Tokai Sushi

I can't believe it took me this long to blog about my favorite sushi place, Tokai Sushi.  This is centrally located in Salt Lake, at 1301 East Miller Avenue, which is just north of 33rd South in the little strip mall where there is a Cookie Cutters shop, a pharmacy and a sports car dealership.  We've been going to Tokai for over a year now and it has been consistently good, an important feature!  Sushi is the main menu item, but they have lots of other great dishes.  I will let Derk blog about that, as he doesn't order sushi when we go with he and Christine!  

Some of my favorite sushi rolls are below:

• Alaska Roll (salmon, crab, asparagus & avocado, wrapped in soybean paper).  For sushi beginners, this is a good place to start.  When we introduced Abby to sushi, we started with all rolls with soybean paper, which is a nice alternative to seaweed.  
• Crunch Roll (Shrimp tempura, crab & avocado, with tempura powder on top).  We almost always order this.  I am a BIG fan of shrimp tempura and the tempura powder on top makes it just crunchy enough.  The sauce served with this is also totally yummy.  
• Imperial Roll (Crab, cucumber, avocado and cream cheese with salmon and lemon on top).  I had to be introduced to this one, because I was afraid of the lemon on top.  DO NOT be afraid of the lemon!  When you pop one of these in your mouth, you have all those great flavors happening at the same time - crab, salmon, avocado, cream cheese and then you get this little kick from the lemon!  Truly amazing.  
• Playboy Roll *my favorite* (Shrimp tempura and crab, topped with tuna, salmon, avocado and tobiko (fish eggs) - this has the yummiest sauce that makes me want to lick the plate when I'm done!  No, I haven't done this in public...but I do admit I have when we've done take-out at home!  
• Black Crunch Roll (Shrimp tempura, crab, avocado and eel on top).  When Abby first tried this, we told her the eel was chicken, so she would try it.  Now, it's all she wants to eat!  And, if you've never tried eel, try this roll.  You'll be hooked for life.  

The most expensive of the rolls is the Playboy at $11.45, with most of the others between $8.45 & $9.95, so not too expensive.  Their appetizers have been uniformly good - we usually get the edamame (they serve this with a wedge of lemon, which when squeezed over the edamame makes it truly yummy!  I like it with a LOT of salt, as well).  Their tempura vegetables & shrimp have the crispiest tempura with a light sauce to dip it in, and the miso soup is hot and filled with yummy chunks of tofu (that is Abby's favorite part).  Perhaps one of the best features of Tokai is the free dessert, served at the end of the meal, usually either tempura strawberries or tempura bananas, with whipped cream & chocolate syrup.  The perfect end to a perfect meal!

Overall, if I had to pick my favorite "neighborhood"restaurant, this would be it.  Great food, nice people and a great location (only 20 minutes from work and surprisingly only 15 minutes from home, on the freeway and I-80!)  I highly recommend it!