Show Win
Some of the rolls at Show Win are downright ornate. To wit, the Withcombo roll, with seared chili pepper tuna, asparagus, tuna, salmon and yellowtail topped with eel and avocado plus four kinds of tobiko and honey wasabi sauce. (June 15, 2012) Credit: Linda Rosier
Meet the new Show Win, its interior tastefully lifted out of the '80s, thanks to modern furnishings and a room divider with two little water wheels. There've also been some chef and menu changes. Joining veteran sushi chef Sam Pang behind the sushi bar comes Sean Lin, clearly a talent.
And Ming Li takes over as kitchen chef. Much of what he does is commendable. His unconventional tom yum soup is pure electricity, featuring shrimp, clams and vegetables in a ringing hot-and-sour broth. Butternut squash soup is coconut-curried, comforting. But he has tampered with the once-stellar clam soup. Instead of a briny clam broth shot with shards of fresh ginger, there's now chicken broth with scallion slices. "People like it better this way," said Li, who volunteered to make the earlier version on request.
The long list of imaginative, sometimes ornate, maki rolls has improved in the execution by Pang and Lin, rice and fish at ideal temperature and rolled with a lighter hand. Spicy tuna, requested cut to order and dabbed with spicy mayonnaise, forms the topping of the winning red head roll with avocado, cucumber and tempura flakes. Another favorite is the colorful Samara slam roll: spicy yellowtail, eel, salmon, asparagus crowned with wasabi-infused roe. Those who prefer cooked rolls might appreciate the Ross roll's contrast of salty, crisp salmon skin against mellow eel and avocado. Then, there's the irresistible Aaron roll, wherein crunchy, warm, fried oyster is overlaid with spicy mayonnaise.
Usuzukuri, delicate thinly sliced fluke with ponzu sauce, makes for a simple pleasure. Pristine fresh fish stars on the beautifully wrought sushi entree as well as the chirashi bowl -- although cooked shrimp and surimi add a note of the mundane. At lunch, a bento box featuring a lush salmon-avocado roll as well as salmon, tuna and yellowtail sushi and sashimi has star quality.
Wish I could say the same for such Asian dishes as ginger chicken and shrimp with chili sauce, which, while certainly good, don't inhabit the same sphere. A worthier choice is the chicken lettuce wrap, an appetizer that's both hot and cool.
A cut-up orange comes with your check. Sweet -- and free.
