Restaurant Review: Sushi Yama

by Donna Chen of Donna Cooks

Most people know of Sushi Yama for its $1 sushi nights.

DALLAS — I’m a big fan of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations series, though I was late in discovering this show and didn’t become a devout viewer until two seasons ago. Now, life just doesn’t seem right without an hour of glorious televised food porn every week. A rerun of the Osaka episode where Bourdain nearly ate himself to death triggered my curiosity about Japanese street food, specifically those round octopus dumplings called takoyaki.

I wasn’t a complete stranger to takoyaki when I saw the episode. I had them once at the Dallas Japanese Association’s Akimatsuri, or Fall Festival. But there must be some way to satisfy this craving in between the once-a-year festivals? While picking up a takeout order at my favorite cheap sushi joint, Seabose, I asked the clerk if she knew of a restaurant in the Dallas area that served takoyaki. The answer was really no surprise. Sushi Yama, she said, was the only restaurant in the DFW area that serves takoyaki.

Sushi Yama has long been a favorite of Dallas foodies, former expats, and local Japanese with its authentic menu of noodle dishes, yakitori, sushi, and other specialties scribbled on taped-to-the-wall pieces of paper with a Sharpie. Budget-minded diners love Sushi Yama for $1 sushi nights (Tuesdays and Saturdays, $10 minimum) and half price bento box Wednesdays ($11 buys a feast). With late hours (open until 2:00 a.m.), it is also rumored to be the place where local sushi chefs eat after their shifts are over.

Takoyaki: Nothing like dumplings topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green seaweed powder, and dried fish shavings, oh yeah.

The restaurant is tucked away in a nondescript strip mall on Forest Lane just west of Greenville Avenue. Sushi Yama’s sign is not visible from Forest Lane and can be tricky to find.

The sushi was all average and forgettable with the exception of the delightfully fun wasabi flying fish roe, spicy crunchy bubbles that burst with each bite. Of course, it was my first time with wasabi flying fish roe so that added to the fascination. I don’t usually obsess over portion size, but it’s worth noting that the sushi pieces were all small. Perhaps, for $1/piece, you do get what you pay for.

Next up, the reason for my visit to Sushi Yama, takoyaki. It’s amazing how cheap street food sold in masses can translate into a dainty dish of four octopus dumplings in a restaurant setting. Although I’ve never been to Japan, these dumplings fit all the descriptions of takoyaki from friends, online resources, and of course, the No Reservations episode. The spherical dumplings have a soft, somewhat spongy, mild flavored batter surrounding chewy chunks of octopus and are topped with okonomiyaki sauce, aonori (green seaweed powder), and dried fish shavings. Pickled ginger and mayonnaise are served on the side. It’s a mess, but a delicious mess.

Japanese pancake, or "okonomiyaki," which roughly translates into "what the hell is on that plate?"

Speaking of messy, we also opted for an order of okonomiyaki, or Japanese pancake. Okonomiyaki roughly translates into "cooked as you like it" or "what you like, the way you like." In Japan, this messy pancake is a creation with customized ingredients that you pick out. At Sushi Yama, the choice is limited to the meat in the pancake, for which we chose beef. The griddle fried meat and batter pancake is topped with okonomiyaki sauce, nori, dried fish flakes, and pickled ginger. The dried fish flakes, being ever so airy and light, move in the heat/steam from the pancake, giving the illusion that they are alive. Creepy. Having never been to Japan, I can’t judge if the okonomiyaki is authentic at Sushi Yama but thought that the abundance of the okonomiyaki sauce really overpowered the dish. I couldn’t taste anything but the sauce.

Overall, I enjoyed my budget feast ($27 including tax and tip for two) at Sushi Yama. The slow service at this late hour was frustrating as my starved self was in no mood to wait 45 minutes for the first plate to show up on the table. But service issues aside, Sushi Yama is the quintessential cozy, hole-in-the-wall, authentic Japanese eatery in Dallas. There’s definitely a reason for the loyal following, and I suspect it isn’t the $1 sushi.

I’ll be back to explore other items on the menu, or rather, the wall, especially the ones written only in Japanese. Anyone else up for an adventure?