John P. Zamora, executive chef at Crudo, with Green Hornet Roll and Crudo Special Roll. (photo/alandeckerphoto.com)

Fusion is fashionable these days and that means Crudo (Spanish for “raw”), a combination restaurant/nightclub that serves contemporary Asian fare, sushi and specialty cocktails is as fashionable as it gets. It is the joint effort of restaurateur Joe Busalacchi (Busalacchi’s, Cafe Zucchero, Po Pazzo, Trattoria Fantastica) and nightclub king Michael Viscuso (On Broadway, Deco’s, Belo, Red Circle Cafe). The scene is clubby-casual; a semi-circular sushi bar divides the dining room from the dance floor (otherwise I would have been getting on the good foot while eating my California roll) and highly polished concrete floors meet high industrial funky ceilings. Because I’ve seen quite enough of Tom Cruise lately, I could have done without the silent screening of “The Last Samurai,” which was projected onto a grass mat suspended from the ceiling and played throughout the duration of my meal.

Executive chef Johnny Zamora, who spent several years working with Amiko Gubbins during her tenure at Café Japengo (otherwise known as its heyday), runs the kitchen and is responsible for the sushi menu as well as the hot side.

The list of offerings at Crudo runs long, so much so that one wonders how the chef can run a cost-effective kitchen with so much to choose from on the menu. The “Lobster Miso Soup” ($7), “Chilled Cucumber Broth” ($8), “Seaweed Salad” ($8) and the “Octopus Salad” ($10) are all worth ordering as a starter.

Good for sharing as a middle course or as a light meal are the “Donburi Bowls.” A donburi is a ceramic bowl about the size of two cupped hands. A donburi-mono is traditionally a simple, inexpensive meal offered over noodles or rice. The “Shrimp Tempura with Udon” ($12) came piping hot. Four large tempura shrimp were resting on a bed of thick rice noodles, surrounded by a slightly sweet and earthy-tasting broth with shiitake mushrooms. I really enjoyed it and made a note to myself to come back in October or November and have this dish again when it’s not so sweltering hot out.

The appetizer department has several hits: The “Crispy Chicken and Vegetable Rolls” ($9) are dramatically presented on a slab of hand-thrown clay pottery. They are housemade, the size of a cigar and are served sticking out of a masu (the wooden box-shaped cup traditionally used for drinking sake) with tea leaves added for color, along with a red chile-lime sauce for dipping. The chef used to serve a sweet and sour sauce with the spring rolls, which I would have preferred since that is what I’m used to seeing with spring rolls, but, I have to admit this sauce was nice, too.

The flavor of the “Black Sesame Tempura Shrimp” ($11) was delicious, and although I was expecting the larger tail-on shrimp they used on the donburi bowl, the popcorn shrimp worked fine. The menu stated that the shrimp was served with a spicy mirin and sesame aioli, but it was actually “tossed” in it, not served on the side, and I was jonesin’ big time for a full-on dip.

I loved both of our “Special Rolls.” The “Green Hornet” ($14) is filled with lobster, avocado and chilled asparagus and served “inside-out” with a crust of crushed wasabi peas (clever), eel sauce and wasabi cream. The “Crudo Special” ($15) is wrapped in white soy paper and filled with spicy scallop, tempura shrimp, asparagus and avocado. It is crusted in arare, (puffed seasoned rice crackers) which adds a great texture, and is on the receiving end of a “squiggle” of eel sauce and spicy mayo.

Entrees are generously portioned so ordering and sharing a few for the table is a fun way to taste many of Zamora’s creative offerings. A crispy “Filo Crusted Whitefish” ($22) comes over a bed of pad-Thai rice noodles with a ginger-soy tomato sauce. The fish was perfectly cooked: golden brown and salty on the outside and moist and sweet on the inside. The sauce was a nice accent with a finish of pearl tomatoes adding color and freshness to the dish.

Zamora does a killer “Seven Ingredient Fried Rice” ($14). Remember he worked at Japengo, which is famous for its “Ten Ingredient Fried Rice,” (Hmm, I wonder what ingredients he omitted). Anyway, it wasn’t a bit greasy-tasting — the downfall of so many fried rice dishes. On the contrary, it tasted very fresh.

Service was friendly but can be a bit scarce.

Crudo has a large specialty drink list, which offers some really fun twists on the martini using sake and juices instead of vodka or gin. The results — be careful — are some very easy to slurp drinks that taste like Kool-Aid to a kid on a hot summer day.

A word of warning, be sure and powder your nose prior to an evening at Crudo. All night long pictures are taken of the crowd and shown on large flat-screen televisions the following week.

Say “adamame-eeeeee.”

— Terryl Gavre