REVIEW: Sushi King creates a deluxe dining experience

All-you-can-eat usually means sneeze-guard-protected buffets that focus on quantity rather than quality, and can be an especially troubling concept for sushi, a cuisine in which quality and freshness is paramount.

Nothing is troubling, however, about Sushi Rakkyo, and in fact, feel free to leave all your worldly troubles at the door. 

Instead of feeling crass, all-you-can-eat (a value at $14.95 for lunch and $24.95 for dinner) at this small Briargate restaurant is a pampered, decadent affair in which plate after plate of delicious and often delicate food arrives at the table, each one an artfully presented gift to unwrap. From top to bottom, Sushi Rakkyo creates one of the best sushi experiences available in the Pikes Peak area and makes all its customers feel like royalty for the space of a few delicious hours. 

Ambience

Located off Briargate Parkway and Union Boulevard, across from Memorial Hospital North, Sushi Rakkyo is a strip-mall restaurant, but that seems to do the atmosphere little harm. In fact, the clean, simple modernity of the building and the interior design snuff out any aura of pretention, and the brick walls and hanging lanterns are warm and welcoming. 

White-coated, friendly but comfortingly authoritative chefs preside behind the sushi bar, where, if you’re new to the cuisine, you should definitely sit to watch all the action — and see the quality and freshness of the ingredients firsthand. (The owner says they take daily deliveries, shop the Denver fish markets and are committed to using fresh fish, not frozen.)

The elevated dining room, on the other hand, is peaceful and calm, a great place for conversation and “joyful meeting,” which is the translation of the restaurant’s name. 

Highlights

Much like the elegant white plates that make the food visually pop, Sushi Rakkyo allows the flavors of the ingredients to speak for themselves. For instance, the White Fish Sashimi ($10.95), is cut to an amazing thinness usuzukuri-style, allowing the whipped-butter richness of the fish to shine. The Pepper Seared Tuna’s ($11.95) whisper of cracked pepper is delightfully simple, and any variation of unagi (freshwater eel), such as the donburi (in a rice bowl, $13) or with avocado and shrimp in the Viagra Tempura Roll ($10.95), highlights the eel’s hearty yet silky texture. 

Viagra Roll? Yep, and it’s in good company with friends Ultimate Orgasm Rolls (crab, smoked salmon and crunchy crawfish, $12.95) and Marilyn Mon Rolls (spicy tuna, albacore and scallop, $8.95), which prove that somebody at Rakkyo has a wicked sense of humor. In addition to humor, the menu also offers lots of wicked and fantastic flavor pairings.

 I especially loved the touch of smelt eggs on top of the baked Dynamite Rolls ($9.95), which are made up of creamy crab meat and avocado, a crunch of cucumber and a spicy mayo sauce. A lover of heat, I also wasn’t disappointed with any item on the menu labeled spicy, like the delicious Spicy Scallops (part of the all-you-can-eat menu).

Course after course, each bite is a new adventure and often features fantastic artistry: thinly sliced, fanned avocados and strawberries, painted patterns of sauce and gravity-defying round towers of layered flavors. 

Certainly, the sashimi and rolls are the stars of the show, but eaters of all types can find other things to love. The Korean owner and chef nods to his heritage with tasty Beef Bulgogi ($16.95) and Galbi ($16.95), Korean barbecue beef ribs. Also redolent with Korean barbecue flavor, the spicy chicken entrée ($15.95) is a big hit, and we managed to consume two plates in one sitting. 

Bonus points

• With cubes of floating tofu, the miso soup ($1.50) with its robust broth is a great starter.

• The Udon noodles ($7.95) are a big bowl of Japanese comfort food and a good choice for the more timid. 

• A very generous Happy Hour of buy-one-get-one drinks runs 5-7 p.m. every day but Sunday.

Service

I love the sushi system of providing lists to mark up with each order, a new list for each personalized course of the meal. The dining experience becomes relaxed and unrushed, and the server feels like a personal genie, quietly on hand to make each new wish come true. When they’re not needed, the servers melt into the background, then seem to suddenly appear exactly at the moment you want to know, for instance, about the texture of a certain fish or the difference between fresh- and saltwater eel. 

Drawbacks

There are some lackluster items that I might have done without, such as the Crunchy Tuna Rolls (50 cents upcharge for crunch on the tuna rolls, $10.95) which I rank lower simply because I found other items more exciting. Some of the sashimi, such as the shrimp and the (imitation) crab, was very plain, which of course suits some tastes perfectly, but meant they were more vehicles for wasabi for me. Also, pescetarians, who eat fish, will be in heaven, but pure vegetarians will find Sushi Rakkyo has little to offer. 

While it’s not necessarily a drawback, all you can eat does come with a warning: You can’t take any food home, and if you order excessively, you’ll be charged for the leftovers that go to waste. 

The policy is understandable from the restaurant’s point of view, and I’m told it’s almost never implemented. 

As someone who cleared every plate on every visit, I think I have a good idea why. 

SUSHI RAKKYO

   Restaurant character: The chefs at Sushi Rakkyo create delicate sculptures of seafood with their razor-sharp knife skills. 

Rating total: 5 out of 5 forks

Address: 9205 N. Union Blvd., No. 2-100

Contact: 645-8754, sushirakkyo.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, noon-8:30 p.m. Sundays

Entrees: $6.95-$24.95

Alcohol: Yes

Credit cards: Yes

Vegetarian options: Yes, but with the focus on seafood, there are few. Try the vegetable tempura roll with lightly fried broccoli, carrot, potatoes and sweet sauce ($6.95) or ask for a vegetarian Udon entrée ($7.95). 

Wi-fi: Not yet 

What’s online as of Dec. 30, 2011:

•  4.5 out of 5 stars based on nine reviews on Yelp

•  73 percent “like it” based on 42 votes on Urban Spoon

•  26 people have checked in 97 times on Foursquare

•  Photos online at sushirak kyo.com

•  A coupon for 20 percent off menu items is available at peakvaluesmagazine .com.