GEN SUSHI: A WELCOME ADDITION TO GRESHAM

Opening a sushi restaurant in November of 2020 wasn’t what Wen and his wife, Wendy, had planned. The fact of the matter is, they had blueprints ready for Gen Sushi’s Gresham location back in November 2019. But by the time they had all the necessary permits ready, February had rolled around and with it, the most devastating pandemic the world has seen in a century.

Finding a contractor to do the work took months and cost far more than was originally anticipated. Thankfully, the landlord of the lot nestled between Chipotle and AT&T – formerly home to Swine Dining BBQ & Brew – in the Oregon Trail Shopping Center on East Burnside in downtown Gresham was compassionate to the couple’s situation.

Thankfully, because it is now going to be my go-to sushi place in Gresham.

My wife and I drove out to Gen Sushi late on Tuesday night, ready for a minor adventure with a new restaurant. Wen greeted us with a smile and a wave while preparing a take-out order for another customer, while Wendy showed us how to place our to-go order.

The restaurant is set up with a belt track, as are many sushi restaurants, but because of the pandemic it sits wistfully idle, promising someday to carry multi-colored plates of delectable morsels of rice, veggies and fish. For now the establishment has numerous black trays upon which you place your completed to-go order form, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Despite the challenges they’ve faced, Wen and Wendy’s eyes sparkled with the genuine smiles that were otherwise obscured by their masks. Gloved hands deftly prepared our food as we watched and waited, conversing pleasantly with our “loquacious” host, as he himself put it.

These are just really genuine, good people.

Their food is none-too-shabby, either.

I’m not going to lie and say this is the best sushi I’ve had in my life but it was, for the most part, excellent. Certain menu items definitely stood above the others, but all of it was good.

The miso soup, for example, is made in-house. It has a rich, dashi base and large delicious chunks of seaweed. We only got the one bowl, which my wife and I were sad to see the bottom of. Next time we’ll order two.

Other favorites included the seared salmon and Gen Roll, which is something of a signature dish for Gen Sushi. The salmon was seared with a torch as we watched and had a bold, complicated smokiness to it that makes my mouth water even as I write about it.

Wendy sears salmon with a torch as Wen rolls up the tasty sushi.

The Gen Roll itself had seared shrimp on top, and was stuffed with tempura shrimp and avocado, with a drizzling of Japanese barbecue sauce on top. It was simply delightful.

We also had an order of the tempura veggies, which came with a dashi-based dipping sauce seasoned to perfection. The veggies were firm and the coating crunchy, just as good tempura should be.

Because I knew I was going to be writing a review, we also ordered some items off the hot menu, including yakisoba with beef, and shrimp hibachi. Both were very reasonably priced with generous portions.

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The shrimp hibachi was good, with a bit of a twang to the shrimp itself. Again, vegetables were cooked through while still retaining firmness, as were the veggies that came with the yakisoba.

What impressed me most about the yakisoba, though, was how well seasoned it was. Oftentimes when I order this dish, the noodles taste like salt and soy sauce, and not much else. Gen Sushi’s soba was tender and flavorful, and will likely be my go-to any time I’m craving noodles in the near future.

Unfortunately, a couple of the items were a little less than amazing. While still quite edible, we found the unagi (eel and rice) to be slightly underwhelming on flavor. The texture was fair, but it seemed to my palate that the eel had been frozen.

Given that Gen Sushi only recently opened, however, and that their patronage as a result has been modest, it is understandable that some of their product must be kept frozen to preserve freshness. We’d definitely be willing to give the unagi another shot sometime soon.

The location of the place right along Burnside makes it quite convenient, and there’s plenty of parking outside. I frequently shop at the WinCo Foods market just around the corner, which is going to make it very difficult to resist going to Gen Sushi more than my wallet might like.

All said, Gen Sushi rates as a very good, above-the-middle-grade sushi restaurant with very reasonable prices on its kindly portioned dishes. I would say it is to sushi what Five Guys or Killer Burger is to hamburgers: a cut above the average, but not so much so that it warrants saving only for special occasions.

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Check out Gen Sushi’s website at https://www.gensushipdx.com/