Sushi Plus Sexy

Kai, one of downtown Springfield’s newest restaurants, mixes an impressive menu with super-swanky décor.

In downtown Springfield, ever-changing spaces (Roly Poly becomes Papagiorgio’s becomes the new Marco’s) share the street with reliable old standbys (Bijan’s Sea and Grille becomes… well, it doesn’t become anything). When new eateries open in this see-and-be-seen part of town, I’m always anxious to try them out and curious as to whether they have the gumption to keep customers interested. Last summer, an anxiously awaited addition to downtown was Kai. Given time to grow, will it be a Roly Poly, or will it be a Bijan’s?

Maybe it will be a Bijan’s. My friend and I had dinner there at 6 p.m. on a Friday evening about a month and a half after it opened, and there was already a decent dinner crowd. I heard from another friend who was there later the same evening that the place was jumping once the bar-time crowd rolled in. Maybe you are part of the crew that wants to be seen at downtown’s swankiest new spot, but I’m part of the crew that just likes to see it. It looks like New York City in there. It’s hawt. So hawt I’m willing to spell things incorrectly to express it.

There’s a colorful light-up wall downstairs, a cluster of multi-sized disco balls by the bar, private nooks and crannies that are just dark enough, attractive servers, sexy lighting everywhere and the cutest little green upholstered chairs ever outside the bathrooms.

But besides the ridiculously fabulous décor, the coolest thing about Kai is the fruit that pops up in dishes where you aren’t expecting it, like little renegade bits of sweetness and unanticipated texture that are just itching to hitch a ride from the kitchen to your mouth as stowaways in the dishes. Crazy Salmon has a California roll covered in a spicy, saucy mixture of chopped up salmon, tomato and crisp apple. There is mango inside the chicken roulade. Even the seaweed salad comes to the table with one little apostate raspberry as a garnish on the plate.

Kai is owned by the same people who are behind Haruno, so you might not be surprised that on a menu with plenty of clever entrées is a list of creative sushi rolls. I loved the Crazy Salmon roll (especially the contrast of crunchy apple, soft tomato and firm salmon all covered in the same orange sauce, so you never knew what texture was about to hit your tongue), but I’m anxious to try one of the handful of rolls that include jalapeño. My colleague and co-diner Tiesha Miller loved the warm-on-the-inside Lobster Monster roll with a green sauce that looked scary but tasted mild and delightful.

Before the sushi, Tiesha and I split an order of tempura mozzarella and fresh asparagus appetizer. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t knock-your-socks-off amazing, but it satisfied and was less greasy and heavy than its less-classy counterpart—the typical mozzarella stick. The tempura batter was fairly light, and the asparagus was crunchy. I thanked the gods of not-overcooked vegetables and dipped those puppies in the Dijon dressing that came on the side.

We also split an order of seaweed salad. We didn’t need it. Given our two giant rolls, the appetizer and the dessert (more on that later), we had more than enough food. But I’m picky about seaweed salad and wanted to see if Kai delivered the kind I like (read: the kind without any sort of sauce drizzled on top). I thought it was great. Nothing special, but seaweed salad isn’t meant to be anything other than seaweed salad, in my opinion, so it was perfect. Chewy, cold and ectoplasma green: The description is not nearly as appetizing as the real thing.

If you decide to grab dessert, the ginger blueberry panna cotta was heavy on berry, light on ginger and super-good. And even though it’s a weird thing to get all excited about, I think Kai might have the very best iced tea in town. You just need to try it to see what I mean.

I have no complaints about our service that night. The server was personable, and we felt taken care of. And considering I managed to drop half of my meal on the floor (and neglected to warn the poor guy, who then stepped in it), I think he did a pretty good job. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that we’ve heard several complaints about the service at Kai (long waits, disappearing servers, misplaced reservations). I won’t let that stop me from going there. I hope those kinks will work themselves out over time. As far as speculation over whether Kai is a Roly Poly or a Bijan’s, I think it’ll do just fine. With
Haruno-level experience running it behind-the-scenes, it has more than a fighting chance.