Red Bean Sushi: New Contender in Westport

[UPDATE: This restaurant is closed] If you love sushi, you already have your favorite place to go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try something new to see if the wasabi is hotter on the other side of the fence. Red Bean Sushi is a very small and unassuming new sushi restaurant on the Post Road in Westport. It doesn’t look like much from the outside and it can be easily missed as its small storefront is surrounded by larger retail spaces – notably Stop and Shop across the street. But, this little place is worth a trip to expand your sushi options. Red Bean is the latest culinary venture for chef and owner Eric Xie. He also owns Village Gourmet, (arguably the best Chinese in the area).  I honestly didn’t expect much on my first visit but after 5 trips, this is the place I want to go when I crave sushi.   

Red Bean’s sushi has been consistently excellent. The salmon is buttery and the tuna never, ever has those awful lines of stringy white sinew. The seaweed salad is crisp and has the nicest amount of chili pepper to give it a little spark.  The Sex and the City Roll is a must – the crunch inside is a fabulous and fun accent on the salmon and tuna all wrapped in aesthetically appealing contrasts of yellow mango and green avocado.  We’ve enjoyed other specialty rolls and the sushi chef will happily tell you which are the most popular with customers if that helps you decide.

On our last visit we enjoyed the Yuzu Tuna another pretty dish of tuna wrapped around julienned cucumber and avocado presented atop a lemon slice and drizzled with Yuzu sauce. My husband thoroughly enjoyed The Suno Muno, a dish of shrimp, yellowtail, octopus, mackerel and crab in a light, sweetened vinegar broth. If you like Snow crab, the Alaska Crab Roll with spicy salmon, mango and crunch is quite memorable. 

The space is small, so go early or take out. It’s more delightful inside than the generic outdoor sign lets on.  Red Bean doesn’t yet have a liquor license, but they are not charging a corkage fee if you bring your own wine or beer while they wait for approval.  

Red Bean Sushi, 1711 Post Rd. East, Westport  203.256.8889