From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published September 26, 2007 Sake Café 3$ Garden District: 2830 Magazine Reservations: 894-0033. Metairie: 4201 Veterans Blvd. 779-7253. Kenner: 817 W Esplanade Ave. 468-8829. Elmwood: 1130 S. Clearview Pkwy. 733-8879. Covington: 126 Lake Dr. (Northpark) 985-809-6689. All: Lunch and dinner continuously seven days. AE, DC, DS, MC, V. Japanese. The five locations of the Sake Café are the most physically impressive Japanese restaurants in town. The original in Metairie was a handsome place with great food from the outset, but it was outdone by the restaurant of the same name opened in what had been a K&B drugstore on Magazine Street. Not only did that one have a lot of space in which to let the designer get creative, but the place came with a big parking lot--an asset many Uptown restaurants would love to have. The three Sake Cafes opened since that one are less impressive than the Magazine Street location, but handsome in a sleek, modern way. The menus are similar, although the Uptown and Metairie locations seem to have bigger selections in the hot-food department. Sake Café has a few other distinctions. I find their service staff more forthcoming and friendly than in most Japanese places (which, as a category, are quite joyful to begin with). They often (I stop short of saying always) serve an amuse-bouche of some little salad, usually with a bit of fish in it. This is often so good that you can't help but ask for more. The sushi chefs are more ebullient, too. All you have to do to trigger what, in other sushi bars, would be the regular-customer treatment is to ask what's good, with genuine curiosity. Then you learn about the toro (fatty tuna, a rarity in even the best places), bluefin tuna (another unusual item; they get it as often as anywhere). Or those small mackerels that they serve first as sashimi, then fry up what's left. The kitchen does good work, too. Scallops wrapped with smoked salmon and grilled, thin beef steaks curled around a core of green onions, and various baked fish show off their abilities best. And I always get the feeling that something else, not on the menu, is lurking in the chef's mind for customers who show curiosity. In short, you can assemble quite a feast here, with enormous variety. This is a good place to go with, say, six people, and build what amounts to a tasting menu at the table. The five restaurants do not perform equally well, however. The Metairie and Uptown locations are clearly the best. The newest one, in Covington, started out downright inept, but has become much better. The Kenner restaurant is the starkest in its design, but pretty good on the food. The Elmwood Sake Café is the one where we've found least magic, let's say. Obviously, this is a chain--but not a widespread one. The people who own it also have restaurants in Houston, and they're connected with the excellent Café East, too. This was a restaurant in the 2007 Top Sixty Ethnic Restaurant Countdown. To view the entire list, click here. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.