Miya

Spend enough time around the U-M’s Central Campus, and you start to have a sense of where to go for lunch based upon specific cravings, bouts of weather, dining companions (or lack thereof), and how much time you have. The old Sushi.com restaurant on North University was a good go-to for quick, relatively healthy, rice-centric meals in a place dominated by a youthful hubbub. With two dining rooms separated by the hallway leading to Silvio’s Organic Pizza, chaos hovered as servers zipped back and forth from one crowded dining area to the other. The food was never spectacular, but people were willing to put up with a lot on this block facing the Diag–until new Asian competitors rolled into the neighborhood. Tomukun noodle bar opened on Liberty in 2010, followed this year by Slurping Turtle and Tomukun Korean BBQ.

Earlier this year, the owners closed Sushi.com to reduce its size and up its game. In early summer it reopened as Miya. The now-single dining room is decorated with recessed lighting over rich red and yellow wallpaper in a subtle gold grass pattern. Gone are the blaring TVs, leaving just a single screen with CNN scrolling quietly over the sushi bar.

The new serenity is a welcome change. On three visits, I was greeted graciously, led to a table of my choice with a smile, and promptly served a cup of hot tea. At first sip, I thought it might be a mild roasted green tea; a few more tastes revealed, and a question to a server confirmed, that it is actually corn tea, made in house.

Corn (or barley) tea is traditionally served with Korean food, and it goes wonderfully with the boldly flavored new Korean items on the menu, like a traditional beef bi bim bab, squirted with peppery red sauce. Miya’s is not the largest nor the most customizable version in town, but it’s perfectly acceptable with bean sprouts, sliced cabbage, a clump of spinach, mildly dressed carrot strips, seasoned beef, and a sunny-side-up egg sprinkled with perky flecks of dried seaweed. For more excitement, spend an extra buck to get the Dolsot version served in a stone bowl to give the rice a sizzling toasty crunch. Japanese miso soup and mini-salad are included with every entree, even from the Korean section.

The corn tea seemed a less ideal match for the Japanese items that continue to dominate the menu. Among the bento boxes, noodles, and other options numbering into the hundreds, the sushi bar offers a full range of rolls and combos. We tried four rolls, both veggie and fish, and none was spectacular (rather dry rice being a problem on more than one visit). My son was nonetheless pleased that his favorite Sushi.com dragon roll was much as he remembered, wrapped around shrimp tempura and topped with eel and spicy sauce. The best of the rolls we sampled, it’s a visual bit of fun that snakes across the plate, and the eel was tender and flaky, without the strong oily flavor that this fish can sometimes have. Udon noodles were plump and substantial in even the simplest preparation. I expected a bit more crisp to them in the pan-fried version, however.

There are some surprises in the bento boxes, including little fried spinach dumplings and a dollop of spicy sesame “crab” salad atop the rice. I completely enjoyed the breaded pork cutlet in the tonkatsu box: a generous portion of thin pounded meat topped with light teriyaki sauce. A bed of peppered cabbage slaw picked up both teriyaki and charbroiled flavors in the salmon box, and the main-attraction thin fillet atop the slaw had a pleasing delicate texture. I was excited to see seaweed salad in the boxes, as I generally love its sweet-saltwater freshness, but this preparation tasted bland and tired; the tempura veggies also would have been more enticing with a crispier coating.

I wish the food had been more consistent, because Miya is a comfortable and charming place to eat. (I sneezed one fall afternoon, and a server cheerfully called out “bless you” in a singsong voice from halfway across the room.) It’s a good spot for a leisurely solo lunch and worth considering for a quiet dinner before a show at Hill–you won’t feel out of place here in your dress-up clothes.

Miya’s big wood-framed picture window offers a view of the busy Diag, and the little table in front of it is usually occupied, even at slow times. Walking by one day, I saw a solo diner sitting and studying intently. The dishes and food had been cleared from his table, except for a cup of hot tea and the little lollipop that Miya brings on the tray with your check, just as Sushi.com did. Framed by the window, he was the picture of calm in a busy part of town.

Miya

Wheelchair friendly.