Sushi. For some Spokane diners, the name alone causes their stomachs to churn. For a rising number, though, the exotic food has become a trendy delicacy to be discovered and enjoyed.


The growing popularity of the Japanese dish has washed ashore here over the last few years as several sushi bars and restaurants have opened. Meanwhile, grocery stores such as Huckleberrys Natural Market, Fred Meyer, and Costco now offer sushi in ready-made packages.


It seems you can get sushi readily everywhere now, which is great because the more places there are the more of a market you develop, says Eric Nagano, who opened Bluefish, a restaurant at 830 W. Sprague that offers sushi, in 2005. Certainly some things in food get really hot for awhile, but sushi has stuck around for the last 30 or 40 years in the U.S., and it will continue to get more popular as a wider audience develops.


Sushis popularity has been slower to develop in the Inland Northwest. Several years ago, only a handful of restaurants here served sushi, including Shogun, at 821 E. Third; Suki Yaki Inn, at 119 N. Bernard; and Takara Japanese Restaurant, in Coeur dAlene. Since then, sushi-selling eateries that have opened include Sushi.com, at 430 W. Main; Raw Sushi & Island Grill, at 523 W. First; Okane on the Hill, at 2910 E. 57th; Baek Chun Sushiyama, in Airway Heights; Ding How, in Liberty Lake; Bonsai Bistro, in Coeur dAlene; and Oishii, in Sandpoint.


Traditionally, sushi is seasoned, cold rice, formed into a shape, then garnished with pieces of raw or cooked seafood, vegetables, or egg, Nagano says. One form, called makisushi, is sushi rolled with dried seaweed, or nori, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Another form, called nigirisushi, or nigiri, is bite-sized pieces of fish atop hand-formed rice, he says. A form of sushi called sashimi is fish served without rice, and often arranged artfully.


In the U.S., sushi typically is served with soy sauce and a pungent, green-colored condiment called wasabi. Pieces of ginger are provided for one to cleanse the palette after eating sushi. Although one can use chopsticks to eat sushi, its meant to be a finger food, Nagano says. Also, its supposed to be eaten in one bite, although diners sometimes will cut it into smaller pieces.


In Japan and among sushi purists in America, sushi is eaten bland, rather than slathered in wasabi and soy sauce, and sushi preparation focuses on highlighting the natural flavors of the fish, says Noel Macapagal, who opened both Raw Sushi & Island Grill and Okane on the Hill in 2005. Owners of restaurants that serve sushi here say, though, that part of bringing it into the mainstream dining scene in Spokane involves educating diners about the food, and helping them get their feet wet with more Americanized versions first.


People who like Japanese rolls like the plain flavor, so that when you order tuna, you enjoy the tunas own flavor, says Henry Lee, head chef at Sushi.com. American rolls are for people who like something spicy or sweetmore flavor.


Macapagal says he suggests that first-time sushi eaters try whats called a crunchy roll, which contains tempura shrimp, then move on to a California roll, which has crab meat. For the more daring, Raw Sushi & Island Grill offers the Okane roll, which features barbecued eel, and also offers sushi made with octopus. Right now, though, its most popular item is its Spam roll.


In Spokane, Ive found that if you deep fry it and call it sushi, it sells, he quips. Our success is based on the fact that we deviate from tradition, although were traditional in the way the fish is cut and prepared.


Nagano says that the most popular sushi items at Bluefish among sushi newbies are the spicy tuna and the California rolls. Bluefish plans to update its menu soon to include more diverse styles of sushi. It also will include more poki dishes, which traditionally include raw ahi tuna tossed with various seasonings and are wildly popular with Bluefish customers, he says.


While some restaurants focus on appealing to American tastes by deviating from sushi customs, others rely on tradition to attract customers. Shogun Hibachi Steak & Seafood House, on east Third, which has been operating a sushi bar since 1987, serves sushi that brings out the true flavors of the seafood, rather than adding a lot of other seasonings, says Sara Eastman, a sushi chef at the restaurant.


We focus more on the flavor of the fish and nori, both because its healthier that way and because thats what our longtime customers want, Eastman says.


Shogun does serve some sushi items, such as a BLT roll, that are meant to satisfy customers who dont like traditional sushi, she says. Appealing to a wide variety of tastes has become increasingly important as sushi has gained popularity, she says. Six years ago, there were nights when Shoguns sushi bar was empty, says Thu Vo, a sushi chef at the restaurant. Demand started to pick up about four years ago, and now the sushi bar is filled to capacity on some nights, he says.


Challenges


Sushi restaurateurs still are swimming upstream, though, in their attempt to increase sushis popularity here. Challenges include diners concerns about the health risks associated with consuming raw fish, diet trends, the rising costs of procuring fresh fish, and the time involved in finding and training sushi chefs.


While Spokane-area restaurant goers are becoming more comfortable with the idea of eating sushi, restaurateurs still face a market where for some, eating raw fish is taboo.


I think people are less afraid of it now, but you still get a lot of people who just wont eat raw fish or any protein raw, Nagano says. Seafood is probably one of the safer items to eat on the rawer side.


One of the most important ways to protect against food poisoning from raw fish is to make sure that the product is high quality, especially when making sushi at home, he says.


Sushi.coms Lee says he shares peoples concerns about the dangers of eating raw seafood, and says that the most important way to keep sushi safe is to keep fish as fresh as possible. He says Sushi.com doesnt keep fish past two days from when it arrives at the restaurant.


I can understand why lots of people worry about the raw aspect, because I do, too, Lee says. Its important that you have very controlled management of the fish.


While the raw seafood aspect of sushi might deter some diners, its health benefits hook others, Lee says. Rising numbers of people are eating more fish and even taking fish oil supplements to maintain healthy diets, he asserts.


Diet trends, however, can be a double-edged sword for sushi restaurants, Macapagal says. When the Atkins diet and other diets that eschew carbohydrates gained popularity several years ago, demand for sushi dipped because of its rice content, he says. To attract carb-conscious diners, Raw Sushi & Island Grill now offers specials on rolls that dont contain rice.


Procuring fresh, high-quality fish also poses a challenge. To ship fresh, Grade A, tuna for sushi to Seattle from Hawaii raises the cost of the fish to $20 a pound, and then to deliver the tuna by truck to Spokane from Seattle raises the cost to $23 a pound, Macapagal says. While most fish served by restaurants here, including those that sell sushi, is frozen, those products also are becoming more expensive, he says.


The sushi business is not something youre going to enter lightly, he says. Its cost prohibitive from the standpoint of the skill set needed, the product, and the price of labor.


Since the sushi market here still is somewhat in its infancy, finding qualified sushi chefs is difficult, Macapagal says. Sushi preparation requires a specific set of culinary skills, knowledge of certain customs, and the ability to communicate that information to sushi bar customers, so restaurateurs must spend considerable time and money training chefs, he says. Macapagal also conducts sushi-making classes for customers in the Spokane area.


In a niche market, you have to work hard to educate the palette, he says.


Nagano says that as the sushi market grows here, he expects that restaurateurs will be able to get lower-priced and higher-quality seafood. One of the reasons he and Macapagal recently decided to merge their operations into a holding company called Northwest Islanders Hospitality Group LLC was to pool their resources when buying seafood, he says.


That was one of the challenges in this market, and before we opened the restaurants, we asked, Can we get the kind of products that we need? Nagano says. With all of these different places opening up, its been much easier for us.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.