Arami rises above the pack with beautifully rendered and delicious Japanese cuisine

Arami
1829 W Chicago Ave., Chicago
312-243-1535
www.aramichicago.com (website is still under construction)

Hours: 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs.; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 5-10:30 p.m. Sun.; closed Monday

Pricing: appetizers: $4-12; noodle dishes, $12-15; nigiri and maki, $2-10; special dishes, $8-$13. Chef’s choice combinations are also available at a premium price.

We are definitely sushi lovers and we have written about it many times in DineWise. As much as we don’t want to overdo the topic, we just had to tell you about Arami, a new Japanese restaurant in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. We dined here last weekend with our good “foodie” friends and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Arami is a modestly sized, hip-casual restaurant with a bar/lounge area in front, a generously sized sushi bar in the middle and an exposed brick walls and wood floored dining room in the back. We’re told there will be a nice outdoor patio in the back this coming spring.

The crowd was on the younger side and the vibe was sophisticated but energetic. We were pleased with the ambiance, which includes handsome wooden tables, a modest but visually pleasing art collection on the walls and warm lighting throughout.

The menu is beautifully presented on a bamboo slab. It includes both sushi and many other Asian dishes, with an emphasis on Japanese food. The specialty of the house is the Geunkang Nigiri, which we will cover in a moment.

The menu begins with a generous selection of cold appetizers. For a quick amuse bouche, you might want to try the Toro Tartar Bite, fatty tuna, chives, caviar and house special soy sauce. But even better is the full app-sized Togarashi Seared Tuna, with seared tuna on top of a perfectly conceived seaweed salad, with kelp noodle, creamy Meyer lemon dressing. Another interesting beginning is the Spicy Tako Springroll, spicy octopus with cilantro and crisp mixed greens.

Hot appetizers include a wondrous Mushroom Salad, with citrus, sesame, warm mushrooms and micro shiso. Another good choice is the Seared Hotate, pan seared scallops, unagi, mushroom, shiro miso.

Noodle dish lovers (broth with noodles and other ingredients) have four good choices. The most popular, we’re told is the Veggie Udon, with soy braised daikon, mushrooms, eggplant, carrot, scallions and a poached egg floating on top. We gave it a try—the presentation was gorgeous and it was flavorful, with more than a touch of sweetness, which was different but very good.

As befitting a sushi restaurant, there is a large choice of typical nigiri and sashimi, as well as your basic maki and sushi choices. What shines here, however, are the special sashimi dishes, the special Geunkang nigiri and the special maki.

In the special sashimi category, the Secret Hamachi, yellow tail with mushrooms and truffle oil, and the Sake Garlic, salmon with garlic and vinegar, are two good choices. We asked what Geunkang nigiri is and we were explained in detail. In Japan, a clump of sushi rice is hand-formed and a strip of seaweed is wrapped around its perimeter to form a “container”, which is filled with fine chopped ingredients that requires confinement, such as roe, oysters, vegetables and so forth. At Arami, a strip of fish is used instead of the seaweed, making for an enhanced and very tasty rendition. We thoroughly enjoyed the Zuke Sake Hotate, spicy scallop wrapped with salmon.

Once we moved on to the special maki, we were enraptured. Our favorite dish of the evening was the beautiful Hamachi Maguro Ebi, yellow tail, tuna, scallion, jalapeno, shrimp, and spicy mayo. The freshness stood out and the flavor combinations were unique and perfectly complimentary.

Cindy Kurman Barrie and Lee Barrie are the principals of Kurman Communications, Inc., a Chicago-based marketing and public relations agency. Please visit their blog at www.gotbuzzatkurman.com and check out all DineWise articles at www.dinewisechicago.blogspot.com. Photos by Cindy Kurman