Yoshi Zushi -- Corpus Christi, TX

Wednesday night we met a bunch of friends for dinner at Yoshi Zushi, (5898 Everhart, http://www.yoshizushi.net/menu.html). This is not your typical Asian restaurant. Where most serve Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, Yoshi serves all three plus sushi. This was my first visit and I don't know why I've not heard anything about it before. It seems to be quite popular judging from the crowd it draws on a Wednesday night. We found the atmosphere to be comfortable with a lean towards elegance.

Rob and I shared two dishes. One off of their sushi specialty rolls menu, the Corpus Christi Roll. This roll is normally $12, but is $8 on the Happy Hour menu. Crab, avocado, cream cheese, with salmon, tempura fried, and topped w/ eel sauce, and spicy mayo. Yum! Eight slices made for a hefty appetizer. We shared a couple of pieces with others at the table who did not realize that not all sushi is raw fish. Our second, or main dish was Teriyaki Chicken off of the Japanese menu. This dish was serve with the chicken cut into strips, the vegetables to one side of the plate and the teriyaki sauce poured over all. The chicken was tender and the vegetables crisp, just the way I like them. We went with the white rice. Fried rice is also available for an extra $2. I like to make an attempt at using the chopsticks. The way the chicken was cut made handling it with chopsticks a bit difficult and there was no knife for cutting, although a fork did accompany the dish. Rob got the fork, so I struggled a little, but I managed to eat my fair share (I stole the fork to eat rice . . .ssh!).

Being with a group, we got the opportunity to get some feedback on a wide range of dishes. One of the dishes that another shared with us was from the appetizer menu. The Garlic Edamame. They steam the edamame with salt and garlic. Very simple and very delicious! As you slide the hull between your teeth, releasing the soy beans into your mouth, you get a marvelous essence of salt and garlic that is very satisfying. Everyone at our table enjoyed their food. No one had a complaint.

I have to say up front that the lovely Stephanie, who was our server, is the daughter of one of our friends in party. I think she was simply wonderful, but I may be a little biased. I can comment in general that the waitstaff was friendly and accomodating; even willing to move large divider planters to add another table to ours. I asked Stephanie for a to go sushi menu and another waiter spent several minutes trying to print one out for me because they had none on hand. Of course, as technology can be very finicky, he was having a great deal of trouble, and even when I told him I would just access it online, he still tried. I thought I would have to tie his hands to get him to quit. It was not to be and he did stop trying after a while.

 We would recommend Yoshi, if only for the specialty rolls. Though I cannot say that the food was spectacular, it was good and we will certainly be back.