Salivating for bargain sashimi in South Denver? Japon Restaurant is home to some of Denver’s finest filets, and their rolls are right on. The New Orleans Roll ($7.80) is a spicy tuna roll like you’ve never seen it. Avocado, pickled ginger, thin sliced lemon, Japanese Mayo and smelt roe all come together, sour and spicy spun sideways in one singularly salivating sample. Top it with seared tuna and a drizzling of ponzu sauce and garlic butter for another six bucks. Japon is also pushing the frontier of sushi ingredients. Where else can you find apple, asparagus, cucumber, avocado, burdock root and five kinds of fish in one tempura flash fried roll? Only in the Las Vegas roll ($10.50).

Japon is doing great things with sashimi as well. Their Albacore Tuna special ($12) comes with six pieces of succulent tuna in three different sauces. The presentation is flawless, and the flavors are even better. Ponzu sauce, more delicate than soy, coats two slices of sashimi. Another two are in sweet miso and black pepper citrus, and the last two are swathed in rich garlic butter, soy and olive oil. Of course they’ve also got Maguro, Hamachi, Tako, Unagi and even Maguro Bincho (white tuna).


For dessert, I tried the Hinamatsuri ($7), which I had never even heard of before. This technicolor delicacy is composed of four layers of fruit mousse (lemon, raspberry, blueberry and mango, I believe) on top of a thin layer of pound cake. They also have mochi ice cream, green tea cheesecake and tempura ice cream. Drop in for happy hour (Monday through Thursday, four to six) and get $3 sake or Kirin on tap and $3 appetizers. Japon is fresh, flavorful and very competitively priced, so come give your neighborhood sushi joint a try.