Chopstick - Yarmouth, Maine

There's a new restaurant in Yarmouth. Occupying the former home of Mekong Thai on Route 1 (in the strip mall with Sherwin Williams), Chopstick is off to a promising start.

Serving Japanese, Korean and Thai cuisine, the decor is warm and inviting and you quickly forget you are in a strip mall.

We started with the shrimp dumplings. The wrapper was thin; the contents lacked flavor, tasting like they were frozen and had been re-heated. They were served with a yellow mustard and honey sauce which was an odd pairing and did not enhance the dish.

We fared better with our second appetizer choice of Dynamite Tuna. They offer it prepared three different ways on their menu: as an appetizer; on a salad and as an entree. The center of the ahi tuna was perfectly rare, fresh and deep red; the edges were encrusted in sesame seeds and cracked peppercorns, seared ever-so-briefly and served set upon bean threads and cucumber slices. Dipped in soy sauce, the tuna melted in my mouth.

My rule of thumb is never to have sushi at a restaurant unless it is their primary focus. Raw fish needs to be extremely fresh to be good - and safe for consumption. I am never confident that there is enough turnover and demand for the raw dishes at restaurants where it seems to be an afterthought. But I will definitely go back to Chopstick to try the sushi after having the Dynamite Tuna.

Globe trotting to the Thai portion of the menu, my husband ordered Pad Thai with vegetables. In addition to the traditional scallion, egg and ground peanuts, the noodles also held crisp asparagus, snow peas, carrots and broccoli. There was too much fish oil used when preparing the Pad Thai; I prefer the more subtle and less oily version found at Pom's Thai Taste.

The Dolsot Bibimbap (a Korean dish of mixed vegetables and rice) was served in an extremely hot stone pot that kept the contents sizzling until the end of my meal. Served with steamed tofu (other options included beef or chicken), the stir fry was topped with a soft fried egg intended to be broken open, so the runny yolk could flavor the dish, and a side of Red Pepper Paste to be mixed in according to taste. The dish needed a binding agent beyond the paste; it was greatly enhanced when I added a tablespoon of soy sauce and a small bowl of miso soup and mixed again. The soup helped bring all of the wonderful Korean spices, the rice and the vegetables together.

There was only one server the day we dined, who lacked knowledge about the menu and the basic elements of providing decent service. We noticed several Help Wanted signs in the windows so I suspect this aspect of the experience will improve. In the meantime, enjoy the personal, table-side attention from the sushi chef who helps with the delivery of the food.

A couple of items to note: Chopstick uses MSG in their cooking, so if you are sensitive, be sure to ask for your dishes prepared without this flavor enhancer. For sushi lovers, Chopstick gets their fish from Boston on Mondays and Thursdays. While it is filleted immediately, the sushi chef informed us that it has better flavor the next day.

Next visit (and there definitely will be a next visit), I will leave the Thai to Pom's and stick to what Chopstick does best: Korean, Japanese and Sushi.