The Dish offers a great variety of sake, wine and beer, and it also serves up sushi

Last Call
JESSICA BOWMAN

Published: April 24th, 2009 04:38 AM
Last Modified: April 24th, 2009 10:38 AM

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The Dish

Address: 639 West International Airport Road

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday - Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday; 4 p.m.-11 p.m Saturday; and 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday

Phone: 562-1275

Web: dishsushibar.com

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I craved sushi last weekend and, tired of my regular haunts, I decided to try a new venue. To date there have been several attempts at sushi-fication at International Airport Road and Arctic Boulevard, the latest version opened in June 2008 with the tres-hip moniker, the Dish. It immediately intrigued me with a classy, updated Web site, ultra-modern look and hip-hop jingle (by local R&B singer Chris "Kizzy" Fields). You know the song -- "Never had a spot like this, everybody just come to the Dish." Sure it's a trifle overplayed, but it's also catchy (or perhaps annoying) enough to rank up there with the Peanut Farm's "We must be nuts" ditty.

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Like other Japanese restaurants in town, the Dish provides an extensive list of rolls, sashimi and other dishes like tempura appetizers and noodle-based entrees. But the Dish has more sake options than I've seen in any sushi bar, not just in Anchorage. There's a separate drink menu that includes flavored sake from Fuji apple, to Asian pear and raspberry.

There's also a list of exotic sakes, with expensive names like silver, diamond, ruby and pearl. You can also actually order a sake bomb -- a pint of Kirin with a shot of sake in it ($10). At other spots you usually you have to convince the bartender to make you one.

My dinner companion and I went for the pearl sake. The exotic brands run $18 for a single serving and $29 for a bottle. Get a bottle. The single serving is barely big enough for two, and it's worth upgrading.

The Pearl was an interesting choice -- it was a less diluted version of sake, with a cloudy color and a sharp, somewhat spicy flavor. The milky color was somewhat off-putting and made me kind of wish I'd gone for the Diamond version.

The drink menu is also full of beer options, including various Japanese brands and my perpetual favorite, Thai beer Singha. If you order it, enunciate -- they've also got Tsingtao on the menu, and apparently they are ridiculously easy to mix up.

Prices run $4 to $8 for domestic and imported beers and $6, or $18 for a pitcher, for beers on tap (some from Alaskan Brewing Co. and Glacier Brew House). There's wine too, but to be honest, I didn't get past the sake.

The food is a bit pricey, but for the ambience it's worth it. On a random Thursday it was comfortably full and everyone around our table sounded like they were having a roaring good time.

The sushi rolls are extensive, run $12 to $18, and feature ingredients from soft shell crab to sweet potato. I recommend the Boyfriend Roll, the only time I've ever seen raw garlic and tobikko on the same plate. My friend also found out you can ask for sashimi that isn't on the menu. Mackerel, which they didn't have listed, was brought out anyway. I was skeptical, but he said it was tasty.

The final dish on the Dish, is that it's a great local contribution in the arena of upscale sushi.

The uber swanky interior, complete with a grand piano, private rooms for diner privacy and a luxurious, well-stocked bar, brings back everything we missed about Pete's Sushi Spot.

In fact, the Dish is everything Pete's wished it could be. Not only is the Dish a new sushi place for mid- and South Anchorage locals, it also has the potential to become a hot new nightlife hub with the perfect cocktails-after-work vibe.

• Visit Jessica Bowman's Lush Life blog at play.adn.com/lushlife.

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