Roka Akor Knows How to Chill Out, Sashimi-Style

Roka Akor Knows How to Chill Out, Sashimi-Style

Roka Akor's Summer Sushi Experience

AUGUST IS ALWAYS the hottest month of the year. Many Houstonians endure the dog days of summer by trying out a Houston Restaurant Week menu. And Greenway’s sushi hotspot Roka Akor has upped the game with three specially priced menus — and lots of chilled sashmi — to get through the last of the season!


The Summer Sushi Experience, just $49, is a chef’s selection of sushi and sashimi dramatically presented on an ice-cold platter touting flowers that grow out of the dish. Highlights include Atlantic oysters with yuzu jelly and fresh chives, and the buttery toro sashimi topped with ossetra caviar. The special ends Aug. 31.

Not in the mood for sushi? The elaborate Houston Restaurant Weeks menu, $55, starts with not one but three appetizers: dumplings, yellowtail sashimi and a spicy tuna maki roll. Entrée options include black cod, prime New York steak or lamb cutlets. There’s multiple desserts to pick from, but we’re partial to the chocolate cake — it’s filled with almond caramel and served with vanilla bean ice cream. The HRW menu ends Sept. 2.

No matter which menu whets your appetite, get there early, because happy hour ends at 6:30pm. There’s a refreshing blood orange margarita and the booze-forward Roka Fashion on the menu, along with beer and wine specials. Plus, find a whopping 18 food options including sushi rolls, Japanese fried chicken and grilled scallops!

Food

A next-gen artificial heart from BiVACOR has successfully been implanted in a patient at Texas Heart Institute. The patient survived more than a week, until a donor heart was found for a transplant.

THE PIONEERING CARDIOVASCULAR inventors and surgeons at The Texas Heart Institute (THI) in the Texas Medical Center have made another huge leap forward in the treatment of heart disease, officially announcing yesterday what they’re calling a “monumental advancement."

Keep Reading Show less
People + Places

Rachel Gardner with her flower necklaces and, at left, Calla Lilly necklace

ON SATURDAY JULY 27, Foltz Gallery presents Endless Summer, a lively, playful exhibit of works by a multi-generational group of 28 emerging and established Texas-based artists. Taking its name from the 1974 Beach Boys double-album, which compiled the group’s early 1960s hit singles, the show is a visual “mixtape” of colorful paintings, prints, photographs, wall-based installations, ceramics and sculptures, installed lovingly throughout Foltz’s spacious and sunlit galleries. Among the works in Endless Summer are several examples of handmade “sculptural jewelry” by artist Rachel Gardner — a series of wearable wildflowers and fruits, including olives and strawberries.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment