The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • G18

19 18 March 12, 2010 CUISINE THE RECORD Classic sushi, pristine and restrained By BILL PITCHER RESTAURANT REVIEWER It's of some reassurance to see Kenji Umeda in a necktie as he presides over the sushi bar at Umeya Japanese restaurant in Cresskill, his capable hands rolling maki and slicing his knives through the colorful catch in the day. He works wordlessly, save the Tokyo style and its threefold focus: crisp seaweed, flavorful rice and pure fish. An umeya is a plum flower, a tiny piece of simple beauty, like many of the graceful little touches at Umeya. Each menu is hand-lettered by Masako Umeda, whose flowing pink and purple calligraphy spells the promise of authenticity on each page. Plum flowers are hand-painted onto the side of the for the occasional quiet comment Japanese to his wife, Masako, at his side.

His manner suggests reverence and screams professionalism. Umeya, he says without uttering a word, is a serious Japanese restaurant. Twenty years ago, the two were crafting sushi in the home kitchen and selling it to restaurants, coming off a shared experience at Hatsuhana in Japan and Manhattan, where Kenji earned four stars from The New York Times and Masako was the manager. Together, the Umedas opened Umeya (in Japan, the one-letter difference dis pastel blue tea cups that arrive as soon as you're seated, and the plates and bowls that come with each course have a similar handmade feel. The space projects nature, dominated by wide, rustic planks that make up the sushi bar counter and serve as dividers through the 40-seat dining room, which is accented with blowfish that hang like spiky light fixtures and a gorgeous mahi-mahi mounted behind the sushi bar.

The sushi and sashimi are pristine, salmon tasting as clean as the waters it was plucked from, and fluke bringing a The sushi and sashimi are pristine, salmon tasting as clean as the waters it was plucked from. Umeya 1 56 Piermont Road Cresskill 201-816-0511 umeyasushi.com Food: Traditional Japanese, with excellent sushi and sashimi. Ambience: Small sushi bar in the middle of wood-accented dining room. Service: Dishes are served quickly, but there aren't always enough hands in the dining room; service seems more attentive at the sushi bar. Value: Excellent for the quality.

Appetizers $3.75 to $1 2, entrees $7.50 to $30.75, a la carte sushi, sashimi and rolls $2 to $15. Would be good for: Midweek dinner date, sushi and sashimi purists. Less appropriate for: Large groups, those seeking fusion. Recommended dishes: Tile-fish, sushi-sashimi combination, mochi ice cream. Hours: Lunch noon to 2:15 p.m.

Tuesday to Friday, dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Liquor, wine: Limited beer and wine, excellent sake list. $1 0 uncorking fee for customers bringing their own.

Noise level: Soft, good for conversation. Credit cards: AE, DC, MC, V. Reservations: Suggested Friday and Saturday. Accommodations for children: Children's dishes on request. Dress: Casual.

Early-bird specials or deals: Six courses soup, salad, yakitori, tempura, sushi and ice cream for $31 Takeout: Yes. Parking: Shopping center lot. Reviewed: March 12, 2010. About the ratings Poor Fair Good Excellent Outstanding In determining ratings, each restaurant has been compared with others of the same type and level of ambition. Reviewers make at least two anonymous visits to a restaurant, and the newspaper always pays the tab.

12 Recommendations Here are three of Bergen County's other premier sushi restaurants that have been reviewed: RIDGEWOOD SAKURA BANA After two decades in business, this BYO still packs in customers thrilled by the rare Japanese offerings and the indisputably fresh fish. Even basic Japanese dishes are mostly well-executed and timeless. Prices: Appetizers $5 to $10, entrees $1 1 to $23, sushi rolls $4 to $21 Hours: Dinner 5:30 p.m. to 1 0 p.m. Monday.

Lunch 1 1 :45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner 5:30 to 1 0 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday. Lunch 1 1 :45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner 5:1 5 to 1 0:1 5 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Liquor, wine: BYO. Noise level: Lots of conversation, tables are fairly close together. Credit cards: AE, MC, V.

Reservations: Not accepted for Friday and Saturday. Accommodations for children: Children's menu. Dress: Casual. Early-bird specials or deals: $1 9.95 prix-fixe dinner 5:30 to 1 0 p.m. Monday only.

Takeout: Yes. Parking: Metered street. Reviewed: Dec. 12, 2008. 43 Franklin Ridgewood; 201 -447-6525; sakurabana.com.

ALLENDALE MASA Masahiro Abe serves exquisite omakase sushi platters at his unassuming Japanese restaurant in downtown Allendale. The authentic food, including the "Japanese bistro" snacks, draws many Japanese customers. Prices: Appetizers $4 to $12, entrees $18 to $23. Hours: Lunch noon to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

Dinner 5 to 1 0 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Liquor, wine: BYO.

Noise level: Conversation, but generally not too loud. Credit cards: AE, MC, V. Reservations: Recommended Friday and Saturday. Accommodations for children: Small plates. Dress: Casual.

