The Japanese restaurant that introduced many in New Orleans to sushi now is showing a different approach that goes far beyond the familiar rolls.
Some culinary pyrotechnics are always part of the hibachi experience, and in Metairie the Japanese restaurant Shogun puts on the usual performance at its griddle-top tables. That’s where groups gather for communal meals and cheer as the hibachi cooks put on a drum show with their knives and spatulas and invariably ignite some oil for fiery panache. These days, however, the real fireworks at this sprawling suburban restaurant take flight at the sushi bar, specifically the corner that is the roost of the sushi chef everyone calls Kaz.
Officially, that would be Kazuyuki Ishikawa, the Tokyo native who is steering Shogun, the area’s oldest Japanese restaurant, through some new waters. He pairs sweet scallops with fat plonks of foie gras, all drizzled with thick loops of balsamic vinegar. He wraps raw salmon around shiso leaf and ginger, belting the little bundles with thin ribbons of kelp. And he crowns iridescent pink slices of skipjack, a buttery-flavored fish, with pungent dabs of miso before gilding them with a bit of olive oil and firing off dashes of sea salt and black pepper from small grinders.
So, where’s the California roll and the spicy tuna? That’s all still here, along with the teriyaki lunch deals and banana tempura for dessert. But I was excited to discover here how Shogun is building a new niche for a contemporary approach to sushi, one that’s become popular in some other American cities but remains very rare in our region.
There’s a fusion element to it, and with a sushi bar palette that can include fresh pea herbs, roasted garlic and various oils and reduction sauces it can sometimes resemble Italian crudo or even the modern ceviche of Peru. But at Shogun it still feels very Japanese, which is a testament to the tradition and personal style mixed up here by the maestro behind the sushi bar.
For newcomers, one approach is to order a course or two in this style, interspersed with your favorite roll. But for a fully immersive experience, request to dine omakase style. This will yield a meal of small courses that unfolds like a chef’s tasting menu, only there is no menu. The progression of dishes is customized as you give feedback. So, during a recent omakase outing, my enthusiasm for duck, sliced like sashimi and left nearly as raw, led to a course of lushly flavorful beef, just briefly blasted with a kitchen blowtorch to add some texture. More fish followed, along with a black sesame seed ice cream for dessert.
Access to all this is a bit limited. Shogun has a huge sushi bar, but you have to sit in the section that Kaz commands to get dishes in his style. Still, it’s worth the hassle when you want to try something different, and isn’t that one of the pleasures of sitting at a sushi bar anyway?
This is new territory for many diners, and it’s new for Shogun too. But it also feels right. After all, Shogun was the restaurant that introduced many in New Orleans to sushi when it started out back in the 1980s. Today, a chef in tune with contemporary flavors is making new introductions all the time.
Shogun
2325 Veterans Blvd., Metairie, (504) 833-7477; shogunneworleans.com
