Obon Bisutoro Located at the Biltmore Fashion Park, Bisutoro is the third Valley iteration of Tucson-based Obon – a high-end sushi-ramen eatery – but it’s no carbon copy. Set in a glassy, enveloping, multi-dimensional space full of walnut paneling and a botanist’s bounty in greenery, and with a new emphasis on Asian cocktails and robata grilling, it was clearly designed to be the new Obon flagship. Culinarily speaking, it’s generally spectacular, starting with raw fish that features all the right, strutting touches – escolar nigiri ($14) with a dollop of fresh wasabi relish, luxurious salmon belly ($18) in a pond of creamy ponzu. After stabbing into an interesting “Mikado” Caesar ($14) with butter lettuce and hints of soy, punctuated with little desiccated furikake capers, we move on to the duck udon ($36) – fat, wheat-flour noodles with morsels of roasted duck breast in a salty, savory broth, similar to a French onion soup. Accompanied by a pair of half-cooked eggs, it’s stupendous.
Also quite good: a creative and satisfying Snowflake roll with crunchy tempura broccolini and fresh crab, drizzled in brown butter ($20), and the unofficial house specialty, succulent yellowtail crudo in a tangy slick of yuzu juice ($24). Wild Card: Whoops… forgot to try one of robata dishes, like the beef flight tasting ($95) of prime and A5 Wagyu cuts. 2502 E. Camelback Rd., 602-560-0033, obonsushi.com
Opened: March 2022
