Seaweed, the New Mesclun: Sushi House, Oak Park

Seaweed, the New Mesclun: Sushi House, Oak Park

In a Hungry Mag interview with Carol Wallack of Sola, Michael Nagrant referred to seaweed as something like the “new Mesclun,” meaning a hot new flora that over the course of the next few years could start appearing on menus everywhere. Womack thought maybe it’d be hard to integrate the flavors of ocean veg with many dishes, but there’s no doubt that the flavors fit just fine with sushi, and I’m glad to see this stuff appearing with more variety.

At Oak Park’s new Sushi House last night, we had the Ocean Seaweed Salad, which I found quite excellent:



The incandescent green stuff in the foreground was heavy on the sesame oil, and that was fine, but the magenta and black varieties were pretty much in their native state, with no apparent seasoning, just a few sprinkles of sesame seeds. There was the more common white weed as well, and with some cuke and lemon, this was a very good starter: crunchy, salty, fresh.

The sushi at Sushi House was on par with most other sushi joints in the area, and a welcome addition to Oak Park’s decidedly needy dining scene.

Sushi House
1107 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60301
708.660.8899

Thanks for reporting on this place. Would you consider it pricey?

seebee wrote:Thanks for reporting on this place. Would you consider it pricey?

Not unduly pricey, no. The ocean seaweed salad was $5.95, and chirashi (my sushi joint benchmark) was like $25, which is in line with other sushi joints around Chicago, and it seemed a little less expensive than Sagano Sushi further, which is located east on Lake Street.

Considering that I consider the other area sushi joints, Fuji Grill and Sagano, to be two of the worst Japanese restaurants in the city, your review seems to be damning with faint praise (as far as "on par"). But your description of the salad sounds appealing, so I'll give them a try!

Santander wrote:Considering that I consider the other area sushi joints, Fuji Grill and Sagano, to be two of the worst Japanese restaurants in the city, your review seems to be damning with faint praise (as far as "on par"). But your description of the salad sounds appealing, so I'll give them a try!

I would say that Sushi House is much better than Fuji Grill and somewhat better than Sagano (based on range of offerings, quality, etc.).

One nice touch at Sushi House: they have a basement bar with the requisite flat panel monitors, but instead of some sporting event, they simply play a continuous loop of tropical fish swimming around, which is a most welcome use for these monitors.

Ordered take out from Sushi House last week and was very dissapointed. First the Sushi was actually warm. While I realilize that take out is not optimal for Sushi (I made a point of arriving early) I have had Sushi delivered that was excellent. I attribute the temperature issue to the fact that the Sushi was sitting behind the Hostess station and was on top of the hot entree I had ordered.
I also felt it was very pricey considering how small the Nigiri Sushi and rolls were. We had the following:
Nirigi
2 Hamachi-Yellowtail
2 Maguro- Tuna
Rolls1 Alaskan- Salmon, Avacado & Cucumber
1 Dragon- Unagi cucumber masago sliced Avacado

1 Order "Honey Moon" Shrimp, (Chinese General Tso's).

Total cost no tip $55.70

The space is very nice with two front window Tatami rooms, and is much nicer than Sagano, but I will not return. I will wait with my fingers crossed for Sushi Nami in Elmwood Park to open.

Starfish (802 W. Randolph, http://www.starfishsushi.com/) has one of the better seaweed salads out there in my experience. All of their salads are quite good (better than some of their rolls). This is a place weak on nigiri and maki but very strong on appetizers and entrees, even if I'm one of the only on-board fans.

We dined at Sushi House last Friday and would agree with David Hammond's assessment. Frankly, Oak Park was in desperate need of better sushi, and our first impression is that Sushi House foots the bill. They are not (yet) delivering at the level of several city favorites such as Bob San, but it is a welcome addition to the restaurants found in the neighborhood.

We ordered several rolls and a dozen-odd pieces of nigiri. Their uni was surprisingly fresh and good as was their super-white tuna. They were out of toro, and saba was the only piece that I felt was sub-par. Dragon roll was a good, albiet fairly standard, take but the spider roll was fresh and contained a perfectly cooked soft-shell crab.

The rolls were generously portioned. The nigiri was to the small side of average, but I feel that the trend had been oversized pieces over the past few years. I'd always understood that nigiri is intended to be consumed in a single bite. I wonder if our expectations of what a portion is may have simply outgrown this notion.

We'll be back, and will certainly try the seaweed salad upon our return.

CubsFanFoodie wrote:... The nigiri was to the small side of average, but I feel that the trend had been oversized pieces over the past few years.I'd always understood that nigiri is intended to be consumed in a single bite. I wonder if our expectations of what a portion is may have simply outgrown this notion.

I'm really not sure what the norm is supposed to be, or if there is one, but I'm inclined to think it may be a style type thing - perhaps. I do recall when I first really started eating sushi - back when Hatsuhana on Ontario was not that old, (dating myself a little)
there was a place called Honda, and also a place called Ohba (not the new one.) Hatsuhana served up uniform fish slices on their nigiri which would barely cover the rice pad, but both Ohba and Honda would serve up some slabs that would absolutely blanket the rice pads on all four sides. This was probably darn near 20 years ago.