Fusion Sushi & China Bistro

My sister and I had made plans to go see a movie on Saturday, and I asked her if she wanted to try out a new restaurant afterwards since I realized that I had not done a review in awhile. She agreed, but just had one request...No Mexican Food! I guess she was over me dragging her around last month to eat Mexican food everyday. I said that was fine, cause I had already had it for lunch that day! We had a bit of time before the movie started to discuss where we should go, I suggested sushi, which received an enthusiastic yes. I suggested this new place that I had noticed went into an old Pick Up Stix up in North Scottsdale, since it was near the movie theatre, we decided to give it a try.

Even though we had some popcorn during the movie, we were both ready for some real food. We arrived at around 7:00 on a Saturday night, and were promptly seated in a booth. The inside of the restaurant was very clean, with mostly booth seating in addition to a high-top sushi bar. We looked over the menu and decided we wanted to try a bit of everything. Laura and I both love Crab Rangoons, and after some disappointing ones at Malee's a few nights before, we were hoping for better with these.

I seriously think that these were served within 3 minutes of ordering, the service is FAST! The order came with six rangoons and sides of sweet & sour suace and hot mustard. We both dipped our rangoons in the sweet & sour sauce and took a bite, we were immediately pleased. They were not greasy at all, which is common with many rangoon versions, and they had a good balance between the crab and the cream cheese. Both flavors were present, but neither overwhelmed the other. We both thought that these were some of the best Crab Rangoons we had ever had. My only issue with them was the shape. I prefer when they are served in the little triangle shapes, but these were kind of like star shapes. While these are much prettier presentation wise, they make them much harder to eat!

Laura took hold of the sushi menu and immediately marked down her favorite roll, the Philly Roll. It doesn't matter where we go for sushi, she always has to get a Philly Roll. I myself am not a fan of the Philly; for one, I don't like salmon; and secondly, I don't like the rolls that have cream cheese in them. It is nothing against the cream cheese, I just find it very weird with raw fish, but give me a bagel and I will slather it on. I secretly think that Laura always orders this one because she knows that she will get it all to herself; but whatever the reason is, she just loves it. She said that the roll was very fresh. I looked at it and noticed avocado in it, I asked her if that was normal, she said, "It is at the good places." Well, that was all I needed to hear, she had already decided that this was one of the good places when it came to sushi.

One of Laura's other favorite rolls, and actually it is a family favorite, is the Spider Roll. Basically, it is a fried soft shell crab and crab meat, with a topping of eel sauce (sweet) and chipotle sauce (spicy). I have always been a fan of these rolls, but many times they make the pieces so big that they are hard to eat and end up falling apart. That was not the case with this version, the pieces were still good size, but they were much more manageable. The flavor was wonderful, the sauces on top really accentuated the flavors and brought the whole roll together. Laura really liked this version as well. By this time, we were getting a bit full, but we still had to tackle our main dish.

Besides sushi, the restaurant also features what I would call Asian Fusion. They had dishes that were of Chinese, Thai and Japanese origin. We decided to order the Pad Thai and share it as our main course. Laura does not like spicy food, so I agreed to order it mild so that we could share. The plate came out and was heaping with noodles, shrimp and chicken. We couldn't believe the size of the plate compared to it's price tag of just $8.00! Our first impression of the dish was about the chicken. Laura typically only gets shrimp pad Thai because she doesn't always like the cooking method with the chicken, but this dish was an exception. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and was of very good quality. The flavors together in the dish were quite good for a place that doesn't specialize in Thai food. I had to kick the heat up in mine by adding some siracha, but then I was able to control the heat, so it worked out well. We had a lot of this leftover, and Laura was looking forward to eating it for lunch the next day.

It was a nice, relaxing Saturday night with my sister. First, we laughed our heads off at "The Hangover," then we stuffed our faces with sushi! We both agreed that we would definitely make a return visit, the food was fresh and the service was quick and attentive.

Fusion Sushi & China Bistro
15768 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
www.echandining.com