Search for Spam sushi in valley is over

How do you know when a sushi restaurant has Hawaiian roots?

Well, in the case of Island Sushi & Grill, the “island” in the name would be a good indication, although that could refer to any island, like Manhattan or Catalina or Alcatraz. No, the dead giveaway would be the Spam sushi on the menu.

If you’ve lived in Las Vegas — also known as the ninth island — for any length of time, you probably know of Hawaiians’ fondness for the nonperishable meat that reportedly became popular there during World War II. You’ve seen it featured in plate lunches and showcased on Hawaiian-themed buffets, but there aren’t a lot of restaurants offering Spam sushi.

Listed among the restaurant’s specialty rolls, it ($8.50) was fairly simple as these things go, just thinly sliced Spam layered with tamago, the sweet omelet, with the Japanese seasoning furikake and eel sauce. Although Spam isn’t one of my favorites, this roll was pretty successful, the egg offsetting the saltiness of the Spam. The texture was a little odd, though, when you’re used to raw seafood in your sushi.

Another interesting roll was the Town & Country ($11). This one started out pretty tame as your basic California roll, but was topped with a profusion of chopped-up fried garlic chicken, which added crunch and flavor.

More crunch in the Kona roll ($13), from the shrimp tempura with the spicy tuna on the inside, to the crunchies that jazzed up the salmon, spicy aioli and eel sauce on the outside.

When ordering, be sure to remember your Japanese sushi terms. No lover of eel, I’d forgotten the meaning of unagi, and the Dragon roll ($13) had a whole bunch of it arranged on top. Luckily my dinner partner had no such aversion and enjoyed the roll in its totality, including the shrimp tempura, crab and avocado on the inside and the eel sauce that graced it all.

Not getting enough tamago in the Spam roll we also chose the tamago nigiri sushi ($3), which was perfectly textured. And a bowl of miso soup ($2), which was suitably smoky, the bowl filled with lots of tofu cubes.

And while the restaurant serves all the customary Hawaiian dishes such as saimin and plate lunches (loco moco, anyone?) we contented ourselves by finishing with a chocolate-filled malasada ($1.20), one of those amazingly tender Hawaiian doughnuts, sprinkled with sugar.

Somehow we missed the “I’m Turning Japanese” rolls listed on the website, which, as you’d imagine, are more authentic than the relatively tame ones we chose. We’ll try to meet that challenge next time.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. E-mail Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com and bestoflasvegas.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.