Ichiban Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar, Indianapolis

At Ichiban Sushi Bar & Asian Cuisine, the kitchen preaches inclusion. Chefs stir-fry plates of pad thai along with Mongolian beef, and sushi experts arrange artful rolls of fresh fish behind a glimmering black bar. Collectively, this culinary ensemble crafts a menu of Chinese, Japanese, and Thai traditions served amid the warm light of suspended lanterns.

For dinner, patrons peruse everything from homestyle tofu to the dreaming duck—a pan-fried duck breast served with basil sauce. House sauces bring signature flairs to other dishes as well, with the chef’s specialty sauce drizzled over the sushi roll’s spicy crab, green onions, roe, and lobster. Other sushi options threaten to overwhelm the indecisive with maki, nigiri, sashimi, and combinations between. Textures collide in the golden cheese roll's mix of shrimp tempura and cream cheese, whereas the volcano roll dresses a California roll with spicy crayfish instead of baking soda and vinegar. Sips of sake and imported Japanese beers wash down bites from any culinary tradition, leaving mouths ready for desserts of green-tea ice cream.