East Idaho Eats: Experience Japanese inspired cuisine at Sumisu Asian Fusion

POCATELLO — If you’re looking to experience many flavors from across Asia — you should try Sumisu Asian Fusion & Sushi.

The idea behind Sumisu Asian Fusion came from two brothers, Kim and Doug Smith.

“Doug Smith was the original sushi chef when he started here. That was back in 2010 and I actually started with them. Sumisu is ‘Smith’ in Japanese, and that’s their last name,” part-owner, Daniel Russo said.

Russo said there’s a variety of dishes offered at the restaurant.

“We serve a lot of diverse options — it just depends where on the spectrum of sushi you are. We try to do a lot of traditional stuff and we try to do a lot hybrid Asian fusion. It just depends what our customer wants,” Russo said.

Russo said the tiny dancer roll is a house favorite. He said the sushi roll is deep fried, has a lot of sauces and doesn’t have many raw ingredients.

“People really tend to like that,” Russo said. “That’s like Sumisu’s flagship, our quintessential thing that everyone must try and have if they’re going to come to Sumisu.”

MUST TRY:

Tiny Dancer Roll: This dish has avocado, spicy tuna, tempura shrimp, crab, and cucumber, rolled and tempura fried, finished with sweet soy and firecracker sauce. This dish is a customer favorite.

Oshi-Zushi: Ahi tuna, salmon, cucumber, temp crunch and Sriracha pressed into box sushi, topped with lemon. Russo said the way this dish is made mimics an old form of Japanese fish preservation. Currently fish and rice are pressed in a small plastic box, but the Japanese used to practice different methods.

“Instead of a little plastic box, they’d have a giant wooden box and a stone slab, and they would put rice around the fish and a stone slab on top. The pressure, mixed with time would cause the fish to cure,” Russo said.

WHAT’S AT THE SUSHI BAR?

Nigiri sushi: Russo said this is one of the oldest forms of sushi preparation. Customers can request Nigiri sushi when they sit at the sushi bar. One Nigiri dish to request is Zuke marinated tuna. It’s consists of tuna which is put in a red wine marinade for five to six minutes. It’s topped with house blended soy sauce, a bit of wasabi, and nori paste.