On the plate, a yen for victory

Red Sox season has begun and this year it has a new look and feel. With the signing of Japanese superstar Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Sox are hoping they will have the magic ingredient to make their pitching staff unstoppable. As a result, Red Sox Nation has been seized by "Dice-K" mania. Around town, restaurants are celebrating the arrival of the new ace and welcoming the many Japanese visitors who are expected to flood the region for the next several months. Here is a sampling.

ANDREA PYENSON

OISHII 1166 Washington St., South End, 617-482-8868 612 Hammond St., Chestnut Hill, 617-277-7888 365 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, 978-440-8300 Matsuzaka maki roll, shrimp tempura made with hamachi (yellow tail) and a sweet ume sauce. For Oishii chef Ting Yen, shrimp tempura is "like a baseball bat," starting wide at one end, getting narrower near the tail. Yellow tail, he says, "is the most common fish in Boston. And ume sauce is red, so it signifies the Red Sox."

BOSTON HARBOR HOTEL 70 Rowes Wharf, Boston, 617-439-7000 Japanese breakfast with natto (fermented soy beans), assorted pickles (including umeboshi), miso soup, rice, grilled salted wild Scottish salmon, and green tea. Chef Daniel Bruce's goal was to create a breakfast for visitors from Japan (it's part of a room package). "I have a few Japanese staff people in the kitchen, so I checked it with them. I want the people ordering it to feel as close to home as possible."

DOUZO 131 Dartmouth St., 617-859-8886 Dice-K roll, a soft shell crab roll with tuna, scallions, tobiko (flying fish roe), sweet eel sauce. Owner Jack Huang explains that the restaurant renamed its "spider roll" in honor of the new pitcher "because his ball is like a spider; it will go anywhere." The tuna represents the Red Sox because it is red. And the sauce is sweet. "Hopefully, everybody [will be] happy," says Huang.

FUGAKYU

1280 Beacon St., Brookline, 617-734-1268 Matsuzaka maki roll filled with mushrooms, asparagus, tobiko, lobster, avocado, and spicy mayonnaise. A whole lobster tail is wrapped around it. In Japan, explains chef Hiro San, "Mr. Matsuzaka is known as ' Kaiju ,' which means monster," hence the sea monster look of the roll. A square of lettuce standing on the left side is meant to resemble the Green Monster. Price is $18, Dice-K's new number.

THE METROPOLITAN CLUB 1210 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill, 617-731-0600 Crispy rice fingers and tuna tartare, melon salad, and avocado tempura. Chef Todd Winer lived and worked in Tokyo for several years and drew on that experience to offer the tartare and other selections for the restaurant's Dice-K celebrations Sundays during April. Says Winer: "I put my favorite [Japanese] flavors together and thought about what our clientele would relate to."