SERENE SCENE: "Ooh, this is cool," text-messages a filmmaker friend with an eye for detail as he arrives at Sushi Sake five minutes ahead of me. Yes. One of the splendors of Japanese architecture and design is how it seems to reset the senses to neutral. Twelve-year-old Sushi Sake in Richardson moved into its current space a few years ago, and it sets off that settling effect immediately. The dining room is open and spacious, with subdued lighting. Tall ceilings make the tables feel lower than they are, engendering a sense of groundedness. It leaves the squad of sushi chefs, in their white coats and matching spangled headbands, looking extra-animated, almost zany.

MIKE STONE/Special Contributor

Sushi Sake moved to its Richardson location on North Collins several years ago.

CAT'S GOT OUR TONGUE: Above the wraparound sushi bar is a row of Japanese feline statues called maneki neko, sometimes known as the "welcoming cat" or "lucky cat" in English. A raised left paw, such as these porcelain kitties have, is said to draw customers. Evidently, they do their work: The restaurant has established a well-deserved reputation as one of the area's most reliable sushi destinations. It doesn't take reservations for smaller groups (larger numbers can reserve floor-level tables in the serene back room), and the waits get longer as the week stretches on.

FOR JAPANOPHILES: The quality of the sushi and sashimi may be some of the most unimpeachable around, but a number of Sushi Sake's other offerings may tug at the interest of Japanese food fans even more compellingly. Its assortment of homemade pickles, for example, sounds deceptively simple. The Japanese way with pickling vegetables summons the same range of flavors that Western fermentation techniques call forth in grapes and milk. The end results may not be as radically altered as with wine and cheese, but the pieces of radish and squash and tiny newborn carrots on this plate necessitate similar adjectives: floral, herbaceous, flinty.

OFF THE MENU: Keep the handwritten specials board in your line of vision. You might find niku tofu, a duet of silky tofu blocks and shreds of beef in a pungent liquid of the same intensity as French onion soup. Or rich, crunchy tempura maitake mushrooms. Or hamachi kama, the abundantly meaty yellowtail collarbone. The board also frequently advertises siu mai (shrimp dumplings), though their mushy interior texture differed from the more toothy Chinese versions popular at dim sum.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Sake marries brilliantly with all this food, of course. And while the restaurant's selection covers a concise breadth, I might challenge a restaurant with the name of the beverage in its title to push its inventory further in a time when sake is finally achieving some recognition and status.

In our last review five years ago, the critic encountered some unfortunate issues with a server anxious for the table to be given to the next round of customers. I'm happy to say that, during two recent visits, the able and pleasant staff did nothing but maintain the peace that the restaurant's design promotes – and that the food, in its wide appeal but refined essence, furthers.

Bill Addison

The full April 4 review is online at

GuideLive.com.

Sushi Sake

{star}{star}{star} (very good)

Food {star}{star}{star}

Service {star}{star}{star}

Atmosphere {star}{star}{star}{star}

Price: $$-$$$ (appetizers $2.50 to $7.50, entrees $14 to $18, sushi and sashimi plates $8

to $28)

Address: 2150 N. Collins Blvd., Richardson

Phone: 972-470-0722

Web site: www.sushi-sake.com

Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. to

2 p.m.; dinner Monday-Saturday 5:30 to

10:30 p.m.