Why do people love sushi?
It’s a question whose answers seem as varied and elusive as the colorful little morsels of raw fish and veggies so popular in Japanese restaurants in recent years.
Some love it because of its purported health properties; others just love the presentation - food presented with a minutely crafted flair.
Whatever the reason, sushi has found its way into the hearts of America, it seems - and Lindenhurst is no exception.
At least, that’s the thinking of the folks at Kabuki Sushi.
Owned by Jimmy Jiang and his family, the five-month old operation on South Wellwood Avenue is well on its way to testing the idea that restaurant-goers in this corner of the world will be up for the foreign, exotic, bite-size and attractively presented culinary experience of Japanese sushi.
Jiang and his family are long-time New York City restaurant people who decided to have a go at Japanese food on Long Island.
“This is the first restaurant we’ve owned,” Jiang told Lindenhurst Patch recently. “We chose to look only on Long Island - it’s a good area - and to look for a town that didn’t have a sushi place.”
Lindenhurst fit the bill - and while there's a up north on Sunrise Highway, there's never been one in the heart of the Village. So Jiang decided to open the doors to Kabuki in a storefront that was left vacant by a across from .
But where that restaurant shut its doors, Kabuki seems to be thriving, and well-received by residents, who seem to have happily embraced the new restaurant. They also seem to be enjoying the entire sushi dining experience Kabuki is offering.
“People like to sit at the bar and watch our chefs make the sushi. Sushi just has style! And we put a lot of work on the decor of this place," Jiang noted, adding, “Japanese food is healthy; it’s not cooked with a lot of grease."
The classic ingredients of sushi are certain fish - tuna, salmon, yellowtail, eel, octopus, crab, shrimp - or bits of avacado or cucumber. Perhaps a little cream cheese. All tastefully wrapped in rice or hand-rolled, cut into bite-size pieces and presented in traditional Japanese style.
Here in America, California rolls, Alaskan rolls and the like have joined the fundamental repertoire, and the Kabuki menu.
But the wide variety of items that Kabuki prides itself on offering could be astonishing. And with special "bento" combination meals, lunch-box specials and other offerings on the restaurant's multi-page menu, sushi could be ordered at a wide range of price points - from the economically minded to the discriminating.
“People just like sushi,” Jiang stated simply.
For like-minded residents who enjoy sushi, Kabuki is open seven days a week, with parking in rear. Residents could sit down for a meal, or take home or have a Japanese meal delivered to their homes.
