For a long time, there were very few choices for dining on the East Cape. Now between La Laguna and Vinorama, there are several including Buzzard Bar and Grill in La Laguna, Zac’s Bar and Grill in Zacatitos, Zai Sushi Surf Bar in La Fortuna, The White Lodge in 9 Palms and The Crossroads at Vida Soul in Vinorama. Jason Manning, the owner of Zai Sushi Surf Bar is a Japanese-trained sushi chef. The restaurant receives fresh fish on a daily basis and as a result, the food is excellent. Jason has also been creative with the entrées that are available providing a wide range of sushi, rolls, hand rolls, and specialty rolls on the menu. There is even a teriyaki chicken dish or vegetable tempura for those who are not fans of sushi.
The restaurant has a main outdoor covered dining area on the deck overlooking the surf break at La Fortuna. There is also a small indoor dining area adjacent to the kitchen. The walls are decorated with appropriate murals. With the pandemic, Zai Sushi also recently expanded its outdoor dining to a second deck at the front of the restaurant with new restrooms to allow for more seating. As Zai is very popular with the local East Cape residents, these extra tables were badly needed.
I recently went for dinner to Zai with a close friend from Shipwreck’s, Ethan Heifetz. He is a regular and was known to all of the wait staff. To start our meal, we order drinks. I had a glass of chardonnay and Ethan had a Pacifico. He already knew what he wanted from the menu. We started with an order of Yellowtail sashimi and an order of gyoza. Ethan wanted extra wasabi to spice the sashimi up a little. The sashimi order came with eight good-sized pieces of yellow tail. The gyoza provides us with six dumplings. Next, Ethan ordered Zacatela a special roll with fresh fish, cucumber, avocado and topped with shrimp tartar and a pepper. I ordered a spicy tuna roll. Inside the roll are cucumber, crab, avocado, and scallions. We shared a little with each other. The service was impeccable. The food was fresh and great. This is definitely a place to stop on any drive down the East Cape.
The restaurant is open from 12:30 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday through Sunday. For more information on Zai Sushi Surf Bar visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/zaisushi/
