When Mr Minx and I visited the Woman's Industrial Kitchen recently, we chatted a bit about local restaurants with proprietor Irene Smith. She revealed that she had recently had a religious experience at a brand new sushi restaurant on Belair Road, in Overlea. Called Arigato Hibachi & Sushi, the place actually specializes in dishes cooked up on a flat griddle, or teppan. Kinda like Nichi Bei Kai, only without the show. We love sushi, so we took Irene's word for it and drove out to Overlea to check it out.
She wasn't wrong. The sushi was pretty damn great.
We started out with a selection of nigiri - tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and escolar, or "white tuna." All of the fish was, as they say, like buttah. We barely had to chew. I love that they garnished the escolar with tiny bits of caramelized crisp onion. We also ordered a spicy crawfish and cucumber roll that came out with the nigiri. It wasn't all that spicy, but it was fresh and tasty.
Irene had emphasized that Arigato offers a lot of unusual and inventive rolls, and that's what we tend to enjoy most. We ordered three of the most interesting sounding combinations: the Kamikaze (center), which had salmon and avocado inside and was topped with baked scallops, scallions, tempura flakes, roe, and spicy mayo; the Volcano (top), a California roll topped with baked creamy octopus, crab, shrimp, tempura flakes, roe, and teriyaki sauce; and the Cowboy (bottom), with seared beef, cucumber, and avocado, topped with teriyaki sauce.
All three were terrific. The fish and the beef was extremely tender, the sauces were subtle, and the toppings were interesting. And the wasabi was super spicy and gave a real kick in the pants.
I think the thing that really won me over, besides the super tender fish, was that the rice was still a bit warm. Also, the rolls were small, despite the plethora of ingredients, which made them really easy to eat.
While it was a bit of a drive for us, it was well worth the trip, and we'll be back for more. Maybe we'll try a hibachi dish next time, but maybe not - there are still plenty of rolls for us to explore.
Arigato Hibachi & Sushi
7698 Belair Rd, Suite 103
Baltimore, MD 21236
http://www.arigatoblt.com/
Posted on Minxeats.com.
