Eating Japanese, I Think We're Eating Japanese

And if you’re not eating Japanese yet, what exactly are you waiting for?

First, there was a minor surge in the opening of small sushi and bento box places over the past year. Then, last week, in roughly the time it took for 2007 to become 2008, we went from an urban core with shamefully slim Nipponese offerings to — poof! — practically overnight, Sushi Central on the upper side of Hennepin Ave.

Now, I’ll admit, this particular stretch of Minneapolis has its problems. Block E is the kind of urban planning debacle a city never really gets over: a mismatched monstrosity with the exquisite Graves Hotel on one end, an Applebee’s on the other, and miles of corridors in between that reek of urine and peach-mango Jamba Juice.

But the good news is that Randy Norman and several unnamed partners have arrived to spruce up the corner of Hennepin and Seventh with two new restaurants: r. Norman, a steakhouse, and Seven Sushi. These are the guys behind Bellanotte — or at least, a couple of them are. But there’s a veiled secrecy to the ownership of all their restaurants, as if you’re going to open a door in back and run across an underground railroad for battered women or a rousing game of Russian roulette. I think they like it that way; it’s part of their mystique.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Bellanotte. It has a too-cool-for-school kind of vibe that I find interesting for about three minutes. The regulars all seem to be dressed in P. Diddy’s cast-off clothes. The women. . . .well. . . .they wear so little — even in the dead of winter — it’s impossible to pinpoint an actual style. And the food, while fine, has never been the draw. (Quick: Can anyone name the chef at Bellanotte? Or any chef who’s ever been at Bellanotte?) This is more like a nightclub that happens to serve food — a place where you pay a price to join the in-crowd for a night.

From what I can see, r. Norman, which opened January 2 on the north side of the Pantages Theater building, looks like more of the same: roaring fires, flaming cocktails, and slinky servers with mile-long legs. But I think Seven Sushi, which occupies the top floor, has a shot at bringing something worth bundling up in the middle of January, paying $10 to park, and climbing two flights to see.

First — and it hurts me, an avowed shunner of ubiquitous Shea designs, to say this — Seven is simply gorgeous. Sleek chocolate suede banquettes with marble-topped speakers doubling as tables. The accents are rich: red, cream, gold. And the sushi bar itself shines with a steely glint. The wine and liquor offerings include 20 kinds of sake, champagnes up to a $500 Cristal, and specialty martinis. As for food, chef John Ames (formerly of Fuji-ya) is putting out everything from maki to nigiri to a sushi and sashimi platter for two ($50).

Prices are high, but perhaps not as high as you might think. Baked mussels (6) go for $10, seared crab cakes can be had for $14, the baby squid tempura is $8, and a dish of edamame costs a mere 5 bucks. My bet is that Seven will see a huge return on its liquor business — which, by the way, dictates they must serve food all the way until closing. That means sushi every night until 2 a.m.

Strangely, just a few days before the opening of Seven (and after several delays), the far more modest Japanese eatery Musashi — just one block down on Hennepin and 8th — turned on its neon-green OPEN sign.

Musashi is a very different world: plain and cavernous, with servers in traditional black-with-red-piping double-breasted Asian coats. The atmosphere here is quaint, with wooden tables and flower vases and a stack of paper takout menus on the maitre d’s desk.

There is a huge, drafty bar to the south — serving table wines such as Menage a Trois — and a street-facing dining area with a sushi bar that offers a slightly more scaled-down menu than Seven’s. But Musashi does have an amazing 29-item list of maki rolls and many a la carte options.

This restuarant also has a separate hibachi room to the north, where people cluster around hot griddles and watch showmen chefs with Fu Manchus dice, sear, and serve up their food. The bento box and hibachi dinners use fairly pedestrian ingredients (chicken, steak, shrimp) but are served with an entire complement of sides, including soup, Japanese salad, vegetables, fried rice, and noodles.

Incidentally, my husband delicately explained the lyrics of the song that inspired this blog this morning (Turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese. . . .), which gave me an entirely new perspective. So let me just point out that the sushi bars at both Seven Sushi and Musashi are very nice places to dine, um. . . .solo.