Gosh

Gosh! Asian Bistro has two locations. That means that it's twice as nice.

Both restaurants are not created equal and neither are the menus.

Downtown is smaller and so is the variety. Phuong Ly and her husband Phuc Vo opened Gosh! in 2006 and moved to the shopping center after a building problem. The downtown locale has been around since 2008.

The south-side store, in Lake Miriam plaza, has more to offer. Both are good, but not the same.

Downtown does not have a sushi bar where you can sit for the show. The sushi is just as good though.

Both locations are Spartan ... a few bits of Oriental art and a TV.

Lunch downtown found few patrons on a weekday. (The South Lakeland store was not overflowing either.) Those who were there seemed to be enjoying themselves and the food.

Downtown, the Kamikaze looked interesting. It's nigiri sushi (that's on rice). My server brought two mounds of sushi rice topped by smoked eel, avocado, scallions, eel sauce and spicy sauce ($4.95). Hot sauce was painted on the plate. Watch for the red sauce. That's the spicy one.

A Crispy Crunchy Roll for $8.95 is in the cooked section of the menu. I got six, mouth-stuffing slices of panko-coated and deep-fried salmon, smelt roe, crabstick, asparagus, scallions and cream cheese with tankatsu sauce. Asparagus stuck out the ends. The end slices were best. With only one stalk, asparagus was lost in the big roll.

A Volcano Roll ($11.95) consists of raw tuna, cream cheese, cucumber, and avocado, topped by baked seafood Dynamite Mix, spicy mayo, eel sauce and scallions.

The roll was presented in a circle with the Dynamite Mix filling the center. The mix is primarily crabstick broken into shreds with other seafood and a spicy dressing. It's bright and spicy and provides the explosion for the roll.

Volcano roll has always been a favorite of mine. Each sushi chef makes it a little different.

This chef makes a good one, with ample raw fish buffering the spice of the sauce. Sesame seeds on top pop like roe.

Heading south, Spring rolls looked like a good place to start. They're rather-rubbery rice paper wrappers filled with steamed meat or shrimp, noodles, cucumber and vegetables. Summer rolls have grilled meat or shrimp. Prices are $4.25 to $4.95 for two with wonderful hoisin peanut sauce.

It's hard to be neat with these. But, thanks to raw vegetables, they feel healthy.

A Sampler Platter ($9.50) has:

A couple of shrimp-in-a-blanket. That's shrimp in won ton skins and fried. Delicious.

Crispy Half Moons. Tiny meatballs in thin skins and fried.

Egg rolls. Not much bigger than cigarettes and delicious.

Tempura shrimp. Skewered to keep them straight, battered and fried to a delicate crispness.

One dipping sauce is sweet. The other is not. Both are great.

Non-meat eaters can be happy with Buddha's Delight ($5.50). It's a sushi roll with texture from tempura chips. Mine had 10 pieces, with two asparagus spears for more flavor than you get from one.

Entrees include salad with ginger dressing, or soup. You could hardly see the iceberg lettuce for the layer of dressing.

My Bun Combo ($9.95) featured grilled pork, beef and shrimp (you can have other choices) served over rice noodles and bean sprouts. The pork has a bit of chew and spice. Many of the sprouts had the root removed. This takes a lot of work but makes a dish appealing. You get half a California roll, and salad.

The dish that impressed me the most is a Pink Lady ($10.25). It's a mouth-bulging roll of raw fish, cream cheese, scallions, smelt roe, cucumbers, avocado, asparagus and crabstick wrapped in salmon topped with wasabi sauce and special spicy sauce. This is delightful, both in presentation and taste.

Red bean ice cream made a pleasant finish to the meal ($2.95).

Nothing is outstanding from the most recent health inspections.

A couple of things they can do to improve are:

Cut the lettuce smaller in the salad.

Use more or fatter asparagus in the rolls.

Gosh! earned four stars when last reviewed in 2006. Both locations share those same four stars today.

Trent Rowe can be reached at 802-7512 or trent.rowe@theledger.com.