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What I know about sushi is not much. The number of little rolled-up rice packets that I have eaten over the years can be numbered on the fingers of two (if not one) hands, and although I have always rather enjoyed it, it seemed a genre of cuisine to be approached with extreme caution.

Our city has recently gained a world-class Sushi bar, however, and I have been feasting on concoctions designed by a famous Master Sushi Chef, Kenichi Kanada. Austin is becoming an even more hip place (in its own mind, anyway), with sleek steakhouses popping up downtown, and the incredible Emilia's Restaurant, which describes itself as offering "Contemporary American Cuisine" (and which I always, perversely, think of as French in influence--why serve a foie gras torchon, otherwise?). Jeffrey's Restaurant and Bar, which has been effortlessly purring along for the past quarter of a century, continues to serve up its delectable "crispy oysters," and I myself would rather dine at Cipollina Cafe--a perfectly yummy little Italian place than anywhere (and, in fact, almost daily I do).

But every once in a while, I'm keen to smash out on something new ("and now, for something Totally Different . . . ") and Kenichi's is definitely it. The restaurant began in Aspen, where Chef Kenichi has been grappling with the supply problem admirably for a couple of decades: sushi is above all about locating, transporting and serving the freshest of fresh ingredients. He has fish of all kinds shipped by FedEx, having courted individual fishermen through the years, and he still has his wasabi--the mysterious, pale green horseradish--sent over from Japan every week. Recently, the restaurant opened a second branch in Austin, where visiting Hollywood types now hang out when they're in town filming something. Jimmy Vaughan played for the restaurant's opening night.

What was new to me, working my way down the menu, was to realize that roughly half of Sushi—as a cuisine—is served cooked, rather than raw. You can still eat it with chopsticks, in bite-size pieces (forks are fine, too), and the plan is to dip it in a tiny little sauce boat where you mix the desired proportion of soy sauce and wasabi together, later adding shreds of pale pink ginger to taste. It started to become really exciting when I realized that I could try first ahi tuna (the pink-fleshed fish) then yellowtail and then albacore (white). The first two were presented raw, along with thin shreds of Daikon (a kind of translucent, white turnip-looking vegetable), and the albacore was lightly cooked. Later, we also tried the blackened ahi, with a lovely green salad dressed in ginger vinaigrette and sporting fried leeks on top.

The straight-up fish dishes appear under the "Sashimi" section of the menu, though we tried some actual sushi (you know, with the rice) as well--the house specialty rolled up together: crab meat, tuna, cucumbers and avocados, and splashed it all over with startlingly orange smelt roe. Eating colors is fun, and this tasted subtle yet also delectable.

There are many dining styles, and the best way to eat Sushi is with a friend or two, placing the serving dishes in the middle of the table and browsing contentedly. Oh, and it's even better when you drink traditional Japanese Saki with it (I couldn't make up my mind whether I liked the filtered or the unfiltered better--theoretically, you could go back and forth between the two all evening). But the waiter assured us that you could drink white wine or champagne with these dishes also, and the people at the next table ordered a very serious bottle of red wine. That's Austin for you.

As for Kenichi, it is also a "Pan-Asian Restaurant," which means that it also offers main dishes on the menu such as "Bamboo Salmon" (which came with a "chipotle teriyaki sauce" to die for) and "Mustard Rubbed Colorado Lamb" ("A rack with macadamia nuts, celeriac-ginger mashed potatoes, baby bok choy and mint shiso oil"). And then there was a smooth and sweet "fried ice cream" dish for dessert, which encased vanilla ice-cream in pound cake and was then surrounded with pools of sauce.

The other reason that Kenichi is worthy of note is its absolutely stunning decor. When I first walked in the door, I thought I had mistaken my city entirely, and had landed through some sort of time warp in New York City. (Well, at least my idea of New York City.) Everything is black. There were black counter-tops, black napkins, black plates, black uniforms on the wait staff, black table-cloths . . . even most of the customers were wearing black (I wish I'd known in advance). At the bar, they serve you tiny little crunchy peas, rolled in wasabi, and you can order some really sensational steamed soybeans that you then pop out of their pods. How anything this aggressively healthy can be so delicious is a miracle.

My entire evening was an education. Any previous notions I had had about this cuisine were vastly expanded: also, they did not only offer fish on the menu, but a fabulous filet of beef that was rolled up with shitake mushrooms.

Next time, I am planning to sit at the bar itself and watch these wonders being concocted first-hand. (Yes, it's a black countertop.) I saw one very cool dad there, treating his eight-year-old daughter to some sushi treats, and I was very happy to see that the younger generation is being educated about this fabulous food. I'm also highly pleased that it's not too late for me.

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