1. Teppanyaki – the first place to start is to visit the Teppanyaki table. In Flagstaff, the only Japanese restaurant with Teppanyaki is Sakura Sushi & Teppanyaki. By sitting at the Teppanyaki table you can only a great Japanese dining experience where your chef slices and dices and COOKS your meal over a hot cooking table in front of you. You can order fried rice, steak, chicken, shrimp, halibut and many more cooked specialties. The food is not only fantastic (and not raw) but it’s also very entertaining! Once you’ve experienced Teppanyaki, you’re ready for step 2: Maki.

2. Rolls: Start with Maki (an 8 piece roll). Ask your server for any “cooked” maki or roll. An all around favorite of first-time sushi diners is the infamous California Roll. You’ll like the fact that the fish is COOKED – it includes crab, avocado and sometimes cucumber, wrapped in seaweed and then covered in sticky rice. Other “cooked” rolls for first timers to try are the Shrimp Tempura Roll, the Dragon Roll, or vegetarian rolls like the avocado roll or cucumber roll.

3. After dining on the “cooked” rolls, it’s time to get adventurous and try sushi rolls with fish. The best fish rolls for the novices are those with mild fish. We recommend a Spicy Tuna Roll – maguro tuna, spicy mayo and avocado, an Alaska roll, which includes salmon, crab and avocado or Phili Roll which has smoked salmon and cream cheese.

4. Nigiri – once you’ve “mastered” the Rolls – you are ready for “real” sushi: Nigiri. Nigiri is fish sliced and placed on a ball of rice, typically served in two pieces. For your first order of Nigiri, order Ebi (boiled shrimp) or tuna (we recommend maguro or albacore).

5. Once you’ve experienced Nigiri – you have graduated to the final step: Sashimi. Wonderful slices of quality raw fish – what most of us think of as true sushi. Scott Thomson, the Food and Beverage Director at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel suggests that sushi novices order Sashimi menu items that end in “tataki” which means “seared.” These pieces of fish are lightly cooked. Scott also suggests you start with a mild fish like tuna – and there are several types of tuna you can choose. For example you might order maguro-tataki, albacore-tataki, toro-tataki (this is a very high end, high quality tuna) or yellowtail-tataki.

It’s as easy as that! One other note for sushi novices – your sushi will be served some side items that will add to the flavor of your sushi - Soy Sauce, wasabi (the green “stuff”) and ginger. Mix the soy sauce and wasabi to taste in the little dish provided… CAUTION: the wasabi is extremely hot/spicy – be careful about how much you use in your mixture. You can eat the slices of ginger after each piece of sushi to cleanse your “pallet”. So go, now, sushi novices and enjoy – sushi at its best!