Ventura County Star from Ventura, California • 60

Dine Out Yokozuna rolls into Santa Paula Japanese restaurant offers sushi and other tasty specialties By Rita Moran Restaurant critic Sushi in Santa Paula? Will wonders never cease. Not that the town hasn't had Asian food before, as one of the longest-running restaurants in town was Lin's Chinese Food, which cornered the market on those specialties for decades before its closing in recent years. But sushi, not so much. Now Yokozuna Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar, long thriving in Oxnard, has opened a branch in Santa Paula and things are zinging right along. We were ushered to one of the last tables during a busy lunch hour with not a lot of time to let the tranquil and comfortable setting sink in.

The restaurant's name, we found out, signifies the highest level to which a sumo wrestler can rise. Even though our friends were already digging into small bowls of spicy edamame ($4.75) for their starter, tuna. tartare ($12.95) caught our eye among the Fusion Specials section and we ordered it for an appetizer. We weren't disappointed. Chopped tuna, white tuna and albacore were molded with tomato and avocado, then sent forth with a luscious sauce over it all.

Then we dug into our main dishes, starting with two sushi rolls, the Hot Night Roll ($11.95) and Yokozuna Special Roll The Hot Night Roll, chosen for its name and just beating out the I Hate You. Roll, featured shrimp tempura and cucumber inside and spicy tuna on top. It packed quite The specialty rolls at Yokozuna have some inventive names. This one is called the I Hate You Roll. PHOTOS BY ROB STAR Chef Arturo Cruz makes a Santa Paula Roll at Yokozuna in Santa Paula.

a kick. The Yokozuna, also offered at the Oxnard site, wasn't listed on the menu but was recommended by our waiter. It brought together a combination of assorted sushi fish all wrapped and finished with YOKOZUNA RESTAURANT Location: 250-D W. Harvard Santa Paula. 229-7395.

(Also at 2075 N. Oxnard Oxnard; 981-8100.) Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays; and 11:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays. Impressions: Serene atmosphere in busy 2 FOR LUNCH Starters: Spicy edamame ($4.75) tuna tartare ($14.95) Unagi avocado bowl ($15.95) lunch combo bento box with mixed tempura and bulgogi ($8.95) lunch excellent representations of their genres. The bento boxes come with green salad, rice and soup. The unagi and avocado bowl was overflowing with both ingredients enhanced by a sweet and tangy sauce.

We enjoyed our array of dishes and as much as we like sushi rolls we'd just as likely be tempted by the bento boxes next time we visit. Yokozuna also offers noodle dishes, other combo bowls, katsu, and appetizers JAPANESE SUSHI BAR little shopping center; very good service; good variety of Japanese and some other Asian dishes. What's hot: Tuna tartare; unagi avocado bowl; lunch combo bento box with mixed tempura and bulgogi; lunch combo bento a.m. box with beef teriyaki and stir-fried vegetables and shrimp, Yokozuna Special Roll; Hot Night Roll. combo bento box with beef teriyaki and stir-fried vegetables and shrimp ($9.95) Yokozuna Special roll ($13.95) Hot Night Roll ($11.95) Tab for 2: Rita Moran visits restaurants unannounced and pays for her food.

If you know of a new, unusual or just plain good restaurant, contact her at rita.j.moran@gmail.com. like black cod collar, a STAR sashimi cocktail and salmon asparagus. Salads look THE temptingly creative, with a A rainbow salad and ahi poke and The aji tako fusion versions. specials in- 2014 clude creamy onion salm- 21, on with caviar, Ceviche on and Yokozuna, Tostada El Geisha Pescador. House November enticing ingredients.

The rolls were fun, but the bento boxes had their own special charm. They were very reasonably priced and handsomely presented. One box brought to the table for $8.95 our choices of mixed tempura, crusty and tasty, and bulgogi, the Korean beef dish with comfort-food flavor; the other, at $9.95, combined beef teriyaki and shrimp and veggie tempura, both.