Thinly sliced "sheets" of ripe avocado form the outside of the Avocado Bomb at Flying Fish Sushi Bar & Grill on North Pearl Street in Tacoma. Inside, a mixture of chopped rice noodle, scallion and tempura battered shrimp is held together with spicy tuna so tender it resembles a paste. Sweet teriyaki and a spicy orange glaze drizzled in zigzag fashion across the top of the appetizer creates an eye-pleasing geometric pattern.  The appetizer is the size of a grapefruit and could easily play the role of entrée if eaten by one person.

The steady opening and closing of the door by hungry folks getting take-out made it difficult to warm up in the small casual restaurant adjacent to Albertson's.  Tables, booths and a few stools at the tiny sushi bar offer seating for less than 30 patrons. Korean, Chinese and Japanese rice and noodle dishes are made in the kitchen while all manner of sushi rolls - with everything from cream cheese and imitation crab to barbecued eel and yellow fin tuna - are made quickly at the sushi bar. The more elaborate and expensive rolls are generous in size (10 piece).

Service is brisk, swift and efficient. 

[Flying Fish Sushi Bar & Grill, 2723 N, Pearl St., Tacoma, 253.752.7675]