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(401) 276-7574 1084 Hope St., Providence Open Mon, 5-9:30 p.m.; Tues-Thurs, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m. (Fri until 10 p.m.); Sat., 5-10 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m. Major credit cards Sidewalk access
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Every once in a while, I come across an East Side denizen who touts Ran Zan as their favorite Japanese restaurant. So I figured I’d check it out again. Loved it the last time, a couple of years ago, and the fond memory has lingered. So the déjà vu was pretty strong, with the menu simple decor pretty much the same. Clean, white oak ambience, ink-brush drawings, and woodblock prints here and there. At the six-stool counter, you can watch them deftly slice and finely julienne, wielding knives like you and I do ballpoint pens. A pile of shoes near the restrooms is the only hint of the small room at the back, where guests may dine traditionally, cross-legged at a low table. It was a sunny afternoon, so we sat in the front room and chatted with friends at the next table, getting the tuna sashimi recommended as fresh and especially tasty. The menu has stayed pretty much the same since Ran Zan opened three years ago. The chawan mushi — steamed egg custard with seafood and veggies — was gone before the place was a year old, but customers have apparently taken to the other items. The 20 appetizers include tastes not available on most Japanese restaurant menus: Dried bonito shaved onto boiled spinach; grilled smelts and broiled pike; deep-fried soft-shell crab; a tuna and Japanese yam combination. I stress the appetizers because many people regard Japanese restaurants as East Asian tapas bars, never straying from the starters and sushi into the main courses. Indeed, one could explore the sushi/sashimi insert menu at Ran Zan for many a merry visit without being distracted by any of the larger plates floating by. There are 17 sushi choices ($2.50 to $4.50), from the yellow tail, eel, and sea urchin usual suspects to the roe of something called a " fling. " (I don’t want to know what it looks like — I’d prefer to just imagine something from Nagano highland lakes that likes to hurl itself out on the water to Japanese bagpipe music.) But it is the maki, the six- or eight-piece rolls ($2.50 and up), that I like to order for an often-interesting combination of ingredients. Umeshiso: puckery plum paste, cooling cucumber, and ohba (beefsteak plant). Something called a rainbow maki contains three colors of fish. (I came back the next week, curious about the futo maki: pickled radish, pickled burdock — usually considered a weed — for sweet contrast, cucumber and omelet. Unannounced on the menu description is baby carrot and Surimi.) We couldn’t not have the dragon maki ($7). You are bound to see it on more than one Ran Zan table, since diners are always spotting it, finding it adorable, and getting their very own. It has tiny cucumber slivers for a tail, thin avocado slices for its back, carrot sticks for ears, and three octopus suckers for eyes and nose. Inside is eel, presumably the creature’s last meal. We also ordered a tempura roll ($5). The batter-fried shrimp is topped with a spicy sauce and offers a bit of a crunch contrast — nice. For a main dish, I ordered the seafood teriyaki ($14.50). I’d had the chicken version there before and liked the sauce. This offered much more: a small but delicious slab of grilled salmon, seared scallops and shrimp, broccoli and thick, tender pieces of carrot. The miso soup I’d ordered instead of salad was the white variety, with plenty of tofu and seaweed. I’m glad Johnnie ordered something as delish: nabeyaki udon ($11). Not because I’m such a caring hubby, but because we ended up having to trade dishes. The bowl of fat noodles and seafood contained a prominent piece of Surimi, the tasteless ersatz shellfish made from crab-soaked pollock. It’s not that she’s fussy, just allergic to crab. We toyed with the idea of letting her head puff into a giant strawberry for the amusement of the children in the room, but decided against it. A big bowl of udon noodles in hot broth is good training in impulse control, since it retains its heat for so long. The bowl was loaded with goodies, from shredded seaweed and two eggs on top, to plenty of bok choi on the bottom, plus two tempura shrimp, chicken, scallops, and that imitation crab. Provided in a little shaker on the side was a spicy gomashio, consisting of sea salt, ground sesame, black sesame, and chili powder. It wasn’t just having the large carafe of sake ($2.95/$5.50) that provided a warm glow. I didn’t even need a scoop of Ran Zan’s ginger or green tea ice cream to cap the experience. Sometimes you can just lift a steaming bowl of udon soup to go kampai across the table. Bill Rodriguez can be reached at billrod @reporters.net
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