Usually, a sushi place is tough for non-sushi fans, typically with only a few concessions to those who don’t eat raw fish.
But Ra Sushi not only has quite a bit to offer those people who make that “eewwwww” sound at the mention of “sushi” (there are a couple in almost every family or group), it does the traditional sashimi and sushi well.
And they don’t “phone it in” when it comes to those dishes they do for the “eewwww” crowd, either. More than that, many of the dishes on both sides have a bit of a Latin accent to make Ra Sushi a bit broader than an experience at most sushi places.
Glen Stosius, general manager of Tucson’s one Ra Sushi, said that added flair shows up in its newer tapas-style items, and through the use of jalapeños and other peppers and mango in sauces on a variety of dishes. The Scottsdale-based chain fine-tunes the menu, adding new items each year, Stosius said.
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Every once in a while, I noticed a bit of cilantro in an item where I wouldn’t have expected it. And like the mango, it works well to balance the sting in some of the more peppery dishes.
The Hot Mess appetizer ($13) is a good example. The serving of crispy rice balls is covered in a spicy crab mix and topped with cilantro and jalapeño.
Wilder still is the shishito pepper appetizer ($6.50). These potent, skinny yellow-to-green peppers appeared to be grilled (though the menu said sautéed in an Asian sauce). They can dampen eyebrows, even among those on friendly terms with chiltipins, jalapeños and habañeros.
The apple teriyaki salmon ($16) featured a narrow steak of grilled and sweet-glazed farm-raised salmon on a bed of wasabi mashed potatoes and topped with slices of Fuji apple. The salmon was firm, not the feared mushy texture you get with some farmed salmon, and the spicy wasabi spuds provided an interesting contrast to the sweet glaze.
The chicken katsu ($12.75) got a thumbs up for having a large plank of sliced moist chicken in a crisp breading. It, too, was served with the wasabi mashed potatoes, but it also a balanced sweet-sour cole slaw and an Asian-style BBQ sauce for dipping.
On a lunch visit, we found the bento boxes (a choice of vegetable or shrimp tempuras, chicken, beef or salmon teriyaki, and chicken katsu) to be a bargain ($7 and $8, served 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week) and filling (about 10 inches square.)
The bara chirashi bowl ($9) lunch special was another hit. It was both varied (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, avocado and cucumber — all of them — with Asian green vegetables over rice) and substantial (come hungry).
Ra nails the traditional sushi (nigiri with two pieces of raw fish served over rice, and maki — anything that’s served as a roll) and sashimi (unadorned slices of fish and seafood). In every case we tried during three visits, including one before the menu was updated, the presentation was pleasing and, most important, the seafood was fresh.
The only complaint came on one lunch visit when the sushi line was out of sync with the kitchen. One of us had ordered sushi and was left waiting, while the other politely watched the hot item grow cold.
Apologies were offered, and the service was uniformly cheerful, informative and, other than that one instance, prompt.
Ra’s airy interior, with giant red light globes hanging from the ceiling, was pleasant, and an improvement over of the grim, storefront-style spaces at several Tucson sushi restaurants.
Ra, started in Old Town Scottsdale in 1997, is now a national chain under the Benihana Corp.’s sushi division.
