Monday, May 18, 2009

Pacific East Hits the Spot

I had been craving, and asking for, sushi for several months now, but we just hadn't made it to any of our local favorites. Traveling home last night from NY, we found ourselves on the East side. We headed to one of our favorite Thai places, Ly's, but quickly remembered reading that it had closed. Scrambling for ideas, we headed back out on the road. Since I really had a craving for sushi, we decided to try Pacific East and I can not express how happy I am that we made that decision.

The restaurant itself was a lot smaller than I expected, with only about a dozen tables and seating at the sushi bar. I realized very quickly that they have a loyal following in the area as several patrons greeted the sushi chef by name and he commented on personal details of their lives. This is always a good sign! We started with the Black Pepper Tuna appetizer- black pepper coated tuna seared then thinly sliced, served with cucumber, scallion & the special honey mustard wasabi sauce. The tuna was finely coated, pan seared and served raw with a delicious sauce lightly drizzled on top. It was tasty, but not the highlight of the meal. I've had better.

I am not terribly adventuresome with sushi. I tend to stick with my favorites, and willingly try anything that my table mates order as long as it doesn't include eel (childhood story that still gives me nightmares). I ordered a California roll and a Spicy Crunchy Shrimp roll. Both were excellent and you could taste the freshness of the ingredients. The spicy sauce was one of the best that I've had- one of the plus sides of always ordering the same thing! "R" ordered a Manhattan roll, which was outstanding. The large roll was stuffed with shrimp tempura, vegetables and spicy sauce, and then topped with fresh avocado and a creamy lobster sauce. The lobster sauce was savory and included medium-sized chunks of fresh lobster meat. The sauce really brought the dish all together, and it was one of the best rolls that I've ever had. This is one Japanese restaurant worth checking out!

Pacific East Japanese Restaurant
1763 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
216.320.2302

Pacific East Japanese on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pacific East has the best sushi in Cleveland. But you should try the Malaysian food. The rojak is completely different from anything else you can find in Cleveland and it's delicious. The roti with curry is fantastic. And there were some recent additions that I'm planning to get to soon. They're making they're own tofu. There's a dish with smelt which is something you don't see in a lot of restaurants.

Kristian said...

You can also create your own rolls and the sashimi alone is absolutely wonderful. Even if you go with a few adventuresome sushi eaters, then get the boat and go to town. It'll give you a way to try new things without overly committing to anything.