Road Hannaford during lunchtime, you can even sit down and eat the sushi while in the store.  Hannaford sushi is one of my favorite meals.  If you try it, maybe it will become one of your favorites too.  Bon apetit!

Oyishi Japan

I occasionally like to get the california roll at Oyishi Japan at Colonie Center.

The sushi is made fresh to order. There are a couple of pre-made rolls, but they do not taste old. They are quite large and fresh, with an ample amount of avocado and crab. The rice is sticky and moist. The rolls are not the dried out rolls you may get at the seafood section at Hannaford or Price Chopper.

For $3.49, these rolls are an excellent, healthy snack while mallwalking. Hannaford or Price Chopper's sushi rolls will typically run you around $5.00, however, they are smaller and not as fresh-tasting. Oyishi Sushi offers a solid sushi roll at a very reasonable price.

Oyishi Japan has a varied menu: bubble tea, sushi, tempura and teriyaki chicken. However, they are perhaps most well known for their teriyaki. I did not think I would find bubble tea this far from NYC, but it is true, Colonie Center has bubble tea. Someday I will have to try it.

One of the workers outside the food court stand will constantly push samples of the teriyaki chicken. I find this frustrating because I cannot come within 40 yards of the storefront without having a sample being pushed on me. It is good food, but if I want the food, I will ask for it. I think this unfortunate situation lowers my ranking of the eatery.