Billy Sushi

One of the few restaurants to open in 2020 was Billy Sushi in the North Loop of Minneapolis. And it has been a hot reservation when they have been able to have in-house dining. The atmosphere is definitely fun and the sushi is excellent quality.   

Billy's live bait cocktail

yuzu tuna

JFC Japanese style fried chicken

Silly Billy sushi roll

assorted sashimi 18 piece

We've visited a couple times now and had excellent service and a fun evening each time. The sushi is very high quality. If you are up to in-house dining and looking for quality sushi, I would very highly recommend Billy Sushi. Carry out is also available.  

Billy Sushi
116 N 1st Ave 
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone: (612) 886-1783
https://billysushi.net

Gohan Sushi Truck

I had noticed new food truck on the streets and I checked it out for lunch recently. Gohan sushi certainly has a memorable looking trailer.

I had the 7 spiced yellowtail sushi bowl with scallions, cilantro, garlic, ginger, house-pickled daikon, jalapeño, citrus soy. The fish was very fresh tasting and the rice had great flavor as well. It was not cheap at $15, but for fresh fish, I think it was worth the price. 

For a fresh, light lunch, I highly recommend checking out Gohan sushi food truck. 

Gohan Sushi
Twitter: @gohan
https://gohansushimpls.com

PinkKU Japanese

Once more, it has taken us ages to get to a new restaurant. PinKU opened in 2016 and we have been in the area fairly often, but never remembered to stop in. It has gotten a lot of positive press in the Twin Cites in the last couple of years.

The concept seems to be quick service Japanese and sushi in a small footprint of a space. I guess they have gone on Shark Tank looking for financing to take the idea to a wider audience.

When you arrive you see a rather concise menu on the wall and you place your order at the register and then take a seat. The food is brought out as it is ready.

We started with the pork gyoza. These were perfect. There was just the right amount of crunch on the side that was seared and the filling had nice flavor.

My plate had the crispy shrimp rice and the yellowtail tuna. The yellowtail tasted very fresh and the sauce added just the right amount of soy flavor. The crispy shrimp rice is lightly breaded shrimp on a bed of rice. The shrimp has a very light breading of potato starch topping.

John’s plate contained the spicy tuna crispy rice, tuna poke and another order of shrimp rice. The spicy tuna crispy rice was unusual and simple, with a bit of crisped rice under the tuna. It was very good. I could have eaten several of these. The tuna poke was very fresh tasting and John also enjoyed the crispy shrimp.

The prices are not too bad, especially when you consider everything has to be flown in fresh daily. The dining room has some fun murals on the wall and feel minimalist and modern. The food was very good and I think this is a nice, quick, casual option for fresh sushi. I only wish we were inside of the delivery area for Doordash or Postmates so we could save a trip downtown.


PinKU Japanese
20 University Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Phone: (612) 584-3167
https://pinkujapanese.com/

Bibuta Food Truck

The Bibuta food truck was intriguing to me from the first time I spotted it in Downtown Minneapolis. I read the menu and skipped it, but once I heard it was operated by the Sushi Fix owner, I decided I had better give it a whirl.

The menu consists of two main items, sushi burritos and sushi rice bowls. I was a little apprehensive of the sushi burrito,  but I see it is not wrapped in a tortilla but in soy paper, for a light and flexible exterior. I may have to try that next.

On both of my visits I went with the sushi rice bowls. The first rice bowl was the Sushi Bowl for $12, which contains tuna, salmon, ginger, pickled eggplant, avocado, cucumber and sushi rice. The sushi rice is very good and plentiful too. I liked the mix of the cold fish with the warm rice too, nice contrasts. The fish tasted and looked very fresh as well.

The second time I visited, I tried the Hawaiian poke rice bowl. This is a home run for me, with tuna, salmon and avocado with a light sesame sauce. The fish was very good and the avocado throughout just kicks it up another notch.

I enjoyed both sushi rice bowls and would recommend them to anyone. They are a great way to sample sushi without having sushi.

The truck can often be found in downtown Minneapolis and at Minnesota United FC games. I would recommend following them on twitter for the latest information.

Bibuta Food Truck
Twitter: @eatbibuta

Sushi Fix Restaurant

Sushi Fix started out as a food truck coming to the streets of downtown Minneapolis a few years ago. After the food truck became a major success the owner found a spot in Wayzata to open a brick and mortar location in 2012. They have already expended the restaurant and we just recently visited for the first time. I really need to work on getting to new places when they first open. Or at least in the first year.

