Cox: Shiso satisfies the soul

Once in a great while, a dish will be set in front of you that truly hits the spot.

You know the spot I mean: the one that satisfies your soul, fills your tummy with goodness, and is exactly the right thing to eat at exactly the right time. At another time or place, it might just be ordinary food, but because of circumstances, or your mood, or the company you’re with, or whatever, it’s perfect.

Well, on the cold and miserably wet night of December 11, when the pineapple express was busy drowning us, Chef Ed Metcalfe at Shiso Modern Asian Kitchen in the Maxwell Village Shopping Center in Sonoma created a bowl of Vietnamese-Style Chicken Pho ($12 ????) as his special soup of the day. It was the perfect antidote to the wet and chilling downpour assaulting us outside.

The soup came steaming to the table. Its delicately seasoned golden broth surrounded an island of shredded chicken in the center of the bowl. Thin slices of jalapeño pepper promised some welcome heat. Green cilantro leaves were a reminder that spring would come again. White bean sprouts offered something crunchy while down under the broth, slurpy rice noodles huddled.

That soup not only hit the spot, it drove it into the center field bleachers.

Shiso is a pretty room, with a long sushi bar the top of which is a huge piece of pecan wood. Large slabs of bay laurel wood decorate a back wall, while a side wall is made of laminated natural wood on which 10 wooden blocks are affixed. Each block holds a flickering tea light.

Happy hour runs from 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Sapporo on draft is $3, wine is $5 a glass, and a lychee martini is $5. Another $5 buys your choice of crispy chicken wings, Asian sticky ribs, hoisin pork sliders, grilled miso sardines, or crab puffs.

Vegetables are sourced from the chef’s garden.

As dinner progressed, it soon became obvious that Metcalfe was turning interesting culinary ideas into smart, sophisticated, and intriguing dishes, but without straying too far from the expectations most of us have for good Asian food.

Korean Style Beef Short Ribs ($17 ???) were made by slicing short ribs, bone and all, into slices a third of an inch thick, marinating them in a Korean bulgogi sauce, and grilling them.

Six of these sat on a bed of white sticky rice and were accompanied by an Asian slaw of Chinese cabbage and cilantro. Lemon wedges finished the plate. The dish comes with a hot, moist towel, a signal to use your hands to hold the bone as you nibble the tasty meat.

Duck Spring Rolls ($13 ??) look like four ordinary spring rolls, but you soon notice they are packed with loads of duck confit and no fillers like bean sprouts or rice noodles. They sit in a swirl of house-made hoisin sauce. Then you notice that they are a little larger than most spring rolls. After finishing one, you think, “I need to save some room for the other dishes I ordered.”

Yes, there’s sushi - both nigiri and hand rolls - plus sashimi. Maguro Nigiri ($7 ???) was two delicious pieces of bluefin tuna on sushi rice. But later, when I got home and checked my Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch chart, I found it on the “avoid” list due to overfishing. We should all carry that chart in our wallets. On the plus side, wasabi on the plate was made from the fresh herb plant grown in Oregon; it was milder than the wasabi made from the dried, powdered form.

Summerlicious Hand Roll ($10 ???) was a sunny-tasting mix of tempura shrimp, basil, avocado, cucumbers and pickled carrots.

The Spider Roll ($13 ??) wrapped a fishy-tasting soft-shelled crab with avocado, cucumber, and negi. Negi is a sort of Japanese scallion.

Rice Pudding ($7??½) was deftly handled, served warm with fresh pineapple cubes. Beer, sake, and wine are all well-chosen, with lots to choose from. And the service was exemplary.

To sum up: Shiso is a gem of a restaurant hiding in an ordinary shopping center.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review for the Sonoma Living section. He can be reached at jeffcox@sonic.net.