Sushi Twister appeals to modern tastes, offers plenty for traditionalists

One happy by-product of the sushi revolution that has swept Las Vegas (and much of the rest of the country) in the past decade or so is that fusion-sushi spots are cropping up all over the place. In the case of Sushi Twister, that's in a plaza on Boulder Highway across from a weekly rental hotel. In a spot that would more likely house a diner, Sushi Twister was doing a pretty steady business on the evening of our visit.

Which didn't come as much of a surprise once we perused the menu and sampled the food. As is the case with the vast majority of fusion-sushi places, Sushi Twister is exceedingly user-friendly for modern American tastes, but it also walks the line by offering lots of variety for sushi traditionalists as well, with a nigiri sushi selection that includes mackerel, two kinds of eel, sea urchin, surf clam and lots more, hand rolls and on and on.

We've been having fun indulging in specialty rolls lately, because they seem to convey the personality of a restaurant's sushi chefs (and here we'll note that the names at Sushi Twister are pretty G-rated, limited to a single screaming orgasm reference and the repeated use of ecstasy sauce, which I'm going to ignore for so many reasons). The house-special Sushi Twister roll ($10.95 for a whole, $6.75 for a half) wasn't exotic but was still interesting thanks to the interplay of textures and flavors. Shrimp tempura had been paired with crisp cucumber sticks and wrapped in tuna, the whole topped with the "Japanese salsa" that's a Sushi Twister specialty. That was its own exercise in fusion, providing a nice, kicky accent.

The whimsically named Crispy Vacation ($9.50, $5.75) was another prime example of flavor and textural contrasts. In this one, spicy tuna (and it really was spicy, which is getting pretty rare these days) had been wrapped in a mild seared albacore, the cut pieces topped with crispy onions reminiscent of rib-joint "onion strings," plus a shot of garlic sauce.

While that one was a little esoteric as well as whimsical, the Cowgirl ($9.85/$5.98) was much more self-explanatory. That one wrapped avocado and cucumber with beef tenderloin for some earthy synergy with a springy accent and some green onion for a flavor spark.

From the baked and fried rolls we climbed the Magic Mountain ($8.25/$4.95), fried salmon and cream cheese (mmmm, so ooey-gooey) with a dash of eel sauce.

We ventured also to the nonsushi side of the menu for the Teppan Beef Steak, which certainly was priced right ($10.50). The menu promised filet mignon, and the medallions, searing on a hot iron plate as they were brought to the table, were indeed suitably tender. But this isn't a particularly flavorful cut, and because of that, the predominant flavor was oil, not beef. Much better was the extremely assertive miso soup and a gingery mixed salad, and the chef's special sauce we chose (the other option was teriyaki), which was akin to a somewhat sweet barbecue sauce.

Service throughout was pretty good in the beginning but sort of fell apart at the end, which seems to be almost a trend these days. Sushi Twister is in a smallish strip-center storefront, but there's a lot of charm packed into that space. The sushi bar lines one wall, with a row of colorful banners above. Sake bottles and sake memorabilia add much in the way of visual interest.

Neighborhood sushi joints? Who would've thought it, 20 or even 10 years ago? But they're here, much to our delight, and Sushi Twister ranks with the best.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or email her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.