Grub Scout: Anaba will have sushi fans all fired up

There are two Anaba locations — one on Northshore Drive in Knoxville and one in Maryville. My Murvul peeps had been bragging about the one in Blount County, so that’s the one The Grub Spouse and I chose to investigate. We brought The Grub Sprout along just because we’re nice people.

The Spouse and I recognized the location as the previous site of a local barbecue restaurant that went belly-up. The long, booth-filled main dining area has been upscaled slightly, now boasting a deep burgundy paint job above black wainscoting. Touches of Asian decor pop up here and there, both in the dining area and at the sushi bar near the front entrance.

Since my last run-in with Asian cuisine was a real clinker, I was hoping for a rehabilitating experience, and I was actually pleased to skim over a menu that focuses predominantly on Japanese food, although for some reason, a handful of Greek-style appetizers and salads and psomis (small pizzas) have been sprinkled in.

The appetizers are divided into warm and cold items, ranging from pan-fried gyoza dumplings and a spicy tuna cake to a chilled seaweed salad and yakko-tofu. Japanese soups and salads are also there to help you get your meal started, as are some 14 tempura items, prepared in two- and four-piece orders.

The main courses consist, in part, of noodle dishes, rice bowls and hibachi-grill entrees. However, sushi alone accounts for fully half the menu. There are traditional rolls (crab, eel, etc.), vegetable rolls (avocado, cucumber, etc.) and even a trio of riceless rolls.

Anaba presents even wider selections of regular rolls (California, picante, salmon avocado, etc.), warm rolls (calamari, fried oyster, etc.) and nearly two-dozen special rolls (caterpillar, ninja and even the uniquely crafted Smoky Mountain roll, which is served in a bowl).

Between the three of us, we covered a fair amount of ground. The Spouse ordered the hibachi-grilled chicken and mixed vegetables, which includes fried rice and a salad. The Sprout got one of the noodle dishes, yakiudon — stir-fried udon noodles with chicken, cabbage and onions, topped with seaweed and scallions. He also got a half order of kani kani — a special roll made with crabstick, cream cheese and cucumber, topped with a mixture of smelt roe and scallions.

Yours truly got one of the warm rolls —the fire cracker — featuring tuna, avocado, cream cheese and crawfish salad, deep-fried whole and served with sweet wasabi mayo and smelt roe. I also got a two-piece order of smoked salmon from their selection of nigiri and sashimi.

Our items came out one at a time but were still delivered within a fairly tight time frame so that no one sat waiting for their food to get cold. Everything was visually pleasing to the eye, and I even liked the way the salmon sashimi was arranged decoratively in a hollowed out section of cucumber.

Tastewise, our meals fired on all cylinders, with fire being the operative word. The sauce accompanying the yakiudon packed a punch, and the smelt roe and the sweet wasabi mayo were sinus-clearing winners too. The good thing is that these spicy embellishments could be incorporated into each main dish as desired. But each dish also stood strong on its own, with great flavors and combinations of ingredients.

I definitely recommend Anaba in Maryville for Japanese-food fans, but if the two are anything alike, I’m betting the one in K-town is hot stuff too.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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