Nanami Sushi Bar & Grill

No matter your profession, you've got to pay your dues -- even Hendrix played backup in bands in order to gain the experience to front The Experience and compose "Are You Experienced", thus providing the soundtrack to an entire generation's first "experiences". Now stepping out on their own, Nanami Sushi.

Spearheaded by three sisters who grew up working in their uncle's restaurants, Nanami (translating to Seven Seas) is a SW Austin sushi joint made authentically cozy with a rose granite bar-top, wood beams wrapped in rope, and a blue-lit fountain sans koi, who rolled elsewhere to avoid becoming a roll.

Speaking of which: the lineup of 25 inventive raw-fish poppers includes the "Lovers" (spicy salmon, tuna, avocado, tempura flakes), the "Ocean" (shrimp tempura, avocado, spicy salmon, green tempura flakes), and an epic, soy-wrapped, tuna/salmon/cod/kani/avocado/cuke/masago/daikon sprout number called the "E.T." -- guaranteed to fill your belly-ot. Beeeelly-ot.

As for the "Grill" component, they're slinging hibachi fried rice, teriyaki plates, "kitchen dinners" like black pepper steak and soft-shell crab, and killer apps like the Avocado Super Ball (kani, shrimp, masago spicy mayo), Tropical Puffs (rice paper-wrapped cream cheese, kani kama & apple), and a yellowfin sashimi/jalapenos/ponzu/wasabi tobiko dish known as "Spice Girls" (tell the waitress what you want, what you really, really...juuust point at the menu).

For several hours of zen, sip from a selection of longnecks, martinis, and sakes flavored with green tea, coconut lemongrass, and mango -- though if you're caught drinking that, everyone will think you've got a Little Ding.