Polly Campbell

pcampbell@enquirer.com

My first thought when Toyota announced they were abandoning Northern Kentucky for the tax environment of Texas was, "What about my favorite Japanese restaurants?" (My second thought was, "Texas? Really?")

I'm afraid their departure will pull the rug out from under the Northern Kentucky restaurants where much Japanese business entertaining is done. They've made it possible for all of us to explore authentic Japanese food, an exploration I've really enjoyed over the years.

Well, I was encouraged by a visit to Ando, a Japanese restaurant that also seems to do its share of business entertaining, to judge from a recent visit. It has a deep, though hidden, menu of authentic Japanese dishes to dig into.

In Blue Ash it's maybe not so Toyota-dependent, so maybe it will still be around in five years. It has a menu of tempura, ramen, sukiyaki and plenty of sushi that can appeal to all, but also has a special, changing menu with more specialized Japanese dishes.

Keiko and Ken Ando started Ando in Lebanon in 1998; it's been in a Blue Ash shopping strip next door to Brown Dog Café since 2004. Look for the pretty garden of flowers in pots outside.

Inside, it's not very big, and on a Wednesday night was quite busy, with more Tokyo bustle than serene Japanese simplicity.

They have no liquor license; many tables were filled with regulars who know that and had brought bottles of sake and their own beer. I drank their iced barley tea, or mugicha, an interesting caffeine-free toasty-flavored tea.

The small plates we shared at first included age-nasu, or small circles of crisp fried eggplant with grated ginger ($5); the chicken and scallion kebabs yaki tori ($6); and tanshio, or wafer-thin slices of grilled beef tongue ($8.95). From the specials menu we had fried mackerel, a very strongly-flavored oily fish that I love.

The sushi bar was very busy, and tables around us were getting big plates full of some of the prettiest sushi I've ever seen, in a subtle rainbow of colors practically glowing from within. Their sushi is quite traditional – mostly nigiri pieces, a minimum of those silly elaborate rolls.

Sushi might be my favorite food ever. But I just can't bring myself to eat most of it these days: the bluefin tuna that has the deep-red flesh is a magnificent fish that's practically endangered, and there's really no way to farm it. I try to eat more sustainable sushi; here I got translucent white flounder, salty bright-red salmon roe and sweet shrimp. And when you get amaebi, or sweet shrimp, they bring you the fried shrimp heads, a crunchy, intensely shellfishy experience.

I had the omakase, or chef's choice dinner ($32), which came in a lacquered two-level bento box. It was like unpacking a Christmas present. Each food was an example of a type of cooking: deep-fried tempura, grilled black cod, simmered pork belly slices rich and tender, some gyoza dumplings and bits of pickled things in jewel tones. The black cod, with a glaze that had been blackened and caramelized, was especially good.

My friend had tempura ($14.50), which included something you don't usually get with tempura: kakiage, a wonderful fritter with squid, shrimp and onions. My other friend had the plainest of our dinners: fat, snaky soba noodles in broth ($9) with an interestingly smoky flavor.

There are so many things to go back for: I'd like to try the shabu-shabu, which has to be ordered for two, and order some of the more unusual sushi and small plates.

They put up the specials on the website weekly, so study it well before you go, and you too can take advantage of a Japanese-centric Japanese restaurant. ■

Ando Japanese

• Where: 5889 Pfeiffer Road, Blue Ash.

• When: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. 5-9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday-Friday; 5-9:30 p.m. Saturday.

• Prices: Small plates $4 to $11.95, noodles $9 to $11.95, entrees $14.50 to $38.

• Vegetarian choices: Not a huge selection; some tempura, tofu dishes, appetizers.

• Reservations: Taken.

• Miscellaneous: No liquor license. Accessible to the disabled.

• Phone: 513-791-8687.

• Websitewww.andojapaneserestaurant.com.