Long Island Restaurants

Isono

You might also want to check out: Musashino 301 Main St. Huntington 631-425-0777 Kohaku 2089 New York Ave. Huntington Station 631-351-9888 Nagashima 12 Jericho Tpke. Jericho 516-338-0022

Before uncooked fish swam into the mainstream, Isono's sushi bar was busy. And it still is.

The veteran restaurant goes back more than 20 years and has been under new management for two. More important, the chefs keep turning out very good traditional and sometimes creative dishes at fair prices.

Granted, the place could use some refurbishing, from the wallpaper on down. But no one is here for the appointments. It's unlikely anyone ever was. Pretty soon, the period look of the place may require landmark preservation.

What's fresh, however, is the seafood.

A special of red snapper sashimi or sushi shows that in a mouthful. You also may find sweet Kumamoto oysters among the current choices. Isono also stands out with a spectrum worth of colorful sushi rolls.

You'll find plenty of the now-familiar fare, too. Miso soup is respectable, but the beef-and-wakame soup is better. Cold seaweed salad, tart tuna tataki and well-seasoned tuna tartare lead the appetizers.

Isono sends out a generous, tender version of beef negimaki, or cooked meat rolled around scallion. Yakitori, or skewered and grilled chicken, stays moist. Tempura isn't an elegant filigree, but it's crisp and greaseless.

Steamed shrimp dumplings are a bit pasty; and the fried beef dumplings curve toward blandness. There's not much to the vegetable-and-pork spring roll, either. Both the salmon teriyaki and the hibach shrimp arrive overdone.

But tempura udon, with the plump, white noodles; and yaki soba, a stir-fry of buckwheat noodles, are satisfying. Beef sukiyaki, ever-popular and on the sweet side, could feed two. In case Japanese fare isn't enough, Isono has a short list of Korean specialties, juicy short ribs among them.

Nigirizushi, the raw fish on ovals of vinegared rice, is very good all around. Consider yellowtail, mackerel, fluke and, if available, bonito, sweet shrimp and fatty tuna.

Similarly, cyclindrical rolls and conical hand rolls are flavorful. Try the rainbow roll, which stars salmon, tuna, yellowtail and shrimp; and the New York roll, bringing together tuna, apple, cucumber, avocado and roe. The "ABC" roll combines asparagus, burdock and cucumber; the "fashion" roll, shrimp, avocado, cucumber, asparagus and tuna. They all harmonize.

Listed as a "house special roll" is the "Samurai roll," which means fried fluke, asparagus, spicy tuna and plenty of flavor. The "Long Island roll" covers shrimp tempura with spicy salmon. The lobster roll, with fried shellfish, is less successful. Instead, sample the Nippon dragon production, with shrimp tempura and cucumber wrapped by eel, with avocado on top.

Isono's desserts are limited to ice cream. Isono just loves nostalgia.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 11/19/06.

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