Early-bird specials or deals: No. Takeout: Yes. Parking: Street, small lot behind restaurant. Reviewed: April 24, 2009. 81 W.

Allendale Allendale; 201 -934-661 masasushiandgrill.com ENGLEWOOD WILD GINGER 12 Its fish is top quality, its sushi is top notch, its Japanese dishes are often packed with great flavors, and you'll have lots of fun when gregarious owner Charles Hamade is presiding. Just watch out for a cramped space and gaffes like overcooked food and fake crab in a crab leg roll. One highlight is the creative ice cream sundaes. Prices: Appetizers $4 to $18, sushi and sashimi $3 to $6 apiece, sushi rolls $6 to $15, entrees $14 to $30. Hours: Lunch noon to 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday to Friday. Dinner 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Liquor, wine: BYO.

Noise level: Quiet to lively, depending on how full the restaurant is. Credit cards: AE, MC, V. Reservations: No, except for private parties. Accommodations for children: No children's menu, but will accommodate children. Dress: Casual.

Early-bird service or deals: No. Takeout: Yes, unless restaurant is very busy. Parking: Metered street or garage. Reviewed: Dec. 7, 2007.

6 E. Palisade Englewood; 201 -567-2660, tinguishes a family's name from its self-named business) in a small storefront in Clock Tower Square shopping plaza in 1996, when sushi was still somewhat of a curiosity. Fast-forward to 2010 and sushi is in every downtown area, often in the form of a Japanese-American hybrid an oversized, mango-stuffed, tempura battered, cream-cheese-topped exercise in excess. Umeya resists such fusion trends, remaining true to rich, genuine taste of the ocean. The omakase platter which puts your order in the Umedas' hands, may include toro, the cool, creamy bluefin tuna belly, or aji, an oily mackerel whose assertive flavor is appreciated by hardcore sushi lovers.

Slices are neatly trimmed into uniform pieces and lined up in military precision for a combination platter ($25) or served atop properly sweet rice in a pretty bowl (sold as chirashi, which 3 STAFF PHOTOS BY CARMINE GALASSO Masako and Kenji Umeda opened their Cresskill restaurant in 1996, serving sushi and sashimi that remains true to the Tokyo style. may also include substantial slices of octopus, shiny sweet shrimp and elusive orange jewels of salmon roe. The sushi bar's selection doesn't always have the breadth of that of other restaurants, but it's a conscious restraint, echoed in the size of the portions, such as the six-bite barbecue roll whose bits of broiled eel are wrapped in long, thin ribbons of cucumber and a smoky soy sauce. White tuna tataki ($9) is quickly seared on all sides, and served as a reminder that Umeya is perhaps the smallest Japanese restaurant in Bergen County to offer wine and beer, boasting more than a dozen hot and cold sakes. If there's a weakness, it's service, which is gracious and very well-informed but occasionally sparse in the dining room.

The priority is, appropriately, on quickly getting food to the table, so during busy stretches, order-taking, table-clearing and check-delivering take a back seat. You'll have better luck pulling up one of the seven chairs at the sushi bar and filtering your wishes through the Umedas, pleasant, professional hosts whose skill and experience make dining there a delight. E-mail: pitchernorthjersey.com. Elisa Ung's reviews and column, The Corner Table, will return this summer. tree) give scallions a starring role, wrapped in rib-eye slices and broiled with homemade teriyaki.

Tat-suta age boneless fried chicken, is flavorless without a squirt of lemon, but the yakitori ($4.50) three thin chicken skewers glazed in sake, soy and mirin are smoky, tender and outstanding. Nabeyaki udon noodles ($15.50) are slurped from a bowlful of treasures, including oyster mushrooms, a long tempura-fried shrimp and an egg that poaches in the beef broth. Desserts, appropriately small and light, include mochi ice cream ($4) go for the red bean and green tea flavors and mitsumame a cheerful fruit cocktail studded with chewy, translucent gelees made from agar, a seaweed extract. Sake sorbet ($8) was more like an ice cube, a frozen puck that chipped into large flakes of pure sake, chilled down, then sliced and topped with little mounds of a thick, spicy radish sauce. Even such simplicities as the miso soup ($8, a smaller version is included with entrees) can be impressive, the tiny bits of tofu releasing wisps of creaminess into the excellent dashi.

The seaweed-based stock resurfaces in the amadai fortified with radish and holding a perfect fillet of tilefish, lightly fried to a firm exterior with barely warm, flaky flesh in the center. Agedashi ($8) gets similar treatment, with a block of fried tofu and sliced mushrooms set afloat in the stock. Those not particularly enamored of seafood -raw or otherwise will appreciate the approachable Japanese menu. Gyoza the pork-filled dumplings, nearly burst from their impossibly thin skin. Beef negimaki ($7.25 appetizer, $19.75 en The 40-seat dining room is accented with suspended blowfish..