Good eats
Forget the name:
Fuku food is superb
By Doug Kreutz
DKREUTZ@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.05.2009
OK, let's get the name thing out of the way right off the bat — and then we'll move on to the food.
The restaurant is called Fuku Sushi. The first word of the name, pronounced fu-ku, apparently is perfectly innocent when translated from Japanese — meaning something along the lines of "fortune" or "happiness."
But visit Fuku Sushi, at 940 E. University Blvd., and you'll notice that the owners have been more than willing to play up the prurient possibilities of the name as it might be pronounced in English. They promote "fuku up Sunday nights" and offer a bar drink called Adios Mother Fuku. Some servers wear T-shirts with Fuku slogans that leave nothing to the imagination.
There. Fair warning. Go to Fuku Sushi and you'll be exposed to some not-exactly-subtle double entendres.
But here's the thing: You'll also get some superb Japanese cuisine at this restaurant in the bustling commercial area just west of the University of Arizona Main Gate.
On dinner and lunch visits, we savored fresh and flavorful sashimi and sushi, an excellent tempura appetizer and other pleasing Japanese-style fare.
"We've worked to have very good quality food and keep the prices reasonable," said Cami Quist, co-owner of Fuku with Andrew Adey.
Concerning the restaurant's name and the associated wordplay, Quist says: "We have to appeal to our demographic — college kids. And they really enjoy the double-entendre of the name."
During our dinner visit, a University of Arizona football game was showing on five big-screen TVs in Fuku Sushi, which has a simple but inviting layout with tables arranged around a central sushi bar.
We began with an appetizer of shrimp and veggie tempura ($8). Delicately battered and gently deep-fried, the shrimp and vegetables were appealing on their own and even better when enhanced with a traditional Japanese dipping sauce.
One measure of a sushi restaurant is the freshness and consistency of its unadorned raw fish, or sashimi. A dish called A Little More Fuku ($15) was a fresh feast of three pieces each of tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi. A bowl of well-seasoned miso soup and a small salad were included in the entree.
The Lotta Tail Roll ($9.50) was a generously sized roll with spicy yellowtail and cucumbers on the inside. The roll was topped with yellowtail, baked with ponzu sauce and served with a lemon citrus garnish. We ordered a side of tuna nigiri sushi ($4.25) to add a second fish flavor.
To top off the dinner, we asked for the Original Fuku Dessert ($6), featuring fresh Asian pears marinated in plum wine sauce, lightly tempura battered and fried, and then drizzled in chocolate sauce. Alas, the necessary fresh ingredients weren't on hand, so we settled for the Fuku brownie sundae ($6), a sweet treat of ice cream atop a warm brownie drizzled in caramel and chocolate sauce topped with whipped cream. The sundae was quite good — but far more ordinary, we suspect, than the pear-and-plum-wine dessert would have been.
Our lunch visit began with an appetizer of pot stickers ($6). The crescent-shaped flour dumplings, filled with meat and vegetables, provided a salivary wake-up amplified by a sweet-and-sour sauce with hot mustard for dipping.
Figuring it might be worthwhile to venture off the sushi path for at least one entree, we tried the Teppan Yaki with filet mignon steak ($12.50).
Pretty good venturing.
After a bowl of miso soup included with the dinner, the Teppan Yaki was a filling, handsomely presented meal of plentiful and tender steak, rice and mixed vegetables.
For a second entree, we returned to the world of the raw with the Rainbow Roll ($9.50). A California roll was cut into eight pieces made up of tuna, yellowtail, salmon and shrimp — with avocado on top. Like other dishes at Fuku, it stood out for its fresh-tasting fish and pleasing presentation.
Service at the restaurant was friendly, prompt and efficient with one exception. It was on our dinner visit, when we ordered the shrimp and veggie tempura appetizer. The appetizer had not yet arrived when a server brought our entrees.
When we pointed out this obvious glitch, the server told us the entrees had "come up" first and therefore were served first. The server then brought the appetizer forthwith, allowing us to have it along with our entrees.
Our strong suggestion: Be sure to serve the appetizer first — especially given the fact that the sashimi and roll dinners are cold dishes that could wait a few minutes.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
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