Aki Sushi

Dear Friends and Family,

We both had a craving for sushi last night so we decided to try a new sushi restaurant. Aki Sushi is not new, just new to us. They've been open about a year now.

Not crowded when we arrived just before eight, the place had only a couple of empty tables by the time we were done with dinner. We ordered a bunch of nigiri sushi and a couple of standard rolls. For the nigiri, we got maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellow tail), sake (salmon), I don't know it's name in Japanese (white tuna), unagi (eel) and tamago (egg). And, for the rolls, we got a salmon skin maki and a shrimp tempura maki. The have all of the out-of-control makis with the fish inside, wrapped in fish outside with crunchy stuff and non-traditional stuff like cream cheese. And, they have the signature makis which take the out-of-control maki to the next level. Call us purists...

Since we just beat the crowd, the sushi arrived quickly. Mr. mouse and I both really liked the rice texture - sweet and tangy with just the right amount of stickiness. The fish was fresh and creamy, although Mr. mouse though it could have been sliced a hair thicker if he was going to be picky. The rolls were good. I thought they had too much sauce on them; Mr. mouse thought they could have used a little more.

My two complaints? They were out of saba (mackerel) and I've been craving it recently. And, both the unagi and the salmon skin could have used a little more char for lack of a better word. I expect a certain crispiness around the edges with the unagi and across the board with the salmon skin. Instead both were cooked through but not crispy. It tasted more meaty that way, but lacks a certain guilty mouth feel. It might be personal preference, but I think I would lean towards crispy over meaty in both of those pieces. Other than those two pieces of criticism, it was a good first try for us.

Overall rating: 7/10

Aki Sushi
2015 West Division Street
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 227-8080


Cheers!
mouse