Sushi in strange places

BY JOAN REMINICK
Newsday Restaurant Reviewer

My quest for sushi outside the Asian restaurant realm led to some of the best and worst fish-eating experiences I've had on Long Island. Still, I came through it all without so much as a tummy ache.

STEAK HOUSE SUSHI

Blackstone Steak House, 10 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, 631-271-7780. Although the sushi and sashimi are a bit pricier than at most Japanese restaurants, the quality is indisputable. Both an eel and avocado, and a salmon and avocado roll were fresh and sumptuous.

AMERICAN RESTAURANT SUSHI

H2O, 215 W. Main St., Smithtown, 631-361-6464. This was inventive, carefully fashioned sushi. Best were lively "triple-threat" roll -- spicy salmon, tuna, yellowtail and cilantro, and the "tornado roll #2" -- spicy tuna and scallions in an ingenious fried potato wrapper.

Mill Pond House, 437 E. Main St., Centerport, 631-261-7663. While the fish here was pristine, I found the maki constructions a bit heavy on the rice. The menu was also ambiguous -- some selections included several rolls, others just one.

MALL SUSHI

Cirella's at Saks Fifth Avenue, 230 Walt Whitman Rd. (Walt Whitman Shopping Center), Huntington Station, 631-350-1229. I confess myself addicted to Alan Kim's maki rolls. The fish is immaculate, delicately cut. There's never too much rice, and that rice is always served at the ideal temperature and texture. True, the prices here can run high, but the value is manifest.

Sushi Fuji at the Food Court at Roosevelt Field, Garden City, 516-747-2337. Not bad -- fairly good, actually -- was the verdict I came to after bypassing the ready-made rolls in plastic boxes and asking the sushi chef to prepare a salmon-avocado roll and a spicy tuna roll to order.

DELI SUSHI

Quintet Deli, 1815A Broad Hollow Rd., Farmingdale, 631-249- 8630. The sushi bar is in the rear of this busy deli. I had a well-crafted salmon and an avocado roll as well as a sprightly yellowtail-scallion roll.

Deli Worx, 1790 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, 631-755-1011. Fresh sushi arrives daily at 11 a.m. from Blue Ocean in Bethpage; the deli features only one roll each week.

COFFEE HOUSE SUSHI

Sea Cliff Coffee Company/Sea Cliff Sushi Company, 100 Roslyn Ave., Sea Cliff, 516-671-4411. Baroque maki rolls are fresh, imaginative and relatively expensive at this daytime coffee shop that turns Japanese every Wednesday to Sunday night. Tops on my list is the triangle-shaped spicy tuna "sandwich," a knockout.

ITALIAN MARKET SUSHI

Casa Mia, 451 Plandome Rd., Manhasset, 516-365-6655.

I found everything sampled from this specialty market fresh and pleasing, from the store's namesake roll -- tuna, salmon, spicy crab and avocado rolled in cucumber -- to a simple salmon roll. Prices were moderate.

FISH STORE SUSHI

Dix Hills Seafood, 1965 Jericho Tpke., East Northport, 631-858-2393. The sushi counter is usually busy at this strip-mall fish store with a few tables. Spicy tuna and salmon rolls were fresh and appealing, if a bit too large.

SUPERMARKET SUSHI

Fairway Market, 50 Manetto Hill Mall, Plainview, 516-937- 5402. The sushi here varied, from acceptable -- a decent eel and avocado roll, made to order on request -- to objectionable -- a funky-tasting salmon and avocado roll. Not high on my list.

Waldbaum's, 890 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, 631-385-0145. The sushi here is supposed to be brought in fresh daily, but somehow the rice and the tuna had the same taste and texture. Next time, I'll pass.

Whole Foods, 429 N. Broadway, Jericho, 516-932-1733. Although I was put off by the sushi chef's unwillingness to make anything to order, what came from the display case -- spicy tuna, salmon and avocado, eel and cucumber -- was fresh, if somewhat heavy on the rice.

YOU ALSO CAN SEEK OUT SUSHI AT:

Burton & Doyle, 661 Northern Blvd., Great Neck, 516-487-9200.

King Kullen, 50 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-385-7365.

Kitchen Kabaret, 409 Glen Cove Rd., East Hills, 516-484-3320.

Lombardi's Market, 1055 Main St., Holbrook, 631-737-8470.

Stop & Shop, 1100 E. Jericho Tpke., Huntington, 631-547-6970. -- JOAN REMINICK

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