Kazu's take-out satisfies sushi fan's craving

People who believe that having a woman in the house means there is food in the refrigerator haven't met me. My refrigerator is full of take-out boxes. My idea of cooking is to pick up the phone and place an order.

Recently, several of us decided to try Kazu's Sushi & Asian Bistro.

Kazu's menu was quite informative. Besides the pretty pictures that all sushi menus display, Kazu's has information about its ingredients: What the restaurant cooks with, why and what the health benefits are. I chose miso soup purely because of the menu's explanation, and it turned out to be a tasty choice.

My friend April ordered the coconut curry rice noodle bowl with lemon grass ginger chicken, $8.50, a side of cooked octopus sushi, $1.75, and a side of dynamite sushi, $4.50. The dynamite sushi, spicy tuna, fresh salmon, scallions and tempura chips met with her approval. She thought the curry wasn't as spicy as she would have liked, but once she mixed the chicken, noodles and sauce together, the dish tasted great.

Vicki, not a sushi fan, went for the shrimp shumai appetizer, $4.25. This is kind of like a dim sum. She also had a teriyaki chicken rice bowl with steamed vegetables, $7, which she liked very much. We all tried the shrimp shumai and decided it was a must for future orders.

I am a sushi fan. So my order included an avocado and salmon roll (eight pieces) $4.50, a salmon and avocado handroll (that is the big, cone-shaped sushi) for $4.50 and a teriyaki chicken bento box, $7, very good. I have found my new new sushi haven. The rice was the right sweetness, the fish cut perfectly and the vegetables fresh.

The woman who took our order was patient with my questions, and repeated the whole order back to me. She didn't hesitate when I asked for separate bags.

I hadn't noticed that the menu said the bento box was only a lunch special, but she said it wouldn't be a problem to include in our dinner order.

I was given clear directions, and told all would be ready in half an hour. Our food was ready when I arrived, chopsticks and extra soy sauce already in the bags.

The little bistro, owned and run by a Japanese family, is low-key and intimate, artistically designed and not at all pretentious.

And for $44.94, we had enough food for ourselves and two more people who came by, plus leftovers.