I started with the Sunshine cocktail that contained orange calpico, grand mariner and soda. It was a bit sweet, but not overly so. John had a draft Saporro. They had a variety of interesting Japanese beers available.

We had the goyza for our appetizer. They were very crisp and delicious with a nice soy dipping sauce.

 The sashimi trip included salmon, tuna and yellowtail. The fish was very delicious and fresh tasting.

Our sushi roll was the Ay Carumba Mexican roll with salmon, tuna hamachi, cilantro, avocado, and cucumber with ponzu sauce, wasabi aoli and chili oil. This was a spicier roll, but not overly spicy, so we both liked it a lot.

The restaurant wasn't too busy when we arrived, but it was fairly early in the evening on  a Friday night. It was much busier by the time we left an hour later. We were seated right away and the service was fine, noting particularly memorable. The food and drinks were all excellent, the fish was all very fresh and well prepared. The prices seemed a bit high, but I suppose that is to be expected for sushi in Minnesota, as everything has to be flown in. I enjoyed Sushi Fix and I thought I would as I liked the truck a lot also. I look forward to going back soon.

Sushi Fix
862 Lake St E
Wayzata, MN 55391
Phone: (952) 473-1364
http://www.sushifix.net

Bratfest, Bret Michels & Wasabi Japanese Restaurant In Madison, WI

That title sounds a bit like the start to some sort of bad joke. But it is a short summary of our Memorial day weekend trip to Madison, Wisconsin, to visit our friends Megan and Jason.

We started with Bratfest, which is a pretty big deal in Madison. It is sponsored by Johnsonville brats and they track the number of brats sold throughout the weekend. So we got into the giant line for brats, which moved pretty quickly. I should have taken photos of the brats and the lines, but I totally forgot.

Up next, Bret Michels, the free entertainment. I have photos of this! Megan and I enjoyed ourselves, but I’m not sure everyone else was as excited.

The next day we did a bit of shopping around Sun Prairie while Megan and Jason attended a chidren’s birthday party. There was a bouncy house, so the short people were pretty pumped up about that!  We headed to downtown Madison with the intent to hang out at the terrace later on.

For some reason we decided we all wanted sushi so we went to Wasabi Japanese. It is right on State Street and we totally over ordered. Gyoza are above.

 tempura vegetables

 sushi boat

 more sushi

sashimi

After sushi, we went down a few blocks to watch people finishing a 5k run. We sat on a patio in front of the Buck and Badger tavern cheering the racers. It was a nice night and fun to watch everyone go by. Plus a friend of Megan’s was running  so  we had to watch for her and have a beverage with her and her group afterwards. We had a fun weekend in Madison and headed home on Sunday morning.


Wasabi Japanese Restaurant
449 State St #2G
Madison, WI 53703
wasabi-madison.com

Crave

We visited Crave at the Shops at the West End recently before a movie. Crave is not usually at the top of our lists, but we had a gift card to use.

We had a reservation and while the entry was full of people waiting, we were seated right away. The server stopped by shortly after we were seated. The bar area was packed and the dining room was full as well. The room is certainly comfortable and attractive.

We started with the tuna poke and it was probably my favorite item we ordered. The tuna and avocado was fresh and flavorful and the portion was pretty generous.

The volcano roll was topped with scallops and had snow crab, cucumber and avocado with a sweet and spicy sauce.

The steak sliders had Angus beef, juniper mayonnaise, crispy onions and pickled jalapeño. The steak was tender, but a bit on the well done side and the juniper mayo had a strong pine flavor that we did not care for very much. While unique, I don't think the juniper flavor complemented the steak and onions very well.

While our visit was fine, I always feel a little underwhelmed when I visit Crave, but I am not sure exactly why. Have you been to any of the Crave locations? What do you think of it?

Deals & discounts: A nice variety of food and drink specials are offered on their daily happy hour, which is held both early and late in the evening. The early happy hour runs Monday - Friday form 3-6pm and Saturday from 11-5pm and a late happy hours runs Sunday - Thursday from 9 to close and Saturday from 10 to midnight.


Crave
1603 West End Boulevard
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 933-6500

Fuji Ya

We went to Fuji Ya for happy hour on a Friday recently. This is one of the best happy hours around with food and drink specials. I highly recommend it, if you can get there before 7pm on a weekday. The bar was pretty full when we arrived around 6pm, but we found a table right away.

