Restaurant Review: Sora Japanese Restaurant in Brevard, North Carolina

I've often thought that I'd like to live in a small town, but the thing I continually get hung up on is the shortage of good restaurants. A small town like Brevard, North Carolina has, not counting the fast food places, only a few chain restaurants and a handful of independent restaurants, and you can sample those in just a few weeks. But what restaurants they do have are mostly good, and Sora Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar near Mount Pisgah is a great example.

Sora is located in a strip mall anchored by a Wal-Mart, but don't let that lead you into any assumptions about the restaurant. It's a small, elegantly decorated café, with a sushi bar and a dozen or so tables. The designers were obviously practical people, because they included very carefully placed frosting on the windows, obscuring the view of the cars outside. All you see at a glance is trees and sunlight. They chose beautiful glasses and plates, leading to an overall impression of upscale tranquility.

Sora's lunch menu is straight to the point and attractively priced. They must have had hurried business people in mind when they created it, because they showcase the standards in a simple, one-sided menu in large print. They offer several tempura and teriyaki dishes for $7.95 or less, as well as a special of any two of around ten selected sushi rolls for $7.95. However, upon request, they did offer the full, regular price sushi menu as well.

The teriyaki and tempura lunches come with the main course, three California roll pieces, three pork dumplings, bean sprout salad, rice and soup. It's a fairly large quantity of food for the price. We had the beef teriyaki for the main course and enjoyed it very much.

We also got three sushi rolls: tuna and avocado, which they call the New York and was selected from the regular menu instead of the lunch menu; sweet potato tempura; and spicy scallop. The latter two were available on the lunch menu. All three rolls had rice outside and tasted very fresh. The spicy scallop roll was especially good, the two main ingredients balancing each other well.

Next time, you're in a small town, don't despair about your food choices; with a little research you're sure to find a great restaurant. And if you ever find yourself in Brevard, North Carolina, don't look any further - just go visit Sora!

Details: 300 Forest Gate Center, Pisgah Forest, NC 28764. Phone 828-883-9808.