It’s a sushi experience unlike any other. A rooftop patio sets the stage for accomplished chefs who meticulously handcraft their rolls, nigiri and sashimi to the cadence of house music amid weekend revelers who may have danced their shirts off two levels below. Party lights extend from an enclosed kitchen about the size of a train car, with glass windows and a low bar built along one side of it. Simply wiggle on up and seize a chair – and the name Rockin Café + (Sushi) makes rousing sense.

A business within a business, the full-service café operates beneath the stars on the top deck of Club Montage, a three-level Xanadu for dancing and entertainment, and now for some of the best sushi I’ve consumed in years.

The kitchen is owned and managed by Michael Foshansky, a friendly young Russian native who works alongside two skilled chefs producing serious Japanese fare that you wouldn’t expect to find in a merry gay atmosphere such as this. In addition to numerous sushi offerings, Foshansky’s big menu features a variety of grilled meat skewers accented with mouthwatering sauces, plus noodle dishes, salads and appetizers – all available until 4:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s the kind of late-night dining adventure that could someday rescue San Diego from its silly “I-can’t-eat-after-seven” mentality.

With our backs to the crowd at the 10-seat sushi bar, my dining companion and I turned our attention to a different sort of eye candy that began landing under our chins. A delicious Avocado Salad loaded with crisp confetti-cut cabbage got things rolling. But it was clearly those “rockin’ rolls” that impressed us the most.

Fish-fearing stomachs, for example, will delight over the café’s Smoked Chicken Sushi, constructed with miniature bits of chilled cream cheese and cucumber cut with razor precision. A judicious topping of sesame seeds and a few squiggles of spicy chili sauce on the plate provided a flawless backdrop.

The Bora Bora Roll is a big seller here, somehow fresher and cleaner than most other spicy tuna rolls I’ve had. And from the nigiri category, the two-piece Scallops Hottate was presented like a jewelry box brimming with pearls; a little fishy tasting, but indicative of what traditional sushi used to be.

As we approached a satisfactory fill, it occurred to us that we never dabbed our food into those little plops of wasabi or reached for the soy sauce. These sushi speak for themselves, given their well-engineered symmetry of flavors.

If you can fathom the thought of slurping wet noodles between your lips while perhaps cruising for romantic prospects, then I highly recommend sneaking in an order of Noodles With Shrimp. The dish comes with six beautifully scored crustaceans sweetened with a light, almost undetectable tempura crust. And the whole concoction is served in a delectable puddle of Ponzu and eel sauce for added zip.

Another tempting choice is the Lava Rolls, which the menu describes as “hotter than hell.” The Boogie Nights Roll contains salmon wrapped in cucumber with baked lemon on top. There’s even a Rainbow Roll representing a lot of fish in the sea. And the seven-piece Sashimi plates are filled with everything from octopus to halibut and albacore. Wash it all down with some sake, Japanese beer or plum wine, and you’ll be fueled to partake in the club’s high-energy atmosphere that is only a sushi’s throw away.