The sushi served at Saso's is inspired

By STEVE BARNES
Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor

ALBANY - Wasabi burns like magnesium, intense and instantaneous.

Take a piece of sushi - let's make it a wedge of toro, the filet mignon of raw tuna, resting atop its rectangle of rice - dunk it in the little plate where soy sauce and wasabi have been mixed, and pop the whole thing in your mouth.

Uh-oh: Too much wasabi. Such an innocent, calming green color, that Japanese mustard is. Who knew it would have a brain-melting kick? Be careful with wasabi: A little dab'll do you in.

Here it comes: Fooommm. Mouth irradiated, up the nose in milliseconds, eustachian tubes tingling as furious heat races up to the ears.

And then it's gone, Unlike spicy-hot stuff of the pepper-and-curry types, wasabi doesn't last; you don't need milk to put out the fire.

Wasabi is a perfect complement to sushi, as are the shaved ribbons of ginger that come with it, and there's no better place locally to feast the eyes and the palate on sushi than at Saso's Noodle House, on Central Avenue in Albany.

The restaurant inspires loyalty; I know people who worst eat sushi anywhere else in the Capital Region And it isn't only the sushi that brings in repeat business: A former colleague, a vegetarian, was so taken with the big bowls of noodles or rice with veggies and tofu that he pestily proclaimed Saso's to be his favorite restaurant.

The noodle and rice offerings - Saso's menu has more than two dozen varieties and/or combinations - are wonderfully rewarding, especially the spicy yakisoba (a vast portion of thin egg noodles with seaweed, ginger and a sauce that makes me smile just to think about, priced, like all the others, at a wallet-easy cost of about $9). There are a comparable number of appetizers with beef, chicken, vegetables and fish, in a range of preparations ($4.50-$7.95) - as well as a half-dozen cooked dinner specials featuring beef, pork, chicken and fish ($12.50-$15.50).

But sushi is what Saso's is all about. It's the perfect place to introduce someone to sushi, and I should know: It's where I learned. Having heard horror stories, I was loath to investigate sushi. I figured sushi was like Bob Dylan: something adored by people whose taste I respect but also something that, as a result of genetic programming, would forever mystify me and slightly upset my stomach.

It turns out, though, that sushi is more like wine. All you need is one knowledgeable friend to point you in the right direction, help define the terms and make the initial suggestions. After that you'll be happy and comfortable enough to do your own exploring.

Saso's allows for a couple of approaches: 10 different complete sushi (fish with seasoned rice) and sashimi (slices of raw fish, rice on the side) dinners ($13.95-$18.50), and a participatory a la carte menu in which patrons mark with a pencil their choices from among nearly 60 individual possibilities.

Although I've come to expect adept but exceedingly slow and somewhat uninformative service as Saso's, that wasn't the case on the last visit. The waitress - speedy, smart and friendly - spoke assuredly about the food, with nary a hint of condescension or pedantry, as we examined the menu.

After greedily plowing through a seaweed salad appetizer ($4.95), with its oceanically satisfying flavors, we tried both tactics for our main courses. Always content to let the chef assemble for me whatever; he chooses, I picked the Shashimi Deluxe Dinner ($18.95), which vaguely promises a "variety of select sashimi."

My dining companion, Matt, a more discerning and astute and meticulous sushi eater, created his own platter, which included the melt-in-your-mouth toro (a special of the day, two pieces for $5), kiyo (a roll featuring red and white tuna, rice and a crunchy green roe, $6.50), yellowtail and, the only disappointing element, an eel roll ($5.25). Eel is one of Matt's favorites, and he's tried it a few times at Saso's; there's never anything wrong with it, but it lacks the compelling taste, he reports, that he expects of eel.

There wasn't any such dismay on my dinner, which arrived so stunningly presented that the first impulse was not to eat but to photograph. Chunks of red tuna, lighter salmon, silver-skinned mackerel and ribbed semi-circles of octopus nestle atop a glass plate, with folds of ginger at the top, that wowing wasabi off to the side and springy decorative curls of radish.

The odd and intriguing part about sushi is that the experience is solely oral. There's no smell component to it - and so all the information about it comes from the mouth and tongue. Sensuous fish meets rice, salty soy soaks in and oomph comes from that disingenuous green paste: Who could ask for anything more?

Dinner for two - which also included one Yebisu beer ($4.75) and two sakes ($3.75 apiece) - came to $75 with tax and tip.