Eye-popping cuisine

I first visited GINGER ASIAN BISTRO soon after it opened, tagging along with two friends who know their way around a sushi bar. I started off easy, with calamari and a 007 roll (spicy tuna, cucumber, fish roe), but then I came face to face — literally — with the sweet shrimp sushi ($6): large, meaty tail-on shrimp, on mounds of rice, and a glass filled with deep-fried shrimp heads. All eyes at the table were on me, including those of the shrimp. I grabbed one of the heads, wrangled the wayward antennae and bit down. It was surprisingly delicate, lightly crispy and tasted like… shrimp. Popcorn shrimp. With eyeballs. (Those were light and crispy, too.)

But don’t be misled about Ginger, located in the star-crossed space across Grand from the Cathedral of St. John. Most items don’t require a dare to eat — and even then, it’s only the first time. The menu offers more than 30 different sushi rolls, from basic to exotic ($3-$14) — and if you don’t see what you want, the sushi chef will be glad to create something special. A long list of seafood varieties is available as sushi or sashimi, including yellowtail, toro, mackerel and white fish. I sampled the surprising mirugai — the large Northwest bivalve also known as the geoduck — and it tasted like clean, cold ocean.

Co-owner Jing Ou Sun came to Spokane a little more than a year ago from Los Angeles, where she operated a combination Chinese/sushi café. She partnered with Bin Liu, of Ding How in Liberty Lake, to bring that blend of traditional Chinese-style dishes and sushi to Spokane.

Chinese-style entrées range from moo goo gai pan ($13) and the seafood hot pot ($16) to spicy Szechwan combos ($12-$16) and the Mongolian beef tenderloin ($12). The calamari appetizer ($8) — tempura-fried strips — is served with a tangy and unusual ginger-lime dipping sauce, and the vibrantly hued seaweed salad ($4) is a fresh execution of the sushi-house favorite.

Japanese-style bento box meals are also available both at lunch ($10-$11) and dinner ($14-$19), and several Chinese dishes are offered as lunch specials. In addition to tea, beverages include a good selection of wine, beer and sake — including the refreshing yogurt sake, a drink I’ll be keeping an eye on come summer.

— ANN M. COLFORD

Ginger Asian Bistro, 1228 S. Grand Blvd., is open Tue-Thu 11 am-9 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-10 pm, Sun 11 am-9 pm. Reservations recommended on weekends. Call 315-5201.