Review: Zen Sushi

Straightforward, simple and delicious, Zen Sushi delivers without fussiness

A A A Comments (0) By Mark Stuertz Friday, Jan 25 2008

She drapes layers of this freshest flesh in uni bellini, a martini glass of sake suspending cucumber, salmon roe and a single quail egg that hovers over everything like a jaundiced globe. She turns baby octopus into fluffy popcorn morsels by coating it in cornstarch and serving it with a spicy ponzu sauce. Her miso soup is a rich whorl of deep flavors and sensual tics: loops of steam with a slight fermented stink, tiny cubes of tofu as soft as mozzarella, wispy rings of scallion orbiting undulating ribbons of wakami seaweed.

Slick buttery flakes peel from the miso-marinated black cod, collapsing into limp flaps at the slightest prod of the chopstick. A slight crispness gives them pithiness.

Tom Jenkins

Zen Sushi strives for a stark simplicity despite going for a Southwestern-Japanese fusion kind of thing.

Location Info

Map

Zen Sushi

380 W. Seventh St.
Dallas, TX 75208

Category: Restaurant > Japanese

Region: Oak Cliff & South Dallas

1 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

Details

Sushi $4.75-$13.50
Miso soup $3
Coconut panko lobster $14
Fried oysters $9
Ceviche $10
Uni bellini $12
Miso-marinated black cod $16
Yakitori sampler $25
Banana mango tempura $8

More About

You can finish with a tango of tempura mango and tempura banana dribbled with honey and feel the mushed tropical acids rail against hushed tropical sweetness, both stiffened for the clash with brittle tempura. Militello insists Zen is the Oak Cliff equivalent of Tei Tei Robata Bar. That may be overstating things. But certainly not by much.

Zen Sushi, 380 W. 7th St., Bishop Arts District, 214-946-9699. Open 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $$$-$$$$