Shinju Sushi

 

I'm back! Ridiculously long break, I know, but I'm realizing that maybe it's time to act my age and have fun. 

What else is new? Hyde park is getting some real   restaurants! My fellow foodie Henry and I decided to check out one of the two new sushi places that have opened on 53rd street-- one, The Sit Down Restaurant, also serves paninis and pizza, which struck us as odd. We opted for Shinju Sushi instead.

It was nice and drizzly, so we decided to wander until we found the restaurant. It seemed packed at first! Classic Hyde Park clientele: old people and grad students.

The first thing we saw after we were seated was that they had an ALL YOU CAN EAT DEAL! Flat rate of 20.99 per person... I've had cheaper at Sushi Para Too in Lincoln Park, but after Henry suggested we do a "cost-benefit analysis," we determined that this was a much better deal. The sushi even came with free ice cream!

We each got a check list. Henry started checking off nearly every kind of fish on the menu, even though he said he had a Chipotle burrito for lunch :)

I, however, was wary of the fact that we would be charged for any rice left on the plate. I didn't want to have to stuff rice in my napkin, so I didn't order as much.

He was crazy and requested no wasabi, and he also let me eat all his pickled ginger. They combined our sushi on the same plate, so we ended up sharing everything:

-Yellowtail

-Super white tuna

-Salmon

-Octopus

-Inarizushi (that tofu skin stuff with rice)

- Red snapper

-Salmon (although we passed a freezer full of it on the way to the bathroom... frozen, too bad. but what isn't these days?)

-Regular tuna

-Saltwater clam

-Spider roll

-Eel

-Marinated mackerel

-Plus seaweed salad and miso soup

I was SO RIGHT about the sushi... I have never seen such enormous pieces of sushi in my ENTIRE LIFE. I'm sure anybody from Japan would freak out at the American portion sizes of those things... they were honestly twice the size of normal nigiri.

But was the quality good? I would say yes! The fish was fresh, and other than the fact that I am inept at eating sushi, especially when the pieces are that big (Henry said "for someone who loves food, you have a lot of trouble eating it!"), I had no complaints. Man, was I full by the end.

Henry in a food coma:

And then dessert-- I got green tea ice cream and he got chocolate, but we both pretty much took a bite and then put our spoons down. I heard the people behind us ask if they could get the ice cream to go and get refused, so I think everybody was pretty full.

The restaurant also has a bento box deal. I will most definitely come back here. When I need my sushi fix, I know where to go.