It's art because it's out of focus.
We never need an excuse to go to Haru, but Susie being in town is a guaranteed occasion for a Haru visit. This will make no sense to you unless you’ve experienced it like we have, but Susie and I agree that sushi at Haru is better than sushi in D.C. By that we don’t mean that it’s better than all sushi in D.C., since it’s not only possible but probable that we haven’t eaten the best D.C. has to offer. But the fact that Susie has been to numerous sushi joints in D.C. and thinks Haru is better than all of them speaks very highly of Haru. Denise and I enjoyed our D.C. sushi at Sushi Taro but didn’t come away from that experience rating it higher than Haru. At this point I’m confident in saying that Haru is better than most D.C. sushi places and definitely a better bang-for-the-buck than all. Jackson is just full of surprises. Who would’ve thought that sushi in Jackson would be that good?
Sofia trying to figure out how Edamame works
Baked Salmon
We shook out of our recent Fried Gyoza rut and ordered Edamama as an appetizer. Susie ordered Baked Salmon (salmon outside, snow crab inside, sprinkling of sesame seeds), which we all shared. I briefly mentioned Baked Salmon in my last Haru post as something worth trying, and here it is in all its glory. Wonderful, wonderful dish. Denise and I had this on our first Haru date, so it has sentimental value for us, but I had been ordering it regularly for many moons before we started dating so it definitely stands on its own merits as well.
Salmon Box
I ordered a standby favorite of mine–Salmon Box. It has fresh salmon (as opposed to smoked salmon) on top with snow crab and avocado inside. Salmon and snow crab are 2 of my favorite sushi ingredients, which is why this roll is an easy choice when nothing else draws my attention. Denise ordered a Tuna Box–same concept except with Tuna, which is Denise’s favorite sushi fish.
White Tuna and Smoked Salmon Nigiri
I also ordered White Tuna and Smoked Salmon Nigiri. You get 2 pieces per order, and one was $3.75 while the other was $3.25; can’t remember which was which. Notice how much fish you get! That ain’t no optical illusion, folks. The camera isn’t exaggerating the amount. You really do get that much fish on each piece of nigiri. The waitress asked me if I wanted it as nigiri or sashimi, which has never happened before, so I guess now you can just have a couple cuts of fish sans rice if you want. I might try that sometime just to see how the portions compare. Pretty sure nothing in D.C. (or in Jackson) tops this kind of bang-for-the-buck, and this is part of why Haru is our favorite sushi restaurant in Jackson.
Almost the full spread
You can see most of what we ordered in this last pic. Susie has the Haru Roll (battered and deep-fried roll, can’t remember ingredients but it’s good) and Dynamite Roll (scallops inside, Japanese mayo sauce on top). The Tuna Box is in front of Denise. At this point we’re missing a Boston Roll (lettuce, cucumber, shrimp, and mayo) for Sofia and Salmon Mango Roll for Denise. Denise remarked that the salmon-to-mango ratio was more consistent between roll slices this time compared to our last visit, which made a good roll even better.
In case it’s still not blatantly and eye-pokingly obvious, we love the sushi at Haru. I wish some of the image-conscious crowd would stop flocking to the poor-in-comparison Sakura Bana (used to be Little Tokyo) and Little Tokyo 2, but if they’re image-conscious they’re not going for the food anyway. I think I’m being a little too harsh on people who are into what I perceive to be a petty and useless pursuit and should just shut my trap now. Point being: Haru is awesome and I hope more people get beyond the unassuming exterior to see how awesome it really is.
Last observation: we noticed they now have a “hibachi” menu, where the items are cooked up on a hibachi grill. They don’t have hibachi grills in the dining area, so the cooking is done in the kitchen. To me that’s great, because the stereotypical bad-English-speaking generic Asian doing stupid human tricks while cooking can be entertaining but is most often grating and flat out tacky to me, so the loss of that dog and pony show is no loss at all in my book. I’m sure many would disagree and maybe I’m just being overly sensitive, but that’s how it is. Many Japanese restaurants in the area started out (Bonsai) or recently incorporated (Nagoya) hibachi grills into their repertoire, so Haru must’ve felt the need to keep up with the Joneses. Hey, as long as the sushi quality does’t suffer as a result, more power to them. Anything to make them more attractive to more people is a good thing.