When is a Japanese restaurant not an ordinary Japanese restaurant?  Answer----when it is Okura Robata Grill & Sushi Bar.  This is a showroom for magic......a museum for works of art........a place to create taste, smell, and “plate picture” perfect, raw as well as cooked food for the most discriminating gourmet.

I recommend they eliminate the words “sushi bar” from the establishment’s name as it does not do justice in describing this temple of taste.  Executive Chef Kaoru Ishii includes an array of “small plates” to choose from with suggested sake to match the flavors of each dish.

Among the “tapas” are a Sashimi spring roll which Chef Kaoru enjoys with Gekkeikan Haiku sake; crispy Yamaimo potatoes (Adelsheim Pinot Noir); crisp scallop tempura  (EOS Chardonnay); robata grilled sake lamb chop (Rutherford Hill Merlot); and Buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomato salad (Junmai Ginjo Taisetsu Sake).  Each plate is only $9 (sake and wine are additional).

Chef Kaoru has also listed three temaki sushi plates on the tapas menu.  Also known as the “hand roll,” where the chef spreads ingredients on a nori (seaweed) sheet, rolls it into a cylinder, and slices it into bite-size pieces, temaki sushi is as attractive as it is delicious.  He recommends that the spicy tuna roll be paired with Junmai Ginjo Y “Wind” Sake, suggests Stag’s Leap Chardonnay to accompany the crunchy tempura shrimp roll with avocado and eel sauce, and proposes Markham Sauvignon Blanc as the accompaniment to the Hamachi (yellowtail) roll.  The hand rolls are only $6 each.

From blue fin toro (tuna) to Kobi beef, the flavors,  spices and sauces will leave you with the best Japanese restaurant experience imaginable. 

 Okura was recently named the 2008 Best Sushi Restaurant in the Coachella Valley by readers of Desert Magazine.  The downtown Palm Springs’ restaurant is located at 105 S. Palm Canyon (760-327-1333) and the La Quinta restaurant is in Point Happy Plaza at Highway 111 and Washington Street (760-564-5820).