How does one woman eat 40$ worth of sushi? I'll tell you....

Thanks to VI I tried Sushi Wabi on Sunday night. It has satisfied my sushi craving....for now. I walked in and someone instantly asked me if they could help me out - both people I talked to were very nice - I told them I wanted take out and they handed me a simply laid out menu & everything on it looked good. I got 6 pieces of sushi: 1 sake, 1 maguro, and 1 hamachi. The yellowtail and the salmon were my favorites; the tuna (red-colored) was not as good as I've had in the past, but I certainly ate each bite! I actually meant to get sashimi - in my rush to order I wasn't thinking clearly. So I peeled them apart and ate the fish separately from the rice (which was well done, just the right amt. of vinegar).
I also got two rolls, where I made another (expensive) mistake: I just pointed to a couple of rolls that sounded good and didn't realize how much they were until she had walked away A Rainbow roll was 14$! But well worth it as it had tuna, avacado, salmon, and eel all wrapped together. I also got a spicy tuna roll, which was bound together with something a bit pasty, masking the spicy-ness a bit.
Anyway, I felt as though it was truly summer, eating my sushi on the porch with a cold glass of semillon/sauvignon.
Thank you for the recommendation!
Maybe a sushi outing is in order?

Thanks for the follow-up. It would be nice/fun if we could do a sushi tasting day the way we are doing an Italian beef tasting day, but I'm not sure whose pocketbook could stand that (not mine).

As it is, and as someone who does not eat a whole lot of sushi, I am curious what the consensus ranking of the sushi places are. It seems like most people put Heat and Katsu at the top, from there?

Should we have a poll using our snazzy new software?

Rob

I was just about to respond to messycook...

The problem with ranking sushi restaurants is that there are so many ways of doing so. Mirai is good in a creative way, but is it as good or better than Katsu? If we are going to be ranking sushi restaurants, should we be doing so for traditional sushi and then again for creative sushi??

In my book, Katsu will always be the god of sushi in Chicago...

And my loyalties lie next at Bob-San and Naniwa...

I would love to participate in a sushi outing... There is a group of sushi lovers that does a sushi dinner thing once a month. I believe the organizer goes to (or works at) DePaul or something. I will try and find the link.

I haven't tried Katsu yet, but it will be my next sushi adventure....
Nor have I tried the other 2 that were mentioned. I would not be able to do a "sushi crawl" due to lack of funds as well, but I would like to go to the once-a-month-outing thing, or I am willing to try to find a time a bunch of people could go to one place together.

I'm looking for an inexpensive but creative sushi restaurant. A dive that has almost everything, but costs next to nothing. Wide variety of creative pieces and rolls that would be shunned by traditional Japanese restaurants. More likely to be run by Koreans or SE Asians. Probably does zero advertising. Most diners eat with fingers instead of chopsticks. Open late, large bottles of beer and cheap shoju on the menu.

I've seen 'em in other places...spotted in Chicago?

For inexpensive, creative sushi, I would go to Green Tea, 2200 ish N. Clark. Over 40 maki rolls, very creative, tiny restaurant, BYO... good stuff. Higly recommended.

I find Ringo (2507 N Lincoln Ave) to be just that - Creative and inexpensive. Great presentation, high quality fish and BYOB to keep the bill even lower.

One longtime favorite that fits your cheap sushi bill is Tampopo, 5665 N. Lincoln I think. Generous amounts of fish, everything pretty good to really good, nice Korean folks running it. GWiv discovered or at least popularized it, and for me sushi these days pretty much comes down to everyday at Tampopo and splurge at Katsu.

Rich4 wrote:I'm looking for an inexpensive but creative sushi restaurant. A dive that has almost everything, but costs next to nothing. Wide variety of creative pieces and rolls that would be shunned by traditional Japanese restaurants. More likely to be run by Koreans or SE Asians. Probably does zero advertising. Most diners eat with fingers instead of chopsticks. Open late, large bottles of beer and cheap shoju on the menu.

I've seen 'em in other places...spotted in Chicago?

Shiroi Hana might fit the bill for you. Most of the sushi chefs are of South American extraction..Columbia, Peru, etc. They have a $1.00/piece lunch special Mon - Fri. You get one chance to order all the sushi you want for $1.00/piece. Reorders are at regular price. The sushi is good, although not Katsu calabre but all the major bases are covered.

Shiroi Hana
3242 N. Clark
773-477-1652