Far back from the highway in a charmless hinterland between the Aiken branch of the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles and a South Carolina Department of Social Services office, Okinawa Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bowl is easy to breeze past. It occupies a secluded storefront that has a checkered history of hospitality ventures including a merry Mexican restaurant, a scandalous night club, and a Sunday-only pop-up kitchen that offered after-church supper. Today it is a welcoming source of Asian-style lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Even if you aim to eat such Japanese-restaurant standards as teriyaki chicken or hibachi shrimp, it pays to read the entryway’s blackboard, where more inventive items are posted. Recently, the board advertised a fusion quesadilla filled with crab and cream cheese and topped with syrupy unagi sauce: a soft, sweet, easy way to begin a meal.
