Let dispense with the "f" word first. Junz is not a fusion restaurant.

French-trained, Japanese-born chef and owner Jun Makino wants to have his fresh toro sushi and serve fine seared foie gras ($13.50) with consomme butter sauce, too. Few dishes on his menu intermarry. The question is how well the egoless Japanese raw aesthetic coexists with the personality-driven French regime.

It may be located in a faceless modern mini-mall, but the classy interior of Junz would be welcome in any Cherry Creek bistro. The soothing mustard-hued walls bear some neat modern art and objects including a beautiful Dale Chihuly sconce.

After a warm welcome, we were seated on a busy Saturday night and eagerly filled in a sushi order form. Everything we tried — scallop, smelt roe with raw quail egg yolk, fresh water eel and albacore was top-notch and prettily presented.

What elevates Junz' sushi to star status is fantastic fresh wasabi. The bright green horseradish puree boasts a pure, clean bite that is momentary and eye-opening. It doesn't bump into the fish like a charging sumo. It will be hard to settle for pale, harsh paste again.

As appetizers, we enjoyed a decent bowl of miso ($1.50), some serviceable shrimp and vegetable tempura ($7.25) and, best of all, a nearly perfect lobster salad ($7.95) on baby arugula.

The spirit of Makino's stellar mentor, the late chef Jean-Louis Palladin, guides him when he prepares Chilean sea bass ($21.50). The buttery, seared white filet dovetails gloriously with chewy risotto and a classic lobster bouillabaisse sauce.

The same inspiration held true for the moist blue marlin ($18.95) with lobster cream fettucini, and a center cut filet mignon ($23.50) with fettucini with rich glossy veal and mushroom reduction. The unseasoned, understeamed broccoli on these plates functioned more as garnish than vegetable.

Despite these shining moments, the service stank. Our unsmiling waitress spoke English poorly. Language is no impediment when you're ordering sushi, but it makes getting any information about the French dishes an exercise in frustration. Dishes were grabbed without asking if we were done. Entrees dribbled from the kitchen one or two at a time even as dirty dishes piled up and our waitress went missing for 20 minutes.

Junz clearly seated more tables than could properly be served on this busy night. However, I attributed some of it to growing pains at a popular new eatery.

A few months later we returned to Parker to see how Junz was evolving. We settled in on a weekday evening with a creamy, barely sweet glass of pearl sake and more of Makino's sushi with that killer fresh wasabi. We are addicted to the caterpillar roll ($9.50) set in a pool of sesame-seeded thick sweet soy.

The standout starter was the mis-named corn chowder ($3.25). This was a sensuous, doubly creamy and buttery corn bisque that hugged the palate in the most delightful way.

We appreciated the subtlety of the warm shiitake salad ($6.25) with delicately sauteed mushrooms hiding under field greens. The first class Hawaiian-style tuna tartare ($6.95) was elegantly presented in a martini glass. The only starter dud was the gyoza ($4.50). These crispy deep-fried dumplings are no substitution for genuine steamed and pan-seared gyoza.

For the main event, everybody liked the niku maki ($16.95). Sliced ribeye steak wrapped around toothsome pencil-thin asparagus was draped in a thick, slightly sweet and beefy sauce. The halibut ($16.95) was decent but unremarkable except for the vegetable-dotted risotto.

While the smoked chicken teriyaki ($14.95) with steamed rice didn't taste particularly smoky, it's generously portioned with a balanced house sauce that was neither too salty nor too sweet.

However, it was worth coming to sup on Makino's lamb chops ($21.95). The four, fork-tender, herb- and garlic-marinated mild baby chops were pan-seared just enough and married to perfect fettucini in rosemary-hinted butter, mushroom and soy sauce. You'd pay lots more for the same dish in Cherry Creek.

On both visits, we concluded the meal with creme brulee ($4.50). It was not the "luxurious creamy custard" described on the menu. We tried the three flavors: the traditional was grainy and loaded with lemon, the chocolate was really chocolate pudding, and the Kahlua version was only OK.

The tiramisu ($5.50) was a small square of delicate cake layered with super-creamy mascarpone and soaked in rich espresso. Our dessert idol at both meals was the surprisingly good green tea ice cream ($3.50), usually a perfunctory afterthought. Junz' densely creamy housemade chiller had a blissful hint of true green tea and vanilla flavoring. It was perfect except for a glop of vapid canned whipped cream on it.

That squiggle of whipped cream illustrates the disconnect between Junz' aspirations and its reality. You see the potential in the fresh wasabi, the consummate foie gras, the sea bass and the corn "chowder." You face reality in the bland semi-steamed broccoli and the lettuce salad with innocuous orange puree dressing on too many plates. You see it in the service that was better at the second dinner, but still far too inconsistent and unskilled.

Makino has work to do to make Junz a must-drive dining destination, but make no mistake: The potential here is huge. Anyone who lives near this evolving gem should count themselves lucky to have adventurous cuisine of Junz' caliber so readily available and modestly priced.