food
First-Bite Bonanza Tasting the summer’s crop of new restaurants B Y A L I CE L EVI T T AN D CORIN HIRSCH
L
ate summer is a busy time f or the Seven Days food team. It seems like half the people who open restaurants each year choose July and August to start serving the public. That means more f un options for diners and lots more reporting for us. This year, we could barely fi nd time to schedule reviews of all the buzzed-about new eateries opening across the state. As the weather cooled down, the two of us divvied them up and trekked from Newport to Stowe, f rom Woodstock to St. Albans, to separate the gourmet f rom the merely gourmand in just a couple of weeks. We hope our fuller waistlines aren’t in vain, and that our short reviews will help you make inf ormed decisions before you dig in. — A.L.
Valentine roll and sashimi martini
SUSHI YOSHI
SEVENDAYSVT.COM 09.25.13-10.02.13 SEVEN DAYS 46 FOOD
Before opening his third Sushi Yoshi restaurant in Stowe last month, co-owner Nate Freund summed up his goal in an interview with Seven Days: “a rock-and-roll sushi bar with a comfortable design and feel.” Mission accomplished. Sushi Yoshi is a cool-looking place, with trees lining the indoor entrance area, tatamiroom-style seating (sans the actual straw mats), orange paper-shaded lights and a hip, bright new sushi bar not far from the hibachi tables. I was won over by the atmosphere, and again by our charming server, Jenna, who took us through the sizable menu with candor and a sense of humor. Despite a surprisingly steady early-dinner crowd, our food emerged quickly. We started with a creation known as the Sashimi Martini. The $12.95 appetizer arrived in a twisty-stemmed martini glass topped by a mountain of cubed fi sh including two kinds of tuna, yellowtail, salmon and sea bass. Next came a layer of ultra-thin slices of avocado arranged like a laurel crown, f ollowed by cubes of cucumber, strawberry, kiwi and critically unripe mango dressed in a yuzu-citrus vinaigrette. Though the mixture was visually impressive, it su° ered from a confusing excess of fl avors. Fewer types of fi sh and a smaller, more carefully vetted choice of fruit might make the dish a winner. Plain old sushi was better. Except that the kitchen of co-owner Kevin Zheng doesn’t really produce plain old sushi. Flanked by slices of tobiko-crusted Calif ornia roll, eight colorf ul pieces of nigiri-style fi sh reclined in a fi shbone pattern on a banana leaf that was propped up
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PHOTOS: JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR
1128 Mountain Road, Stowe, 253-4135
THE $12.95 APPETIZER ARRIVED IN A TWISTY-STEMMED MARTINI GLASS TOPPED BY A MOUNTAIN OF CUBED FISH with a pile of shaved daikon. The greatest hit was broiled unagi — crisp, fl aky, but not too sweet. Overall, the fi sh was of good but unexceptional quality, tasting quite fresh with the one exception of unpleasantly fi shy tuna. The best dish I tried at this American-style Japanese eatery was potentially the kitschiest. At $21.95, the beef-teriyaki bento box was pricey but stu° ed with wellexecuted f ood, beginning with the excellent beef . The potentially sugary sauce was thick and well fl avored, and not too sweet. The pile of meat melted in my mouth, while the accompanying broccoli and carrots retained just the right amount of crunch. In the opening below the beef, the mound of seaweed salad was as it should be, chewy and slippery with sesame oil. The tempura was admirably light and crackly, and the
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miso soup boasted lovely cubes of fi rm tofu. Even the panfried gyoza had more personality than I’ve come to expect f rom Americanized Japanese f are, with the moist pork slapped with ginger. The meal brought me back to my f avorite Americanf riendly Japanese place as a kid. Sometimes we all need the comfort of a perfect teriyaki, and Sushi Yoshi is now my destination for just that. — A . L.
TWIGGS: AN AMERICAN GASTROPUB
24 North Main Street, St. Albans, 524-1405. twiggsvt.com The trend has made it from Burlington to Rutland — and now, fi nally, to St. Albans. And, like the cupcake, it will probably live on in the Green Mountains long af ter it’s considered “over” on the coasts. I’m talking, of course, about the gastropub. FIRST-BITE BONANZA
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