Namo's Lunch Okonomi Is Dallas' Most Affordable Omakase

In theory, everyone loves the idea of going to omakase, a style of Japanese dining in which the diner lets the chef choose the meal.

But once you get down to the logistics — strict reservation system, limited seats, high price tag and the appetite you need to be comfortable after nearly 20 courses — it's not in the cards for all of us.

Take away the strict reservations and limited seats, drop a few courses, reduce the price to $75, and the result is the lunch okonomi at Namo.

Technically, okonomi is the most traditional way of ordering sushi: You order a la carte based on what cut and type of fish you like, etc.

At Namo, it's served as omakase, with the courses preset and paced for you. Don't let the jargon fool you.

It starts with a few light options: Namo salad, fujisan salmon, sawara (Spanish mackerel) sashimi and chawanmushi, a silky egg custard with ikura (salmon roe).
The most interesting was the Namo salad, which had daikon, bonito flakes, micro greens, shirasu and a yuzu vinaigrette. It was our first time trying shirasu, which is a small whitebait fish, usually sardines.

Visually, it's an interesting experience going in for a bite, but the texture wasn't weird and the fish added a meaty element to the refreshing salad.

Then came a full platter of nigiri with sea bass, belt fish, horse mackerel, fatty tuna belly, Japanese brown barracuda and freshwater eel.
It's served in the traditional way you should order sushi, starting with white fish and ending with eel, so it's best eaten from left to right. The fatty tuna belly and eel were major standouts, as was the sea bass. Use the pickled ginger on the side as a pallet cleanser between bites.

After the nigiri comes a wagyu tostada and an akadashi miso soup that mixes three different misos and is aged for two weeks before serving.

Everything takes about an hour, including dessert and payment.

The service concluded with dessert, a brownie or gelato, but this day there was a special: homemade milk tea soft serve with olive oil and Kaluga caviar.
The only problem was that we didn't catch the "and Kaluga caviar" until it was explained and placed in front of us. Oops.

When we see caviar on a menu, our eyes are trained to look away. At this point, it's a natural survival instinct against high-priced menus.

So we had to take this one slow, savor the experience and come to terms with the fact that our week's grocery bill sat in a spoonful of painfully good ice cream.

When the bill was dropped off, we were fairly sure ALL of our good karma had aligned at that moment. The fat scoop (by caviar standards) with the ice cream was only $12.

Namo, 3699 McKinney Ave. Tuesday – Thursday, noon – 9:30 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, noon – 10 p.m.; Sunday noon – 9 p.m.; closed Monday.