We started with gyoza (potstickers) and the yakitori (chicken skewers). The gyoza were really good because they had a nice crisp exterior. The dipping sauce had touches of chile and was delicious as well. The yakitori was ok, maybe a bit bland. The server snatched the plate away before I could try the sauce on the plate unfortunately. I hate it when that happens.

The second plate was our sushi order with spicy tuna roll and tuna nigiri. The tuna roll was good, nothing spectacular. The nigiri tuna was really good, so I ordered another plate, which I forgot to take a photo of. The second batch was not quite as good as the first as it had different coloration and was separating a bit, but it smelled and tasted ok. We also ordered a tempura shrimp sushi roll, which was also tasty. The specialty rolls were only $5.25 and $6.50, and the nigiri were $3.50 for two, so it seemed like a really good value for all of the sushi.

For drinks I started with a glass of house white wine and John had sake and a beer. I also had a really good whiskey ginger drink later on after happy hour was over.

The service was acceptable, nothing memorable, but not bad either. He was pretty busy the whole time we were there as the bar area was quite full.


Deals and Discounts: The happy hour is a great deal for food and beverages. Drinks start at $3.50 and food starts at $3.00. The happy hour runs Tuesday-Friday from 5-7pm. The late night: happy hour is Tuesday-Thursday 9pm-11pm and Sunday 8-10pm.


Fuju Ya
600 W Lake St
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 871-4055
http://www.fujiyasushi.com

Raku Sushi - revisited

We went back to Raku sushi again as they had another Groupon deal. It is hard to resist those when you know it is good food and a good deal. 

John had the megu sashimi roll with no rice, spicy tuna, asparagus, yellowtail inside, wrapped with soybean paper, topped with salmon, eel, avocado, caviar and crunch, served with special spicy sauce.

I had the snow thrill roll with tuna, salmon, yellowtail and avocado inside, topped with crunch flakes, served with spicy mayo and eel sauce.

The service was just fine again on this visit. 

Deals and Discounts: Groupon had a deal back in just recently for $15 for a $30 certificate, which we jumped on. When we arrived I also noticed they had signs for a variety of happy hour specials as well. I would call or visit their website for the current happy hour deals, as I am sure the offerings can change frequently. 

Here is the link to our last visit: http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2013/02/raku-sushi-and-lounge.html

Raku Sushi and Lounge5371 W 16th StSt Louis Park, MN 55416(952) 378-1803http://www.rakumn.com/

Sushi Fix - 2013 Food Truck Season

The Sushi Fix truck is back on the streets of Minneapolis to my great joy. I have not had the chance to visit the new Sushi Fix restaurant yet, but I need to get out there soon. At least the truck is bringing high quality sushi downtown again.

On this visit I had the lunch special, which is 4 pieces of nigiri sushi and a roll of the day. They did not have a special, so I was able to pick off the menu, so I went with the spicy tuna roll. Everything was excellent-- very fresh tasting. For the nigiri I think I got two types of tuna, salmon and shrimp.

Here is a link to a post I did on Sushi Fix from last year:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2012/08/sushi-fix-truck.html


Sushi Fix
www.sushifix.net
Twitter: @SushiFix

Raku Sushi and Lounge

A new location of Raku Sushi opened at the Shops at the West End near the end of 2012. The area is becoming a very popular destination for dining and date night as the Showplace Icon movie theater is located there as well.

The restaurant is more interesting inside than I was expecting as well. When you enter, there is a host stand and off to the right is a small bar area. Behind the host stand are several tables covered in yellow stone and lit from within. The chairs and tables are built-ins you step down into and made from that stone and they look really neat, though I don't imagine you can move your chair or table around at all. There is a larger seating area in the back, with red booths and origami birds strung from the ceiling that look very pretty. The menu also had a much wider variety than I was expecting as they have a variety of Japanese entrees on the menu in addition to sushi selections.

We started with the pork goyza, which were excellent, although I was starving and I forgot to take a photo of them. They were pan seared and had just the right amount of crunch on the exterior.

I tried the lotus special roll, which had spicy tuna and yamagobo inside and tuna, avocado and spicy mayo sauce on the outside. I had no idea what yamogobo was, but it turns out it is a vinegar marinated ginger root. When I was eating the sushi roll, I thought it was carrot because it did not have much flavor. The sushi roll was great and I would definitely order it again.

