RESTAURANT REVIEW + PHOTOS: Larger Sky Modern still satisfying

New Japanese and/or sushi places open regularly in this market (we reviewed one, Samu, just last week), but it's worthwhile to check back into older, consistently reliable places, especially if they've recently put out a new wing.

That's the case with Sky Modern Japanese, which built an extension onto what had been a little-used patio in the corner of one of the buildings in northwest Little Rock's Pleasant Ridge Town Center, creating a new dining room/party room.

The new room is a little narrow, but big enough to seat perhaps 80 people, with white bank seating and black wooden tables that are easy to push together, giving the restaurant a new space to accommodate larger groups -- say the eight teenage girls who were celebrating one of their birthdays on one of our visits.

Blue beacon lighting gives it a fresh vibe; windows added to what had been the original exterior wall give customers a visual but not audible glimpse. There's even a nice lounge area to the back with comfy oversize furniture where patrons might watch, say, sporting events more intimately than out in the main dining area, where there are several big-screen TVs.

The new area has also allowed the restaurant to build out some comfortable booth seating along the new wall, joining booth and brown-table seating it already had. Patrons can also sit along the capacious sushi bar in one corner, along the single hibachi table in another, or at the capacious bar that dominates the back half of the dining room.

Sky Modern's main menu is part Japanese, part Asian-fusion (some dishes are even labeled as such, such as the Fusion Wonton appetizer or the Fusion Spicy Chicken entree). There's also a list of hibachi entrees and combos, prepared out in the open but without the "show," and an extensive, though not expansive, sushi list.

It's hard to start a meal more simply than with edamame (a little steep at $5.09), the ubiquitous Japanese appetizer of lightly salted, steamed/boiled (as in this case) in-shell soybeans. Sky Modern's is no better nor worse than most -- they use a little less salt, perhaps -- but they serve it in a unique dual dish, shaped sort of like the infinity symbol, with one side full of beans and the other empty to receive the dead shells.

Our White Tuna Tataki appetizer ($12.59) -- "white tuna" being a simplified name for escolar, a fish with firm, white flesh -- got a split decision. It was enough to serve two, but the menu-promised ponzu sauce didn't impress Intrepid Companion; instead of being dark brown and spicy, it was clear, vinegary and lacked kick.

We achieved a decent-to-excellent score on our two sushi rolls. The Spider Roll ($9.50, fried soft-shell crab, cucumber and avocado, wrapped in nori -- seaweed -- then rice, then more nori) was as good as we've had, plump but not, as at some places, too big to fit a single piece in the mouth at one go, as sushi rolls are supposed to be eaten.

The Seared Albacore Roll ($12) was a major find -- seared albacore tuna in a roasted garlic sauce topping spicy tuna, scallion, cilantro and avocado inside.

From the "Signature Dishes" side of the menu, we were satisfied, if not thrilled, by the Salmon Teriyaki ($17.99), a good-size portion of "pan-seared, fresh Scotland salmon" that was properly moist and flaky, though very little of the "traditional homemade teriyaki sauce" clung to the fish; most of it filtered down and slightly swamped the bed of mixed vegetables (including broccoli, zucchini, carrots and mushrooms). What we thought at first was a small potato cake turned out to be a crisp, ovoid cake of batter-fried sushi rice. Next time we might turn to the Salmon Orange Aioli (also $17.99), served with sauteed spinach, vegetables and wild mushrooms in "chef's orange aioli sauce."

The half-dozen or so Hibachi Scallops ($21.59) were firm and plump but surprisingly bland; for the first time in a while we felt we needed to dunk 'em into the accompanying ginger sauce. The plate presentation was nice, however -- the long, thin plate also held a portion of hibachi vegetables and appetizer shrimp.

Meals come with choice of soup or salad, and even though the menu specifies that at Sky Modern, "we use locally and naturally grown produce and micro-green," we were nervous enough about the romaine scare (something our waitress appeared to have no clue about) to choose soups, neither of which were very impressive. The miso ($2.99 a la carte) had sufficient tofu, but not much seaweed, and was bland. The clear soup (also $2.99), chicken broth with mushrooms and scallions, had an off flavor that Intrepid Companion thought was kind of fishy. We agreed that we should have picked the creamy mushroom soup ($5.29), "chef's special homemade mushroom soup made with sake and loaded with mushrooms."

Meals also come with steamed rice, but we were happy to have paid the additional $3.29 for a bowl of fried rice, a little more Chinese in style, perhaps, than Japanese, nicely oily and flavorful with bits of egg and even, possibly, some shreds of chicken.

Sky Modern has a decent wine and sake list and a full bar. Service was very good on both our visits.

Weekend on 12/13/2018