Oregon Sushi Restaurant Review

Sakura Japanese Restaurant
844 E. 13th Ave
Eugene OR 97401
541-343-6817

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Before today, I'd never had sushi in Eugene. Even in good traffic, Eugene is a 100-minute drive from my house; about as far as Vancouver. I'd driven through (i.e., "past") Eugene many times on my way to & from California, but the only time I'd actually stopped there with the intent of eating sushi just happened to be on the Fourth of July, when everything was closed. Fortunately, my first true sushi experience in Eugene was a pleasant one, and well worth the wait.

First, a little background: In late January 2006, I learned via the Internet (where else?) about Eugene's annual "Asian Celebration" festival, one event of which would be a "Sushi Showcase." Well, you just know I had to come see that, right? I decided this would also be the perfect excuse-slash-opportunity to try one or more of Eugene's several Japanese restaurants.

My quest began on a Saturday, one whose expected high temperature was somewhere in the neighborhood of "brass monkey." The only Japanese restaurant in Eugene open for lunch on Saturday is Sakura, a stone's throw from the University of Oregon and across the street from one of Oregon's several thousand (million?) Starbucks. I arrived half an hour before Sakura opened, and chose to get my java buzz at Espresso Roma, just a couple doors down from Starbucks. (Hooray, quasi-independent coffee shops!) After defrosting my body core with a 20-ounce Grasshopper, I strode across the street and waited patiently in front of Sakura's still-locked entrance. A minute or two later, I was inside.

The first thing you notice about Sakura's decor is the artwork. A huge mural graces the wall opposite the sushi bar, while another, almost as large, was inexplicably hidden behind some vending machines (if I remember correctly). A variety of other paintings are hung on or leaned against walls and windows throughout the restaurant. I don't recall any of the artwork having much to do with sushi, or even Japan, but then the music (the boss' choice, apparently) wasn't particularly traditional either: one indie rock song drifting through the air reminded me of the Cookie Monster having "a case of the Mondays." Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I was promptly seated at the bar, next to a gentleman wearing a stethoscope and dressed in light blue scrubs. How he (and at least two other diners) managed to enter the restaurant before the doors were unlocked was never entirely explained. Perhaps his surgical skills were part and parcel of the piscatorial prep work. (Yeesh, try typing that three times fast.)

The quirky decor continues at the sushi bar. The counter is adorned with numerous tiny figurines that look like they could have come from the Japanese equivalent of a box of Cracker Jack. A photo of two young Japanese women posing with Santa Claus is pinned to the wall at one end of the bar. Boxes of Pocky are available for sale next to the cashier's station.

After browsing the pun-friendly menu (chicken katsu fried with kimchee is called "Chick Korea"; a roll containing [among other things] shinko and mayonnaise is called--wait for it--"Shinko de Mayo"), I decided to order "9 to Heaven." This $14.50 nigiri sampler, served on a small bamboo geta and accompanied by miso soup, includes maguro, sake, ebi, hamachi, unagi, tako, tai, hotate, and snow crab. Everything was superb, especially the maguro and unagi, which had that melt-in-your-mouth feel I always look for (so to speak). Portion sizes were quite large.

The staff is prompt, cheerful and friendly; I easily struck up a conversation with the sushi chefs, as well as with the doctor beside me, who offered me a piece of his oversized $9.95 Spider Roll (which was excellent).

Sakura offers a number of exotic and tempting rolls, notably the $13.95 Dragonian (unagi, cucumber & avocado inside, topped with maguro, sake, ebi, tai, hamachi, snow crab & tobiko--kind of a Rainbow Roll on steroids) and the $12.50 Sakura Roll (snow crab, sake, ebi, avocado, cucumber, shinko, negi onion, lettuce, Japanese mayo, shichimi pepper & tobiko).

Since I hadn't had any breakfast yet, I still had some appetite, so I decided to try a Sakura Roll. It's an enormous, ten-piece roll--we're talking Saburo's-scale, here--arranged in a circle on an oversized plate, and it's really, really good. The pickled shinko adds a distinctive crunch without overpowering the other ingredients, and the shichimi pepper gives the roll just a little bit of a kick.

After these two items, I was pleasantly full, and ready for a day of browsing the Asian Celebration. My visit to Sakura was the best sushi lunch I can recall, and a pleasant initiation to Eugene's many sushi options. Sakura's gets an "A" from me, and I look forward to a return visit. They have a $35 "Konishiki" sampler for two or more people (which I might be able to tackle by myself) and a $60 Akebono combo for "three or more" people (for which I'll probably need help). And I know just who to ask. :)