Sushi House Hayakawa

I have been trying to find a fresh sushi restaurant in Atlanta for awhile now, especially one that doesn't break the bank. My in-laws, husband and I decided to venture to a little gem known as Sushi House Hayakawa last night. The sushi chef's name is Atsushi "Art" Hayakawa. Boy did he earn his name. Every dish that came out was an incredible work of art. Art grew up in Sapporo, Japan and started his journey to become a sushi chef at 15 years old. He became a certified sushi chef in 1998 and then moved to Atlanta to put his skills to use working at Shiki, Haru Ichiban, RuSan’s, MF Sushi, and Sushi Huku. Thank goodness a few years ago he decided to open up his own restaurant in Doraville. All the fish served at the restaurant are seasonal specialties flown directly to his restaurant from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. It doesn't get much fresher than this in Atlanta.

We started off with the seaweed salad, vegetable tempura and crab fritters. Each dish was unique. The seaweed salad was excellent. It had delicate, thin slices of seaweed with a subtle vinegar sauce. The crab fritters, on the other hand, were some of the most unusual I've ever tried. They were cooked properly with a crisp, fried outer shell but the cheese on the inside was very unusual. Almost like a melted neufchatel cheese with lumps of crab mixed in. They were pretty tasty but the vegetable tempura was the appetizer dish that stole the show. It was absolute perfection. The tempura batter was so light that it almost felt as if we weren't digesting any calories while consuming it. It is served with a light soy mixture but it's so good that it seemed unneccessary. For dinner, we ordered an assortment of dishes to share, including a sushi and sashimi platter, a spicy tuna roll, and a specialty roll which I think was called "the Hayasan box". The sushi and sashimi were both excellent and incredibly fresh. Our platter included squid, tuna and salmon for the sashimi portion. The squid looked a little bit like linguini and was different than what you would expect, but in a good way. The sushi portion of our platter had tuna, mackerel, yellowfin, salmon, sea bass, flounder, egg and six pieces of a tuna roll. All of these were excellent. The spicy tuna roll was also pleasantly unusual. It had toasted sesame seeds on the outside which gave it a texture almost like it had been fried. The tuna was very flavorful and had just the right amount of spice thanks to a nice dab of sriracha sauce (hot chili sauce) on top. But, the dish that blew us all away was the specialty roll that our waitress suggested. It was unlike anything we had ever tried before. The Hayasan Box roll had the perfect combination of flavors. First, a slice of fried asparagus was rolled up in seaweed, rice and sesame seeds. On the top and sides of the roll was a generous slice of tuna, avocado, salmon and yellowfin. Of course, it had to have a tiny dab of sriracha on top as well to give it an extra little kick. This dish was incredibly tasty and definitely one we will go back for. The service was a bit surprising. Our waitress seemed a little slow or out of it, but the food definitely made up for it. If you love sushi but are a little disappointed by the offering of sushi restaurants in Atlanta, try Sushi House Hayakawa. It will be refreshing!