The chef takes a lot of pride in how he prepares the sushi with just the right amount of wasabi. Shiro has a considerable variety of excellent sushi and other Japanese fare, and people come from all over to dine. Makoto Oyama, the president of U.S. KDK, in Moses Lake says he and many of this Japanese friends living in Grant County, where Japan Airlines does 747 flight training, regularly come to the Belltown restaurant. For many years, Shiro owned Nikko, but sold it several years ago, but a non-compete clause in the sales agreement kept him out of the restaurant business for many years. But the agreement has expired and Shiro is doing what he is famous for doing, serving the some of the best Japanese food in Seattle.
Reservations are a good idea, because the place is always packed to the walls.
The only thing we can call a negative is that Shiro has stopped serving lunch and is open only for dinner, but they are open seven nights a week. The year-old El Gaucho is like the restaurant business used to be in Seattle. You can't spend more than a few minutes in the place without seeing half the community leaders, sports stars and several of your friends. The new El Gaucho is in a building that still looks on the outside like something out of the bad old days of the Denny Regrade. The building used to be home to a maritime trade union and is a strange green color that a couple coats of paint didn't really disguise.