HACHI SUSHI

Where: 2255 W. 41st Ave.

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-263-1877

There's art for art's sake, art for the sake of sofas, art as some kind of psychological therapy and then there's art that embodies all three. So you can keep your Jackson Pollocks, your Renoirs, Rembrandts and Picassos. Just give me a giant octopus wall mural, part painting, part sculptural 3-D, tentacles hovering menacingly near my head while I scarf down my sushi. This masterpiece embraces both pure art and art that would enhance any interior and on a therapeutic level if you have a fear of giant cephalopods (apparently some people do), you can work through that, too.

Paid a visit with pal Odin Warble, who's trying to patent his environmentally friendly squid-ink pen.

"But don't you have to kill the squid to get the ink?" I asked. "Where's the enviro-friendly part?"

"Yeah, but then you turn them into calamari and it's all part of the great food chain."

"I think somebody's pulling somebody's chain and I don't see any food involved."

"Talking about food chains, look at that giant octopus," Warble nodded at the wall art. "Looks like what Captain Nemo sees after a 40-ouncer of bourbon."

We took a seat under its undulating frame and surveyed the room. Pale-wood chairs with an Asian-design motif, Japanese woodblock-style paintings on the wall opposite the octopus, all culminating in a kind of perfunctory but comforting interior with a hint of the nautical.

This isn't tastebud-tsunami sushi, but it's fresh and generous and some of the creations are truly inspiring. A daily special known obliquely as the CK Roll ($4.95) was built of prawn, crab and tobiko, wrapped in seaweed and light tempura batter before being deep-fried. Each ingredient somehow retained its flavour after its burbling bath in hot oil and sat upright like attentive little dumplings, prawn tails sticking out like little buoys in a tempura sea.

I was also impressed with the barbecued eel-pressed sushi ($7.95), the rice packed firmly and the eel flesh succulent, smoky and sweet. Eel is one of those creatures that if I think too much about their slithering bodies, I lose my appetite pretty quickly, but you could've slapped me silly with this eel flesh and I wouldn't have lost a beat chewing.

We also sampled the House Special Roll ($5 for half a roll, $9.95 for a whole) with tuna, salmon, ebi, crab cake, cucumber and lettuce, which is a formidable lineup but it all worked harmoniously although I ran amok with the wasabi and got a kick in the culinary groin, so to speak.

It would've been unpatriotic of us not to try the Vancouver Roll ($5.50 for half a roll, $10.50 for a whole), which is essentially a California Roll wearing a toupée of smoked salmon. It was OK, as was the Prawn Dynamite Roll ($3.75), which I surmised to be savoury the way Odin Warble was going at the thing like a woodchuck in an Ikea factory.

The menu is as vast as the sea between here and Japan, but look for some of the great daily specials, like the sashimi plate for $9.95. Prices are truly cheap and the assorted sushi combos offer both great value and selection.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Fresh slabs of fish for refreshing prices.

RATINGS: Food: B+; Service: B; Atmosphere: B

© The Vancouver Province 2007