Every day’s a holiday at Fancy Sushi! To makes sure dinner diners are happy to be at Fancy, Mrs. Susan Wang begins their meals with a complimentary Holiday Roll on the table. Holiday is crab, or krab, as imitation crab is known, with cream cheese and her house-made secret yum-yum sauce. Since she opened May 2007, kids, families, and vacationers have returned excited about the Holiday Roll.
When my daughter, Sophia, and I went to Fancy Sushi for dinner recently, she felt the same. “I remember that roll they put on the table in the beginning. Hope they still have that!” Having dined at Fancy since it opened, she was eager to see what was still the same.
A crisp, clean Sapporo would be nice another time, but this was a night for wine. But which? White, red, or plum? If sake, hot or cold? Mrs. Susan recommended the Momokawa Organic Nigori Junmai Ginjo Sake, a popular American sake that is certified pure with no added alcohol, and chilled to preserve its delicate floral fruitiness. It is served in tiny cups to enhance the ceremony of shaku suru, or pouring sake for others. Sophia kept me honored by refilling my cup.
First, appetizers. Yaki Ebi, meaning literally “grilled shrimp.” Our shrimp was skewered, grilled, brushed with teriyaki glaze, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Delectable! Splitting a simple green salad seemed right and it was, especially with her house-made ginger dressing. Nibbling edible orchids is always a treat, too.
Now the rolls. Favorites in our family have been Hwy. 17, Rainbow, and Fancy Mango. Customer favorites through the years have been Fall Festival, Crunchy, Volcano, and the Dragons. Western-style Dragon rolls were favorites from America’s sushi beginnings in 1960’s California. Mrs. Susan recommended her favorite, the Black Dragon Roll. A Dragon Roll is arranged end-to-end like a dragon with pieces of avocado or cucumber that look like scales. While they come in several lively colors, Black stands out for its nori sheets, eel meat and sauce, and black sesame seeds. If you or someone you know likes learning systems and variations, learn sushi basics. It’s fun!
The entrée we shared was Salmon Teriyaki, a very fresh sushi-grade King Salmon. Its flavor and mouthfeel are delicate, creamy, and buttery, best prepared simply and with high heat as Fancy does. Mrs. Susan describes many regulars seeking out her fish entrees—retirees and those not yet—who are eating healthfully at Fancy once or twice a week. “They say things like, ‘This doesn’t even feel like eating healthy, so rich and flavorful is it,’ but it is healthy. Very healthy.”
Our favorite dessert is Fried Oreos, which Sophia remembers enjoying regularly in her childhood. This time, for one last Fancy experience of special flavors and mixed textures, we had a scoop each of Green Tea and Red Bean ice creams. The Green Tea is made with matcha, giving it a grassy, mild bitterness that balances nicely with the Red Bean’s soft, nutty, slightly sweet flavor.
Once again, we’d come to a restaurant we’d been to numerous times but discovered new approaches, techniques, flavors, and dishes. Fancy Sushi is located at 1478 Sadler Road and 463875 SR 200 in Yulee.