What can I say, I like big things. Resist the "that's what she said joke"; I'm serious. I like giant burgers dripping with cheese and mayonnaise. I like towering ice cream cones drizzled with chocolate sauce and chopped cashews. And I LOVE big sushi, the kind of sushi you have to strain your jaw to chomp down on. Oishii Sushi, (on Bardstown and now Taylorsville) serves giant rolls of sushi piled high with everything from strawberries to spicy crab.
The sushi at Oishii is stunningly presented. The delicate slivers of pale avocado and swollen red strawberries topping the happy roll combine well with the fried shrimp, cream cheese and asparagus inside. The Boston roll is covered with an airy heap of pale pink spicy crab. My newest favorite at Oishii is the Derby roll, an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink creation without rice, bursting with tamago, crab, shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, and salmon. The sushi is uncommonly good, sashimi fresh, and the luminous quail eggs shots are a particular favorite of mine. The sushi chefs labor behind a glass counter studded with marbled slabs of velvety salmon and yellowtail, and if you sit at the sushi bar rather than one of the tables you can watch as they craft their masterpieces with deft strokes of the knife.
The Bardstown location is very small, and often there is a wait on weekend nights; but Oishii has opened a new location on Taylorsville, which might help the crowding situation. The service has also been particularly slow in the past, but at the relatively cheap price it's worth the wait. Years of mouthing off in class and sassing back to my mother have given me the training needed to handle the rolls at Oishii. One roll can easily satisfy, and two rolls of sufficient for a couple. I am very curious to try the new tempura and teriyaki offered at the Taylorsville location, I sincerely hope Oishii keeps up with my esteem.
I am aware that not everyone is as fond as the overblown American windbaggery I find so charming. If you're a stickler for tiny bites of traditional Japanese fare, you probably will not care for Oishii. But if you want to try some famously good combinations and stuff yourself stupid for a economy appropriate price, head on over to Oishii. It's kind of a big deal.
Photos: Elizabeth Orrick
