A popular sushi bar reopens at a new location with more seating and parking.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published August 15, 2003
Lovers of fresh sushi can breath a sigh of happiness.
Tatsuya "Jimmy" Kubota has reopened his popular Ganko Sushi Bar in a new location 1.4 miles south of his former place, this time with a large, polished granite sushi bar, plenty of tables and scads of parking spaces.
Best of all, certified master chef Kubota is there with all his sushi-making skills intact.
Takeshi Otsu opened the original Ganko near the Cotee River in 1996 with just 19 seats. Kubota took over when Otsu retired in 1999, and when the waiting lines got too long, started scouting other locales.
His new place has room for up to 50, including 14 to 18 at the sushi bar itself. The floors are soft salmon-rose Italian tile, with pumpkin-colored walls and light oak tables and chairs, and the kitchen is stainless steel and tile. There's a stop light just down the road, which makes entering and exiting the parking lot easy.
Still, the star of the show is Kubota's impeccable sushi, so-good-it-could-raise-the-dead miso soup and chewy, tasty, healthy seaweed salad ($4.75, enough for two). Much more of this, and I'll be as slender as Kubota himself. Yeah.
The raw seafood is cold, firm and fresh, with a delightful aroma, from dark red tuna to paper-white grouper. Rolls are $3.25 to $9.50; individual pieces of sushi on balls of lightly flavored rice go from $1.50 to $3.50.
For the squeamish, Kubota has rolls made with shrimp tempura, smoked eel or salmon and/or vegetables and a long list of grilled or fried plates and items from $4.50 to $10.
A favorite is the colorful rainbow roll ($8.50), a king-sized combination of avocado, salmon, tuna, and grouper sliced and wrapped like a rainbow around the rice and pressed seaweed.
Another is the Japanese bagel ($4.75) made of marinaded salmon, cream cheese and scallions.
Kubota also has combination dinners of shashimi ($18), which is sliced raw fish in various thicknesses and designs, elegantly arranged on a cold plate; chirashi ($16.50), which is sushi scattered on vinegared rice; and a combination ($19.50) of both.
He also has a wide variety of cooked dinners called "soy yaki," a sort of grilled mix of various seafoods, at $8.50, and tempura vegetables, fish, shrimp and soft shell crab for $5 to $10.
Every meal must start with miso soup ($1.50), a rich broth made from soybean or grain miso paste, with cubes of tofu, wilted seaweed and crisp scallions. It's rich in iron, calcium and proteins that build bones and muscle. And it rests like velvet on the tongue.
There are also a selection of Japanese and domestic beers and wines at varying prices, and, for $10 to $35, depending on grade, carafes of saki.
Ganko's digs are still new, which explains the bright lighting and dearth of wall decor. Kubota promises softer lighting and appropriate decorating flourishes as soon as he settles in.
He's also the one who picks out the background music, so if the loud 1970s rock music radio station annoys you (as much as it did me), he does have softer, more appropriate Japanese music to accompany the delicate dishes. All you have to do is ask.
At a glance
WHAT: Ganko Sushi Bar
WHERE: 6614 U.S. 19, New Port Richey (Davis Plaza)
