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MYSTERY MOUTH: The art of sushi

Sushi, to me, is like edible art. Each piece is intricately handmade using techniques thousands of years old, and some look too pretty to eat, a fact I recently saw firsthand at Osaka.

I’ve been hearing a lot about how great the sushi is at this downtown Scranton establishment, so when a coworker and I had a meeting in the city last week, I suggested we stop in for lunch.

Despite a near-packed house, Mae and I lucked into the two remaining seats at the sushi bar, which gave us an eagle-eye view of Osaka’s sushi chefs. We were promptly handed menus — and a pencil for the accompanying order card.

There were so many choices it threw me for a loop, but everything is laid out fairly easy. The restaurant has a sushi lunch special which includes two rolls of your choice and miso soup for $9.50, an option Mae took advantage of. She knew right off the bat she wanted her regulars: a sweet potato roll and a vegetable roll with onion soup instead of miso.

It took me a bit longer to make up my mind. I admit I’m still a sushi novice, having worked my way from California rolls — you know, the old non-raw standby of avocado, imitation crab and cucumber? — to bravely trying some friends’ dishes like the dragon roll (made with cooked eel) and spicy raw tuna. Needless to say, I kept changing my mind while Mae patiently waited.

Though a friend said I should try the mackerel sashimi (just the raw fish, no rice) because it was “fantastic,” I ended up choosing the pepper tuna appetizer ($10.50) and one of the specials posted on the wall near the sushi bar. The Easter roll ($12.95) featured spicy tuna, spicy salmon and avocado wrapped with soy nori (edible paper usually made of seaweed) and topped with masago (fish egg

Once orders were taken care of, Mae and I watched the chefs work their magic — we even got to watch one whip up a pretty raw tuna rose — as we chatted and sipped our flavorful green iced teas.

Mae’s soup quickly arrived, and despite its many floating scallions, she said its flavor was not overbearingly onion-y. Just as she took her first sip, a server delivered a massive cut of what I suspected was pepper-speckled seared tuna to the sushi chef.

Seconds later, he set a dish so gorgeous it could have hung on a wall as an abstract painting on the ledge between us. As I hoped, it was my pepper tuna appetizer. Cut into eight thick slices in a pool of “chef’s special sauce,” the fish was vibrantly red with a very spicy delicious coating. It was accompanied by a creamy chipotle-esque mayo which perfectly enhanced the tuna.

The rest of our order soon followed. Mae’s vegetarian roll, cut into five pieces, included cucumber, avocado and pickled ginger, which sounded wonderful, but it was the sweet potato roll that intrigued me most. It featured tempura-battered sweet potato, an ingredient I’d never seen before on a menu at a Japanese restaurant. Mixing the sweetness of the potato and its fried coating with wasabi-laced soy sauce was a delicious marriage of flavors. Just typing that sentence made the Mouth crave this dish.

“It looks like Easter,” Mae said of my Easter roll. Wrapped in its pink soy nori, which prettily accented the avocado’s green hue, it sure did look like the springtime holiday.

Any heat that may have come from the spicy tuna and spicy salmon was diffused by the creamy avocado. The roll, cut into eight sizeable pieces, had a very subtle taste, and I found myself needing a little wasabi in the soy sauce to counter its soft flavor. Doing so only added to its tastiness.

This was one of the best lunches I’ve had in a long time. Osaka — which also offers many, many non-sushi and hibachi lunches and dinners — is definitely a cut above the rest. The service was fast, swift and friendly, and the quality of the food and beautiful platings are second to none.

Whether you’re a sushi aficionado or neophyte, you’re missing out if you haven’t tried Osaka. The restaurant offers great alternatives to raw fish if you’re not a fan — like Mae’s sweet potato or vegetable rolls — but want to try a sushi-style dish.

As for me, I may never try that mackerel sashimi, and I may always be a little shaky while eating with chopsticks, but if there’s one place I’ll be taking my sushi baby steps with, it’s going to be Osaka.

• Osaka

244 Adams Ave., Scranton

570.341.9600

www.osakacuisine.com

Lunch hours:

Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-2:30 P.M.

Dinner hours:

Monday-Thursday, 4:30-10 p.m., Friday 4:30-10:30 p.m.,

Saturday, noon-10:30 p.m.,

Sunday, noon-9 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted.