Long Island Restaurants

Hotoke

Hotoke opens with a burst of raw imagination.

The new restaurant, basically a big storefront in a shopping center, arrives via two tracks: hibachi steakhouse and "fusion sushi." It succeeds on both, but excels with creative sushi rolls.

Hotoke's sprawling layout allows for an ample dining area to accommodate devotees of the clang-bang and pyrotechnics of hibachi cooking.

The chefs' performances magnetize younger children. And birthdays are ritually announced with sparklers and sounding a gong. If you're at a table with adults and without candles, there's a bit more restraint.

Hotoke's hibachi cooking is better than most, and the tender filet mignon actually is quite good. As usual, the seafood often is overcooked.

You could argue that some of the sushi is overdone and overorchestrated, too. But Hotoke's "signature" rolls are flavorful, artfully presented and fun. The purist's nigirizushi, or uncooked fish on ovals of vinegared rice, also is recommended, as is sashimi.

All this is done in a suitably eye-catching and eye-irritating dining area. Illumination abounds, neon and otherwise, from the sub-counter lighting at the sushi bar to the color TVs above it. The fireworks in the hibachi chamber, of course, require minimal wattage.

You'll see a rush of color in Hotoke's namesake roll, a combo of lobster, mango, avocado, tuna, roe, honey wasabi sauce and a riff on aioli; and the Baja roll, layered with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, jalapeño, roe, guacamole and a cilantro emulsion. Surprisingly, they both work.

So does the clever "two thumbs up" roll with crisp soft-shell crab, spicy tuna and avocado, rolled into a soy-bean sheet and finished with eel. Baseball fans can debate the merits of the Yankee roll, with shrimp tempura, versus the Red Sox roll, with mango-lobster salad. For the record, the Mets aren't officially represented.

Precede these and other sushi spectacles with the tasty tuna pizza, or white and bluefin tuna atop a scallion pancake, completed with onion, tofu and wasabi-sparked aioli. Kampachi guacamole also has personality: yellowtail with guacamole sauce and cilantro emulsion. Likewise, pan-fried seven-spice crusted white tuna with ginger sauce.

The kitchen sends out a satisfying Scottish salmon teriyaki; respectable beef negimaki and vegetable tempura. The pork and vegetable gyoza, or pan-fried dumplings, are modest and all right. Wasabi-shot shumai, or steamed shrimp dumplings, deliver a subtle jolt of spice.

Soothing green papaya salad becomes a versatile accompaniment. Noodle courses, whether with slim buckwheat soba or plump white udon, are satisfactory. Same for miso soup, mushroom soup and seaweed salad.

They'll deep-fry ice cream and cheesecake for dessert -- these are exercises in creativity that you happily can do without.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 4/13/08

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