Akanomi – Altamont, NY

There’s a sushi restaurant seconds away from my apartment, and, in the 8 months living near it, I’ve never stopped in.

One evening, after work, I decided to change that.

Akanomi is located at 2568 Western Avenue at that point where it’s Guilderland/Altamont/Schenectady. I walked over at around 5pm. The every table in the small restaurant was available as was every seat at the sushi bar. Since I was dining alone, I sat at the sushi bar.

I really wanted sashimi, so I ordered sashimi deluxe ($18) that in addition to a roll. The meal came with either miso soup or house (ginger) salad. I opted for the salad.

This was exactly as you’d expect. The whitest part of the lettuce smothered in a sweet gingery and fruity dressing. It was quite refreshing and made me ready for my meal. Before my meal was ready, I noticed the sushi chef mixing up something with crab. Turns out he was making me a complementary portion of kani salad.

This was delicious. It was very sweet from the addition of eel sauce, and had lots of crunchy tempura bits.

He started working on my roll, the Akanomi roll (spicy crunch tuna & mango inside, topped with spicy salmon and avocado – $12).

This was presented with a trio of sauces arranged in a flame pattern at the top of the plate. This roll was great. The pieces were cut perfectly for single bites.

Even though I made my derryX sauce (the whole ball of wasabi slightly thinned with soy sauce), I didn’t use it for this. There were so many contrasts of flavors and textures that I really enjoyed savoring each bite.

As I was working on the roll, the chef presented my sashimi.

It was served on an LED light that was changing colors before my eyes! That was pretty cool. The fish for the sashimi were all sliced nicely. It is common around here to be served sashimi that is tough and chewy, but these pieces were neither. They all were easy to eat and were fresh; that is really important when you’re eating raw fish because one little bit of off flavor can ruin the whole dinner, and this was enjoyable from start to finish.

The whole time while I was eating, the young lady who owns the place spoke with me. We talked about Asian food in the area, and, in our conversation, she revealed that she and the rest of the staff are actually Chinese. It’s not uncommon to find that the Japanese restaurants in the area are run by Chinese people. I honestly don’t care as long as the food is good.

I also recommended a few of my favorite places to eat in the area to her and the sushi chef. It was a very positive and fun conversation.

It was also a fun and enjoyable meal. So now I know that I can walk to get decent sushi and sashimi.