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Kenobi Restaurant and Sushi Bar

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Take a quick look at the menus above. The one on the left is from Kenobi Restaurant and Sushi Bar, the Arboretum Japanese sushi-fusion spot and subject of this review. The one on the right is from Uchi, the South Austin Japanese sushi-fusion spot and reigning champ of the style.

Could those menu pages have come from the same place or what? The little icon at the top, the sans-serif typeface with no capital letters, the mix of land and sea dishes with Japanese accents, the prices. But don't look too closely, because the offerings and prices have changed by now. And don't look for too long, because the similarities fall apart once the reading stops and the eating begins.

To be fair, Uchi is the Stevie Ray Vaughan of the Austin restaurant scene, and a lot of places look like weekend strummers by comparison. And the menu graphics could be pure coincidence, of course. The two restaurants don't have any business connections, other than the fact that Austin designer Joel Mozersky had a hand in their interior concepts — Uchi all homey and simple, Kenobi all grand and theatrical. And nobody holds a patent on lowercase letters and surf-and-turf, or Japanese sushi-fusion for that matter. Kenobi divides its offerings into hot and cold "tastings," the same way Uchi divides its menu into hot and cool "tastings." Maybe all the Japanese sushi-fusion places in the world do that. Fine. But when you hit that many points of comparison to one of the best restaurants in town, be prepared for accountability on a higher level.

Accountability starts at the top. Chef Egil Valentin has taken over the menu at Kenobi, which just marked its first anniversary. Valentin's career includes training at the French Culinary Institute and time with Le Cirque in New York City, and on a night he was at Kenobi, everything I tried was worth coming back for. Coffee-rubbed steak, scallops with a creamy sauce and the earthy bite of beet paper, a tempura-crisped sushi roll, raw tuna crudo with mandarin and shallots — all of it fresh, focused and photogenic. When we made another visit after an especially busy weekend, the waiter let us know Valentin wasn't in the kitchen, and some things went sideways without him. A dish of thin rib-eye steak rolled around yams and avocado ($9), brilliantly compact and seasoned on one visit, went mushy and bland on the second. Same with scallops ($10) from the "hot tastings" menu, which showed up without their beet blanket, naked in a congealing corn emulsion with asparagus, mushrooms and a twee sprinkle of popcorn.

Kenobi's "Seven and a Half" sushi roll ($14) was as good as I remembered, with a light tempura batter, three kinds of fish and a spicy pepper paste. Mackerel and fatty salmon sushi pieces tasted fresh and sharp. But the other sushi we tried, which moved in a weak arc from mealy yellowfin tuna to off-tasting scallop to gummy and saccharine eel, left me with the dull buzz of mall sushi. The restaurant was out of flounder, out of aji, out of albacore. The weekend had almost cleaned the place out, our waiter said. Good for them, not so good for us.

Fortunately, the crowds left enough fish for the eight thick, sunrise slices of raw sea bass ($10) in a starter flavored with tangerine oil and set in crunchy counterpoint to a bright Asian slaw. And Kenobi's tall ambitions came closer to fruition with the coffee-rubbed New York strip steak ($20), rich and beefy, cooked an electric pink in the center with an aromatic black crust, with bok choy cooked crunchy-soft and fingerling potato discs with the texture of good home fries. But the kitchen couldn't leave it alone, adding a saucy skidmark of soy gel down the side. Artful plating should mean more than smearing gravy like a texture-happy HGTV host. And brown just isn't a good look for that technique.

A manager told me that Kenobi translates idiomatically from Japanese as "blooming flower." But "Kenobi" also rhymes with "wannabe," something nobody really wants to be. There's still room to bloom for this Japanese restaurant with little letters and big ambitions.

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Kenobi Restaurant and Sushi Bar

10000 Research Blvd., No. 138A (in the Arboretum). 241-0119, www.kenobiaustin.com.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Prices:Soups and salads $3-$8. Hot and cold 'tastings' $4-$13. Sushi averages about $2.50 per piece, sashimi about $10 for five pieces and rolls run $8 to $15. Main courses $14-$23. Desserts $4-$7. Lunch combinations $11-$17.

Payment: All major cards

Wheelchair access: Yes

The bar: A long list of fruity, colorful and chocolatey cocktails that incorporate pomegranate, sake, litchi and other curiosity-stoking exotics. Sake is taken seriously, with at least 15 to choose from. California dominates the wine list, with bottles starting at $30. About 20 wines by the glass span the pairing challenges presented by the surf-and-turf menu, from $8 to $14.

Happy hour: From 4 to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 5 p.m. to close on Sunday, select appetizers and sushi rolls are $5 and drinks are $1 off in the bar, lounge and patio areas.

Tini Tuesdays: From 4 p.m. to close on Tuesdays, all martinis are $5.