Nishino Joins List Of Fine Japanese Restaurants

------------------------------------------------------------------ Restaurant review XXX Nishino, 3130 E. Madison St. ($$$) Japanese. Lunch ($6.50 to $16) 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner ($6.50 to $40) 5:30 to 10 p.m. nightly. Beer, sake, wine. Major credit cards. No smoking. Reservations: 322-5800. ------------------------------------------------------------------

When the napkin-stained history of Seattle in the last years of the 20th century is written, it will be noted that three splendid Japanese restaurants opened and prospered in 1995:

Shiro's in Belltown, Sanmi Sushi at Magnolia's Smith Cove and, most recently, Nishino in Madison Park.

Nishino came into being almost clandestinely. Named for its celebrated young chef, Tatsu Nishino, the restaurant is the creation of Scott Oki, who spirited Nishino from a prestigious post at Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, where Nishino was the protege to the even more celebrated Nobu Matsuhisa.

Oki is the developer/sportsman marketing genius who helped sell Microsoft to the world from 1982 to '92 - and, thus, has been invited onto 33 boards of directors.

While the deal for the restaurant (formerly Carmine's Trattoria; formerly Duke's) was being struck, secrecy shrouded even the restaurant's name - because Nishino was still employed in L.A.

Six months were spent converting a cozy Italian tratt into a subdued, monochromatic sushi bar and dinner house (lots of peach beige and blond woods, relieved by spare greenery and a huge, whimsical triptych mural across one wall).

Everything about the place is, however, unpretentious, genuine and truly artful. There are no prettier plates of simply remarkable foods being presented anywhere in the city. Nishino is assisted by Gavin McMillian, Tom Douglas' longtime associate and sidekick chef, who left Etta's Seafood in the Market to help open the place and to acquire some new professional credits.

Wide selection of sushi

More than 30 different kinds of sushi are available, along with 17 sushi rolls - priced from $3 to $6; you can spend a couple of weeks getting acquainted with the full repertoire - and an artistic lineup of delicate and brilliantly colored appetizers: from mini-bites of carefully crossed asparagus spears with yuzu miso ($4) to tuna tartare with caviar ($12). It's all served on muted-jade, earth-tone crockery in a variety of shapes, mostly rectangular with some round, domed or even semicircular.

A bowl of richly kelpish but satisfying miso soup with cubed tofu starts most of the dinners, steaming hot on one occasion; rather tepid on another.

Salads include a substantial Albacore Tuna Sashimi over mixed wild greens ($8) with a piquant, assertive soy dressing (one friend more bluntly called it salty - I liked it), or a spiral-rolled, molded Oshitashi Spinach Salad ($3.50 at lunch) glowing emerald-green with undiluted vitamins.

(It is easy to overeat at Nishino's and still feel righteous.)

In addition to a large menu of traditional Japanese favorites (tempura, noodles, teriyaki, etc.), Nishino offers 15 "special dishes" along with a nightly array of a half-dozen changing features, like an appealing Sake-Steamed Manila Clam Soup ($5) with ginger butter and cilantro.

Delicious squid special

Among the specials might be Broiled Baby Squid Stuffed with Scallops on a White Wine Uni (sea urchin) Sauce ($10 for eight pieces), served alongside a melange of snow peas and asparagus - a dish so good I considered ordering seconds. Instead, I consulted my bank balance and requested Toro Steak (tuna; $16) broiled rare, sliced and served fanned out over a brilliant red chard-shiitake mushroom stir-fry framed by an intense, deep-red cabernet-soy reduction.

You can avoid the decision-making and order the Omakase Dinner. It costs $40 (and up) but you simply put yourself in the chef's hands and let him worry about the details. I haven't done so yet - but intend to.

A scaled-down version, the Mini-kaiseki Lunch ($16) is a fine introduction to Tatsu Nishino's artistry, albeit not an inexpensive one. But it includes miso soup, three appetizers, mixed sashimi (tuna, red snapper, surf clam and prawn), tuna roll sushi, a generous tempura assortment (including one quite rubbery baby squid), an outstanding fillet of broiled kasu black cod, salad, sliced vegetables, rice and a dessert of mochi ice cream and accenting fruits - kiwi and pomegranates recently.

Better yet, as with most Japanese restaurants, seat yourself at the sushi bar, get acquainted, watch a team of five cooks interact, and give thanks for the widening availability of a splendid art form-cuisine in the Seattle area.

(Copyright, 1995, 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.