Toyoda Sushi A Good Thing In A Small Package

Restaurant review

XXX Toyoda Sushi, 12543 Lake City Way N.E. ($$) Japanese. Dinner ($8 to $15) 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. Closed Tuesday. No lunch. Beer, wine. Major credit cards. No smoking. Reservations (large parties only): 367-7972. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Good things not only come in small packages, they sometimes come in nondescript ones.

Toyoda Sushi, in the heart of the Lake City commercial strip, is a gem in an improbable setting. The old storefront, with weathered black tiles and glass brick, looks like a mercantile leftover from the 1950s.

A few discreet wood-trimmed screens in the front window hint at the exotic wonders inside. This tiny, unpretentious but immaculate sushi house is one of the best ethnic dinner houses in Seattle.

Natsuyoshi and Helen Toyoda opened their restaurant quietly in 1989 and have steadily built a following that is as knowledgeable as it is loyal - and patient.

A wait for a table, or a space at the sushi bar, is common. But service is almost instantaneous and turnovers are fairly quick.

The atmosphere is convivial, bordering on boisterous. Between the shouts of greeting from behind the sushi bar, and the hubbub of laughter and conversation from the customers, Toyoda Sushi often feels much like a private supper club.

Master at work

You can eat either at the L-shaped bar - 13 seats - or at one of the 11 small tables. The sushi bar is probably the better introduction to the place, and to witnessing the mastery of Natsuyoshi Toyoda. (He's off on Monday nights: "I need to rest.") But the tables are better suited to full-service dining.

None of it is cheap. When you taste the quality, you'll known why. Dinners are mostly in the $11-to-$14 range, with the Deluxe Sashimi Assortment priced at $19.95.

A bowl of miso soup, salad and rice, however, are included with the dinners. The miso (made from a paste base of fermented soy bean) is light in color, yet wonderfully rich and garnished with the traditional cubes of tofu and leaves of brilliant green spinach.

Order the sashimi at least once. "It's the truest test of a sushi chef," said one regular, who travels there once a week from out of town. "There's no rice or seasonings to take away from the quality of the fish. The fish must be perfect - and here, it always is."

I can happily second that. One of the first dinners out after my hospital stay last fall was at Toyoda's bar - and the first morsel I briefly contemplated was a thick, velvety slice of Maguro (Ahi Tuna) draped over rice. It was a stunning reminder of how vital simple, quality ingredients are to optimal nutrition and an inner sense of well-being.

Some of my other favorite items from the bar: the Temaki Hamachi Handroll, chopped yellowtail tuna with scallion, rolled with rice and then served in a cone-shaped nori wrapper. And the more hearty (and more oily) Saba (mackerel).

Sushi ordered a la carte runs between $2.50 and $4 per item. Two pieces are included. It's a pleasant way to nibble through an evening with a friend; sipping sake, splitting selections from a list of 22 choices - from quail egg to broiled river eel (excellent) to Mirugai (geoduck, which I still haven't found fascination for).

Something for everyone

For those for whom raw seafood seems unappealing, try the various cooked dinners. They are less intimidating - and excellent.

The combination dinner of Teriyaki Chicken and Tempura ($12.95), features boneless chicken breast, marinated slightly and grilled. There is no overwhelming essence of oversweet bastings or charred sugar around the edges. Unlike the product at many teriyaki houses, you can actually taste the chicken.

The tempura is light, delicate and without residual cooking fat or oil. The crisp, thin batter encloses a couple of large prawns and a selection of vegetables: recently it was sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower.

The Chicken Sukiyaki Udon ($12.95), is a hearty broth with buckwheat noodles and fresh vegetables, along with, of course, chicken and simmered tofu.

I'm not generally impressed with the various Katsu specials (breaded cutlets of pork and chicken), but they are skillfully done at Toyoda.

Don't miss the Black Cod Kasuzuke ($13.95) or the specials, like the Snow Mushrooms, which arrive in a foil swan.

Night after night, this homey little place on an ordinary suburban strip, bypassed by a growling commute, somehow manages to remain so unswervingly special.

(Copyright, 1994, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.) John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.