Onesan Serves Uptown Sushi Without Uptown Prices

My car has a mind of its own. When I crave a certain food, my car heads toward it. Every time I want to eat sushi, for example, my car instinctively heads south to one of the many upscale sushi restaurants in uptown and downtown. It’s never taken me north of Mockingbird for sushi.

That must be why more than two years after it opened, I only recently learned about Onesan Sushi and Dim Sum. Located in a triangular tract of land wedged between Inwood Road and the Dallas North Tollway across from Jesuit Dallas, Onesan, pronounced (Ohna-sahn), is uptown sushi without the uptown prices.

Sushi Chef Jimmy Duke is a veteran of two notable restaurants: Nobu and Imoto, Kent Rathbun’s now-closed Asian fusion restaurant. Chef Jimmy’s experience procuring the best raw ingredients and working with them to create edible works of art has brought exceptional sushi, sashimi, and nigiri to a part of north Dallas otherwise unremarkable for its dining options.

Onesan receives shipments from Japan’s Toyoso Market three times a week including Fuji salmon, uni, scallops, snow salmon, and bluefin. Only hours after it arrives, the fish are delicately sliced into tender strips of sashimi and sushi and served to guests. The selections are seasonal, so menu items shift seasonally.

Of the eight types of sushi and sashimi I tasted on a recent visit, the Live Scallop Tiradito, thin slices of sashimi scallop with even thinner slices of cucumber, chili, lava salt and yuzu, was the showstopper for me. Served in an illuminated bowl of ice artfully arranged in a giant scallop dish, this hit all the notes, the buttery scallops popped with a touch of acid, sweetness, and heat.

Each dish is prepared by a team of sushi chefs Jimmy has recruited from his previous gigs and has continued to develop professionally. They work together in a calm, rhythmic way that is entertaining to watch.

Every other month, Onesan hosts an Omakase dinner with Chef Jimmy joined by Chef Richie Feng and the team to feed and entertain groups of four diners each for an 18-course culinary adventure. Seatings are at 5:30 and 7:30 and provide an intimate, interactive dining experience.  Some folks aren’t all that crazy about one dish or another, and that’s OK. For example, I’m not a huge fan of uni so Jimmy will replace uni with another serving of something I do like, such as the mango salmon sashimi. The bext Omakase dinner is scheduled for April 30.

Onesan also serves Dim Sum, a delicious array of Pan-Asian flavors prepared by team led by Chef Ray Skradzinski, who learned the nuances of the cuisine while he worked at Five Sixty, the Wolfgang Puck Asian concept in Reunion Tower. Chef Ray is the chef of Onesan’s next door neighbor and sister restaurant, Republic Texas Tavern, as well.

The sesame miso mushrooms and tempura green beans are great ways to sneak in some veggies. The dumplings are outstanding and come in several flavors, including menu standards pork and beef. I recommend Kim Chi Chicken dumplings that have only a touch of that funky fermented flavor and are craveable.

We enjoyed a total of 15 courses and there wasn’t a disappointing one in the bunch. Every piece of fish was fresh and tender, the sushi rolls were creative and flavorful, the dim sum was fantastic – all of that, yet the two items that surprised me the most were things to which many sushi eaters probably don’t give much thought: pickled ginger and wasabi.

Chef Jimmy pickles his own ginger which is a time-consuming effort that pays dining dividends. He starts with young, fresh ginger which he boils, peels, and then places in a mixture where it ferments for two months. Unlike the thinly sliced pink pickled ginger found at many sushi restaurants, Onesan’s ginger is white and served in small chunks that look like water chestnuts. It’s crunchy, zippy, and the perfect palate cleanser.

And what makes the wasabi special? Instead of serving a paste of dyed green horseradish mixed with powdered mustard as many sushi restaurants do, Onesan serves freshly grated wasabi. Wasabi root is difficult to grow and is very expensive, costing around $180 per pound which only yields about one-half to a full cup of wasabi. Onesan’s chefs rub the cylindrical stalk in a circular motion on a traditional Japanese sharkskin grating tool to create the powerful pile of flavor.

The fresh ginger and wasabi costs $10, well worth it. As special as it is, too, I suggest you not plop it into your soy sauce dish and swirl it around with your chopstick.

Though it doesn’t have a massive street visibility, Onesan has a nice presence. The interior is elegant, softly washed in blue lighting that accommodates close to 100 seats. It’s sophisticated but not intimidating, as some upscale sushi restaurants can be. The large, covered patio is shaded by a giant oak and has cozy tables and chairs for a more casual feel. We dined on the patio last week and it was lovely and buzzing with happy guests from both Onesan and Republic.

After 15 courses of food and four drinks, our bill came to $318.00 Full disclosure, I received a media comp for this visit, so I only paid our server a generous tip for her excellent service, knowledgeable recommendations, and warm hospitality. Normally, two of us would not order as much food but we wanted to try as many dishes as possible. On a return visit, we enjoyed three courses and a cocktail each and it was under $100.

I don’t usually mention exact pricing when I write about restaurants, but I started this story by saying Onesan has Uptown Dallas sushi without the uptown prices, and it’s true. Driving north of Mockingbird for excellent dim sum and sushi was a far better experience for us than driving south. Onesan has plenty of surface-level parking, it’s a 10-minute drive from Highland Park Village, it’s excellent cuisine without pretension or price gouging.

Onesan Sushi & Dim Sum 12300 Inwood Rd., Ste. 180 Dallas, 75244. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.