John was feeling super adventurous and ordered the marine sashimi platter. It was 18 pieces of assorted fish ranging from fatty tuna, yellow tail tuna, salmon, red snapper, shrimp, fluke and tomato, which was described as an omelet.  The portion was quite large, very filling and all of the fish tasted very fresh.

The service was good and the food arrived pretty quickly. Our server was great at keeping our water glasses refilled and checking back to see if we needed anything on a regular basis. Overall, we had a great time and I think we will return again soon.

Deals and Discounts: Groupon had a deal back in December for $15 for a $30 certificate, which I jumped on. When we arrived I also noticed they had signs for a variety of happy hour specials as well. I would call or visit their website for the current happy hour deals, as I am sure the offerings can change frequently.


Raku Sushi and Lounge
5371 W 16th St
St Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 378-1803
http://www.rakumn.com/

Sushi Fix truck

Very quick post today! I went back to the Sushi Fix truck earlier this week. It has ruined sushi from places in the skyway for me. This is good, because I am learning what sushi is supposed to taste like, but it is bad because it is not cheap to eat here.

On this visit I tried the seaweed salad and the sushicado roll with salmon. The seaweed salad was different than I've had at other places in that it was a bit acidic. I'm still deciding if I liked it or not. The sushicado roll was great, with great rice and lots of salmon and ripe avocado. These are very large sushi rolls too!

Sushi Fix
www.sushifix.net
Twitter: @SushiFix

Sushi Fix Food truck

I finally went to check out the Sushi Fix truck the other day. I admit, I was a bit hesitant to order sushi from a truck. I read a few reviews that said it was great, so I decided to just give it a try. They had someone standing on the sidewalk outside of the truck to answer questions and take your order. He was very nice and helpful and not at all intimidating.

Distinctive carrying case for your sushi!

I ordered the Crunchy Spicy Tuna roll. Oh my. This was a wonderful sushi roll. It has spicy tuna, cucumber and avocado inside with tempura flakes for the crunch. The fish was very fresh tasting, the rice had a great flavor and I especially liked the sauce. I'll be the first to admit, this was not a cheap sushi roll. It was $13. So the price will slow me down a bit in returning. But I think it is a lot better than the sushi I've had from skyway shops, which are cheaper, but I think they use lower quality ingredients.

I would like to go back soon and try the seaweed salad. I've read about it and it sounds great, but they were out of it on my visit.


Sushi Fix
www.sushifix.net
Twitter: @SushiFix

Masu Sushi and Robata 12/23/11

John and I usually go out somewhere as part of our Christmas celebration a bit before the holiday. This year we chose Masu in NE Minneapolis. I've wanted to try it since it opened, but kept forgetting about it. I noticed it was right on Hennepin when I was shopping in that area before Christmas and suggested we check it out.

I started with a gummi shochu sours cocktail, the rainbow gummi. I really liked this drink, though it was a lot on the sweet side! But I love sweet drinks. John ordered a flight of saki.

We ordered the firecracker roll for a sushi selection. It was really good and somewhat spicy. I would order it again. I'm new to sushi, and I'm loving it more and more each time I order it.

We ordered some spring rolls as well. They had a really great dipping sauce that accompanied them, spicy yet sweet all at once. The spring rolls were the kind I love with a thin, crispy rice paper wrapper too.

Since robata is a specialty here we got a few specific items off that part of the menu. (By the way, robata is basically a Japanese method for grilling food.) For the Robata selections we got Asupara maki which was bacon wrapped asparagus. This was quite good, even though it is probably not the best time of the year to order asparagus.  We also got some grilled shrimp. The shrimp were pretty plain, not marinated or anything. The sauce on the side was a soy type sauce. It did not add much to the shrimp either.

Since we were not sure what else to order, so we got a combination plate to share as well. The Teishoku #2 included ribeye, shrimp tempura, sweet corn robata, tomato bacon maki robata and kani nigiri. The shrimp was good and so was the ribeye. The grilled corn was just average. I was thinking it would be really great, like State Fair corm on the cob or something, but maybe it was just undercooked as it had no good flavor and no extra flavor from the grilling. The kani nigri was amazing, the crab had great flavor.

We had a really fun time at Masu and we'd certainly go back. It was something different compared to anywhere else we've been before, at home or on vacation. It's just another reason to love NE Minneapolis! I saw they are also planning on opening another location at the Mall of America. The mall could certainly use some interesting restaurants and Masu will be a good addition.

Masu Sushi and Robata
330 East Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55414
phone 612.332.6278
fax 612.331.4705
masusushiandrobata.com