Ichigo Modern offers several things usually not found in Clayton restaurants, but the first to meet the eye is the huge amount of free parking to the east side of the building. Located in the postwar- modern Washington University building erected to house Famous-Barr as the first department store branch to leave downtown, its main entrance faces the parking area. A smaller one faces Forsyth. (What does it say about St. Louis that people fuss so much over parking, anyway?)
There’s a lunch buffet, something many Asian restaurants seem to consider vital to their prosperity, and it includes sushi, but we went for dinner, when things are much quieter. The space seems more suited for night, anyway, with a high ceiling and darkish walls providing a nicely dramatic setting for a charming meal. A few soft spots, to be sure, but mostly imaginative and tasty, with an elegant presentation.
Parts of its website still refer to the former occupant, Sekisui Pacific Rim, but the focus now is on a wider appeal. Yes, sushi and tempura, but with the addition of quite a few new rolls and what can only be described as Japanese fusion cooking. In terms of sushi, besides our favorites of yellowtail, tuna and salmon roe, we were taken by the Toro Dynamite, a roll with two colors of glistening roe, looking like tiny glass beads sparkling atop the rice.
Dinner includes miso soup, a salad and rice; we substituted the mushroom broth, and received a tasty, beefy broth with several kinds of mushrooms and some green onions floating on top, far more interesting than the rather ordinary miso. The house salad also is unremarkable, with listless iceberg lettuce and a sweet ginger dressing. On the other hand, the tongue-tingling Luau salad was delicious. The name probably salutes the fact that it contained poke, the Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish dressed with salt, soy and sesame that’s close to a tuna tartare. The fish, accompanied by iceberg lettuce, a little tomato and some radish sprouts were topped with a spicy soy dressing that really stood out. A dab of aioli was nice but mostly unnecessary. A similar, slightly less piquant dressing came atop tiger beef, described as “seared raw beef” with lettuce, cucumber, onion and cilantro. The combination was excellent, although the beef was far from raw. No pink to the rather tough, thin slices.
An appetizer of golden mussels brought five large New Zealand green lips (unfortunately not completely detached from their shells) that had been topped with more of the aioli mixed with some golden tobiko roe, the whole flash-baked. A superior combination, although messy to eat.
An off-menu item at many Japanese restaurants is grilled fish jaw, usually from salmon, mackerel or yellowtail. The flesh is tender and succulent, slightly difficult to remove from the bone, and it’s the same sort of delicacy as beef or veal cheeks. We asked what was available, and were told salmon. Salmon arrived, however, as small fins–or wings– that offered the same pleasure. As a pre-teen boy, sent to the delicatessen for lox and bagels on a Sunday morning, I always hoped, and sometimes planned, based on the length of the line, to have the deli-man slicing my order as he reached the wings, which he would cut off and add to the package. If “lagniappe” had been translated from New Orleans to Brooklyn, that’s what it was. The Ichigo version was perfectly cooked and very rich, with a garlicky soy sauce alongside for dipping.
Speaking of salmon, the “salmon pagoda” offered slices of grilled fish glazed with miso, then piled in a stack that began with rice, continued with seasoned spinach, and layered the salmon with thin crescents of kabocha squash. The lightly sweet squash was a fine contrast to the savory miso-dressed fish. More of the squash appeared, along with asparagus, onion, and broccoli, in the shrimp-and-vegetable tempura, the light and crunchy batter near-perfect.
A nightly special of grilled mackerel couldn’t be ignored. A fillet had been brushed with soy and properly grilled, arriving alongside a ponzu soy sauce for a little piquancy. Sea bass,also brushed with miso, was served with black beans, a little asparagus and a few slices of avocado, the fish moist and tender. And the red snapper Ichigo had been marinated in a soy-apple mixture, and came with some corn and sweet potato fries. Interesting, rewarding flavors.
Servers were pleasant and patient, especially dealing with folks like us who had trouble deciding what to choose from the large menu. Green tea kept coming on a cold night, and we left smiling.
Ichigo Modern Japanese
7443 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton
314-726-0033
Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $8-$19
