By BlueZero
09 Apr 2012 03:54
When your stomach is rumbling after a fast paced week, what can satiate your appetite? For me, I had eaten a lot of greasy and fatty (delicious) Mexican food back-to-back and I craved something lighter with low saturated fat. My answer was to pickup some sushi from Sushi Box in Costa Mesa for my dinner:
I need to preface this review by stating I created my own sushi combinations by choosing up to two meat options and three additional fillings. This means the review is even more subjective than usual since I decided to "choose my own sushi destiny" with ingredient choices.
My Sushi Background:
I have enjoyed sushi and will often eat it once a week. I've never been to Japan to sample their sushi which is supposed to be so fresh and amazing that people who return refuse to eat the "lessor quality" sushi here in America. I judge a sushi place on the quality of their fish, that is if the fish is flavorful enough to stand on its own.
My usual go-to rolls of choice include the crunchy, rainbow, dynamite and once in a while the Philadelphia. I enjoy most of the fish fillings including salmon, unagi (eel), tuna, yellowtail, shrimp, etc.
Ambiance:
The Sushi Box is a very tiny eatery with only a few tables seating a max of two. There are also a few more tables outside that seem to be shared with the nearby Subway and Hawaiian eateries. I'm guessing most of the orders are to go with lunch being their busiest time for take-out.
There was no line when I entered Sushi Box and the woman at the counter was helpful in answering my questions about the menu. I ordered my food to go and the kitchen was able to get my order prepared in about 7 minutes.
The Sushi:
Since I had the options to customize my sushi, I decided to create a more unique roll and then go for a more traditional offering with my second choice. The sushi size was larger than the standard 8 pieces and you can see the larger size in my photos.
First Custom Roll:
- shrimp tempura
- salmon
- crunchy chip
- cucumber
- cream cheese
I've created a monster! The tempura and the crunchy chips are too similarly fried, I really couldn't taste the salmon and I really should not have added cream cheese to this roll. From what I could taste, I would say there were only two pieces of shrimp tempura at the roll ends. Yet I could tell this wasn't true when I examined the inner rolls and saw a small wedge of shrimp tempura.
The taste of the roll overall was muted. I could mostly taste the cucumber, rice and the crunchy chips. The experimental roll was a decent warmup for the much tastier second roll.
Second Custom Roll:
- yellow tail
- spicy tuna
- crunchy chip
- cucumber
- avocado
Now we are talking! I always enjoy a fresh avocado and here the avocado succeeds again. The spicy tuna at the Sushi Box was incredibly flavorful. It was delightfully much spicier than I had anticipated and I did savor each bite. The portion of spicy tuna was excellent for the price. My taste buds craved even more since it was so tasty!
The yellow tail fish added some flavor and texture to the roll. Most the time when I've had yellow tail in sushi, it doesn't have a specific taste where I could easy identify it. At least to me, I haven't had yellow tail enough to successfully describe what it is like in sushi.
We have a winner!
Conclusion:
I looked at some Sushi Box opinions after my dinner and many people recommend the lunch deal for the value. If I were to go back to the Sushi Box, I'd try their lunch special which includes teriyaki, california or veggie roll, and a green salad or steamed vegetables. Maybe even add on a $5 custom 8 piece roll with 1 meat ( spicy tuna YES) and 2 ingredients (avocado and cucumber).
The Sushi Box is an excellent value for sushi with each custom "double" six piece roll costing $5.95. At most sushi restaurants and bars, the price for smaller 8 piece rolls is easily $8-$10+. This is the first time I recall where I could actually get my sushi pretty close to "made to order" though it's probably better if I left it to the chef (Omakase). The standout surprise for me this time was their spicy tuna, other sushi places better watch out at this high standard!