This was the first menu I ever collected, as I needed to keep track of which rolls I'd tried and how much I liked each one. I wanted to try them all, and I nearly did except that they've added more rolls, so that I've fallen behind. It's a "Sushi Bistro + Latin Grill," so there are lots of things other than sushi to try as well, so I still have many trips to Japaneiro's to make (thank god). Through my numerous dines here and notes and contemplation, I figured out what it was that made me love some rolls more than others, discerning my tastes and learning about sushi.
After I started that business with this menu, I started collecting the menus for all the restaurants I went to, which has led, after several steps and years, to this food blog and much of my life today. So what I'm saying is, this restaurant means a lot to me.
I finally had a chance to go back now that I take pictures and review restaurants, so now I can share with you my rankings and some tips about what to order here.
First of all, you need to know about the lunch special.
On Monday-Friday from 11AM-3PM, you can have a three course meal for $12. For each course you have several options. For most dishes I'm about to talk about, I'll review them more thoroughly when I have them again and take pictures, but for now, I'll give basic recommendations.
First course (the salad): Get either the Verde or the Oshi
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The Verde Salad - A nice salad with a fucking delicious creamy garlic cilantro dressing on it
Second Course: Get the Avocado Soup
This is an extra $2 on the lunch special, and it is well worth it. It is amazing, a creamy, I-wanna-kill-myself-this-is-so-good wonder that comes with extra crab meat and slices of avocado. I usually have one piece of each in my soup and then safe the rest for purposed I'll explain later. My second choice is the Crab Puffs (also a +$2). One reason not to order these now is that during happy hour they're offered for only $5 instead of their usual $8, so you may as well get them then. They come with a garlic cilantro dipping sauce that is amazing. If you must save the two bucks, then you could go for the Yuquitas (crispy yucca fries served with a roasted peppers sauce), but those are offered for only $3 at happy hour. If you need to be cheap, you could perhaps go for the Dumplings,
But you mostly get these for the spicy dipping sauce that comes with them, which is just a thicker version of the sauce I'll be having you order later. Really, I've thought this through, and you need to order the avocado soup. Third Course: Ignore the other options and focus of the "Your Choice of Any 1 Roll" option. If you have not properly built up an immense appetite the morning before (which was a mistake), then you can order any of the rolls (with the exceptions of the Houstonian and the Sushi Lovers rolls, which are extra), and get out of here with a pre-tax/tip bill of $12 or $14, which is amazing. If you worked up the proper famished-ness, then you'll be ordering the more expensive of the two rolls you're going to eat with the lunch special, plus one more, somewhat cheaper roll in addition. For the lunch special roll, I suggest:
For your supplementary roll:
On top of that awesome lunch special, there's a nifty happy hour every day from 3 PM - 6 PM. $1 nigiri pieces, $2 Bud Lights, $3 Modelo Especial, $3 Kirin Ichiban, a bunch of $5 wines and cocktails, and several of their appetizers at $3 (get the Tajadas or Yuquitas, each normally $5). More importantly, several items are discounted to $5, the ones you should order are:
Finally, there are also $7 dishes. They're all good: a $1 discount on the Veracruz Shrimp Cocktail, and $2 off the Peruvian Ceviche, but make sure you get in on the $3 discount off the normally $10 Shaggy Dog Roll (ranked 8): shrimp tempura, cream cheese wrapped in soy paper topped with shredded kani, japanese mayo & sriracha sauce The most important thing to know when you go to Japaneiro's: You must order the Baja Sauce. It comes with the Cabo San Lucas (an $18 double decker roll, with a half roll $9 option, which I ranked at an 8), and now the sauce is also listed with the best vegetarian roll on the menu, the Sunkist Roll (fried tofu, avocado, steamed asparagus, seaweed paper; outside: steamed sweet potato, shredded carrots, chili powder). But you don't need to order either of those rolls in order to get the nectar of the gods known as Baja Sauce.
Order it with everything! I often add a little low sodium soy sauce and squeeze in the lemon from my water. After you dip most of your pieces of sushi in this creamy wonder, there'll be little pieces of tempura flake, tobiko, cucumber and whatnot in there. At this point, you can also dip your leftover crab and avocado in the baja sauce too, scooping up whatever sushi detritus remains in the bowl, finishing off your ginger while you're at it. This is to be able to enjoy just a few more bites of deliciousness without the indignity of tipping the bowl back into your mouth.*
Good news: They now have some local beers on tap
Bad news: Either my standards have raised and/or the quality has suffered here over the years, corners being cut, less experienced sushi chefs, that sort of thing.
Off the Menu:
The last time I was there (December 2012), one of my dinner companions asked if he could still get the Fresapillar roll even though it's been taken off the menu. Apparently he could:
The Fresapillar roll consists of tempura unagi, cucumber and shinoda sauce, topped with avocado and strawberry slices. It's a good choice for converting people to sushi. As one friend aptly put it, it actually kind of takes likes a PB&J. It's a sweet, creamy treat of a roll, a little indulgent, perhaps to be shared for dessert. A few things I can't wait to try:
What I learned about my taste from all my sushi eating experiments:
I once wrote the owner a letter asking him about the ingredients of the Baja Sauce, during a short manic phase when I had first moved to NYC in which I decided that I was going to make a restaurant that bagled everything, including and especially sushi. You could order it "whole" or "roll,"which would mean a bagel sandwich or a bagel sandwich cup up into 6 pieces for dipping purposes. I had fallen in love with soft, amazing, bagel goodness and realized that all dishes that have other carbs would probably be all the better if a bagel replaced them. Anyway, I would of course need to be able to put this sauce on the sandwiches and serve it on the side with the rolls, so I asked for the recipe. The owner said he couldn't just tell me his secret but encouraged me to experiment around, that he was sure I could figure out something at least as good. He also told me I could have as much Baja Sauce as I want when I'm in town. A few days later, while perusing a Japanese grocery store in St. Mark's, I smelled sesame oil on its own for the first time and had an epiphany. I had found the missing ingredient, purchased it, and began experimentation.
*which isn't to say I haven't done that once or twice
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