Ichiban Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, Santa Barbara

At Ichiban Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, each specialty roll reels in hungry visitors with a core of flavorful ingredients such as roasted eel, mussels, and spicy sesame sauce. Of the many rolls on the menu, the Box Sushi roll with seared tuna and spicy crab meat might be the most unique one, since it uses a Japanese wooden box instead of seaweed paper to achieve its classic tubular shape. In addition to rolling sushi, chefs also top donburi Japanese rice bowls with teriyaki chicken and curried beef. Even the appetizers are steeped in distinctly Asian flavors, from fried pork gyoza dumplings to veggies encased in a crispy tempura shell.