To the Tune of Tuna

Sushi restaurants are often associated with the chef’s signature creations—simple ingredients rolled into works of art. Consider the “Fire on the Mountain” roll at Akiyama Sushi Bar and Grill.

Akiyama’s chef, Xian (Mike) Yanshen, has created a menu that includes his signature Fire on the Mountain roll (below) and other tantalizing treats.

It starts with a sheet of soy paper, a foundation considered more modern than the usual seaweed sheet. The sheet is covered with sushi rice, and slices of tuna, salmon and white fish and toothpick-thin slivers of cucumber are laid lengthwise down the center before being rolled into a cylinder on a bamboo rolling mat. The cylinder is then shaped into a triangle and sliced into bite-size sections. Finally, the plate is swirled with secret sauces and each “peak” is topped with a dollop of bright red roe to evoking the fire on the mountain—an original, dramatic presentation.

Akiyama, which means “autumn mountain” in Japanese, opened in February 2006 and is already making a name for itself with artistic creations such as this. Co-owners Judy and Todd Harris, together with Judy’s brother, Xian (Mike) Yanshen, have taken the traditional Japanese specialty and combined it with 21st-century style in a Colorado setting.

Music: The Food of Love

The 2,500-square-foot restaurant, located in the Gunbarrel Square shopping center where Quizno’s Subs used to be, has been a dream of Judy and Mike’s for several years. Originally from Changchun, in the Jilin province of northeastern China, Judy was introduced to Japanese food in her hometown, which had many Japanese people. She says she has always loved Japanese food and cooks it at least once or twice a week at home.

Judy Harris, co-owner of Gunbarrel’s Akiyama Sushi Bar
& Grill, came to love Japanese food in her hometown in
northeastern China.

Judy came to the United States in 1990 to attend graduate school, studying voice (she’s a soprano) at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. There she met Todd, a classical guitarist, who had received his undergraduate degree in music from CU-Boulder. They married and had their first child in New York, but Todd told Judy they “had to come to Colorado,” which he felt would be the perfect place to raise their family. On the Fourth of July 2000, they came for a visit. Judy loved it, and two months later they packed up and moved out. After acclimating to Colorado and becoming a mother once again, Judy started looking for a restaurant space; the couple had decided that pursuing careers in music would require too much travel for their young family.

When the sandwich-shop location became available, Judy grabbed it. Being a decisive woman, she completed the renovations in only six months, but the transformation is remarkable. Oversize windows let in lots of light to illuminate shiny rosewood tables set with polished glasses and white linen napkins. A long row of chairs at the black-granite sushi bar allows diners to watch three knife-wielding chefs create exotic sushi dishes. And when the weather allows, the front patio is open, offering stunning views of the Front Range.

It was only two weeks before the restaurant opened that Yan-shen, who had emigrated from China in 1998 and moved to New York, relocated to Boulder. Using his nine years’ experience as a chef at several prominent Japanese restaurants, including Momotaro Japanese Cuisine in New Jersey and Yama in New York City, he created a menu that includes signature sauces to enhance his sushi, sashimi and grilled meats.

Families and Neighborhoods

One of the reasons the Harrises chose Gunbarrel as the place for their restaurant was that they wanted to build a relationship with the surrounding community and their customers. Knowing that, they developed a menu with both specials and familiar favorites. A menu staple Judy recommends is their “Boulder” roll, made of spicy tuna, eel and avocado with red and green tobiko, which are the flying-fish eggs used on California rolls. Another popular favorite is the shrimp tempura, which Yanshen makes with a secret recipe that creates a crisp, tasty crust. It is served in a fanciful black-handled basket with a dipping sauce, accompanied by delicately carved carrots that resemble orange pansies.

Since the restaurant is all-in-the-family, it was a natural to make it child-friendly, too, with several items Judy says kids love. These include chicken yakitori served with Yanshen’s special sauce, and “Yellow Summer Rain,” which is a sushi roll with cucumbers and eel. Another treat for the little ones is a Japanese soda called Ramuné. It’s comparable to Sprite or 7-Up in flavor, but when the bottle is opened, a small plastic ball drops down into the soda to bob and roll around in the bubbles.

Because Todd and Judy are both musicians, they decided to bring in live jazz to round out the restaurant. The choice of jazz was “a natural,” Todd says, citing the fact that Japanese people buy more American jazz recordings than Americans do, and that jazz and sushi complement each other nicely.

From innovative presentations to time-honored traditions and an appreciation of the Colorado lifestyle, the Harrises and Yanshen have rolled all these talents and traits together, thus adding an elegant element to the Boulder County sushi scene.”

| Akiyama Sushi Bar & Grill, located at 6525 Gunpark Drive, Gunbarrel, is open for lunch Mon-Fri 11am–2 pm and Sat noon-3pm. Dinner Mon-Thurs 4:30-9pm, Fri-Sat 4:30-10 pm. Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4:30-6:00pm. 303-530-0499; www.akiyamaboulder.com.

| Tyera Eulberg, Boulder Magazine’s assistant editor, considers herself the barest amateur at both poker playing and crêpe making.

Go to top