Upscale sushi spot Umami opens in Albertson 

There are three varieties of sushi bars on Long Island: the cozy neighborhood joint, the intimate chef-driven spot and the giant blowout restaurant. The impressive new Umami falls into the blowout category, although its highly segmented minimalist dining room is more in line with the smaller chef-driven spots. 

You can sit at the brightly lit sushi bar and work your way through a 13-course omakase dinner, for example, or enjoy a looser meal in one of the many wood paneled dining nooks near the windows. (The parking lot view of suburban Albertson is nothing special, but it's nice to have some natural light flowing in.) And then of course there are the circular booths at the front, surrounded by a cage of light-wood panels that shoot down from above like octopus tentacles. 

The Japanese restaurant, now in its third iteration, has taken the look of something you'd see in Flushing, Queens: showy, slick and spendy. The building was previously home to Hokkaido and then in 2011 became Sakaya, both of which served sushi and hibachi. New owner Alex Dai worked as a sushi chef at Sakaya, and took over the restaurant when his former boss retired last year. Dai did a complete remodel and ditched the hibachi grills, turning the space into a private dining area. He is flying his fish in daily from Japan. 

“He is a very talented chef,” said manager Joey Tse. “He wanted a more traditional sushi feel, wanted to create a restaurant that's more adult, more upscale.”

At first glance, the four-page menu in its laminated black binder looks similar to that of a neighborhood sushi spot. It's got something of everything: specialty rolls, ramen, kushiyaki skewers, as well as sushi and sashimi, albeit at slightly higher prices. On a recent evening “live” scallops and Japanese uni are specials.

The uni nigiri ($15) arrives first, pink strips of sea urchin innards tucked into a delicate strip of seaweed — buttery, salty, exquisite. The scallops ($20), not actually alive but very recently living, sliced thin just before serving and layered atop a big, shiny shell — lean, crisp, good. 

Other delights from the menu include a perfectly rendered fillet of miso black cod ($28), its glutinous flesh caking off onto the chopsticks for a fatty, delicious bite. And a small plate of shima aji ($28), or lean strips of striped jack, sing with dollops of zippy green jalapeño dressing and crunchy chile garlic.

Sake selections have a similar choose-your-own-adventure price range: You can get a fabulous bottle of Bunraku Yamahai Junmai for $35, or plop down up to $300 for a bottle of Sawanoi Hojo 35, featuring water that spends seven years filtering down mountain rocks. Either way, don't miss the whimsical anthropomorphic desserts shaped into bunny rabbits and a lemon “cake” that involves cracking a white chocolate shell to reveal a custardy yuzu center. 

Umami Sushi and Grill, 1162 Willis Ave., Albertson, 516-621-1887, umamilongisland.com. Open noon-2:45 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon-2:45 p.m. and 5-10:30 p.m. Friday, 1-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 1-9:30 p.m. Sunday.

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.