The day before we left for Vegas I had a lunch appointment with a club seat holder in OKC. It was my only appointment of the day, and Clayton felt really bad that I had driven all the way there just for him. But I really didn't mind and I assured him of that. I especially didn't mind when he suggested Sushi Neko, since I had never eaten there before. I always ask the donors where they would like to eat since they know their area better than I do. And I've been very lucky that almost every suggestion has been a brand new restaurant to me, which is perfect for this blog. And this trip was even better, because not only is Clayton a wonderful person, but we have a mutual friend in AJ, one of my favorite people ever!
I was actually going to eat there about 2 months ago when I had a lunch to myself between appointments. They were doing construction in front of the restaurant and I had parked on the other side of the street. So I would have had to walk a lot further around to get there. Well, maybe not a whole lot, but I was feeling lazy. And I ended up at Musashi's (and did a review), which is literally across the street from Sushi Neko. And I learned that they are sister restaurants. And their food was delicious.
The restaurant is right next to Will Rogers Theatre on Western Avenue. The theatre, surprise surprise, is part of the same Western Concepts Restaurant Group as Sushi Neko and Musashi's. I definitely need to try out the remaining restaurants of this group. The road construction was done, so I was able to park almost right in front when I arrived. The restaurant was packed, no surprise because our appointment was at noon.
The restaurant is a pretty good size. There’s a little ramp down to the host stand. There’s table seating to the right of the ramp, and booth seating to the left. Just past the host stand there’s a large full bar to the left, and a really big sushi bar to the right. Where Musashi’s is mainly a hibachi restaurant with a small sushi bar area, Sushi Neko is all about the sushi. Well, they do have entrees for people like my friend Joni who don’t eat sushi, but there’s no hibachi. We were at a 2-seater table against the right wall.
I always tell people up-front about my blog, so they don’t think I’m weird for taking pictures and notes. They’re all obviously fine with it, and I’ve gotten some great restaurant recommendations! And hopefully some more readers for the blog.
Just like Musashi's, Sushi Neko provides a warm hand towel when you arrive. I really like that, and I wish more restaurants added that touch.
I was running a few minutes behind and didn't notice the towel at first so mine wasn't hot anymore by the time I used it. But that's okay. It's the thought that counts.
Clayton was originally planning to get the seared tuna salad. But then we started looking at all the sushi options, and decided to just share a bunch of sushi. He eats here quite a bit since they don’t live too far away, and he made some recommendations. We went with Atomic Tootsie, Calamari, Spider, and Oklahoma Dynamite.
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| SPIDER - softshell crab, avocado, cucumber, masago ATOMIC TOOTSIE - tempura salmon, cream cheese, jalapeno, spicy sauce, masago CALAMARI - fried squid rolled in bread crumbs, spicy sauce, green onion, masago OKLAHOMA DYNAMITE - tuna mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil, Japanese mayo, Japanese pepper, flying fish roe, and rolled with cilantro, Japanese pepper, avocado and gobo |
First, I love the presentation! So beautifully done. That’s one thing I really like about sushi places, they take great pride in how the food looks. Other restaurants do too, but it seems to stand out to me in sushi places.
Man this was all so good. The Atomic Tootsie had a serious kick. It should, since there’s a ring of jalapeno in each piece. The cream cheese helps tone it down, and the salmon was perfectly cooked. I don't think I've ever had tempura salmon before, but it was delicious. The spider is a standard roll at most restaurants, but was still very good. The creamy avocado provides a great contrast in texture to the softshell crab and cucumber. The Oklahoma Dynamite was also delicious. There's a ton of stuff in it, but the flavors all worked well together. It also had a big kick because every other item is spicy. The calamari was slightly overcooked in the calamari roll, but I really couldn’t complain because the roll had excellent flavor and had huge chunks of the calamari. It was the same thing at Musashi's. I was very pleasantly surprised at how big the pieces of fish were in each roll. Most places even if you get a good amount of meat, the pieces are cut really small. Here you get a lot and it’s big pieces.
When we placed the order I asked if we should have gotten anything else and Clayton said what we got would be more than enough. He wasn't kidding! We had to rest a little bit towards the end to finish it all. Their rolls are very generously sized. I was stuffed by the time we were finished, and that doesn’t happen often with sushi.
One thing I will say, they don’t skimp on the beverages! They refilled our drinks at least 5 times. Finally we both had to stop so we wouldn’t swim out of there. But I shouldn't complain because I would much rather have that level of attentiveness than the other direction.
I will definitely be going back here. They had a lot of rolls I’ve never heard of that looked good. I didn’t notice edamame on the menu, but I saw the table next to me got it. And I always love to get edamame. And maybe even try the gyozo.
