Aki Sushi is refreshingly unostentatious. In a neighborhood where so many places are falling all over themselves to convince you that their sushi is out of this world, Aki Sushi goes about the business of preparing good sushi well and gives you ample portions for the price. And Aki Sushi gets points for authenticity. Behind the counter actual Japanese proprietors see to the details. It puts me in mind of a good old fashion ma and pa joint in Tokyo, sincere and devoted sans the glitz.
Start with a bowl of edamame; try miso soup or perhaps a seaweed salad, the usual standbys in most traditional Japanese restaurants, done well, nothing to trumpet about, but consistent and reliable. You can range a little further afield if you like, maybe some gyoza, a soft shell crab, and a half dozen inspired sushi oriented appetizers, but don’t expect the mind-numbing 8 page menus you find at some WP/BT sushi restaurants.
Want some good maki? Try the caterpillar roll. Aki Sushi has one of the best caterpillar rolls in the neighborhood. The combination of avocado over shrimp tempura and snow crab topped with black and red tobiko is hearty and delicious. The rolls are thick and generous, not the slender stunted rolls you find at some sushi restaurants. And they take great care in the presentation, mindful that the name implies something. So the caterpillar is laid out in a single column, the rolls in the middle arranged closer together than the ones at either end to suggest a contracting centipede.
The green turtle roll is similarly whimsical, a tasty combination of fresh water eel, avocado and tempura crunch topped with shrimp and wasabi tobiko. It’s decorated with creamy wasabi and eel sauce and arranged in a circle to look like a genuine terrapin. It’s fun and delicious. On the other hand, the dinosaur roll is only vaguely reminiscent of a cartoon dino and its combination of fresh water eel over spicy tuna is somewhat less inspired than the others.
The nigri sushi is merely average. My ikura was extremely mushy, not nearly as fresh as I would’ve liked. But everything else we had was fairly typical.
The ambiance is a little bland, redeemed from the hard edged, uncovered ambiance of a food court by a flagstone koi pond situated along one wall and the dimming of the lights. But Aki Sushi is not striving to dazzle you with artifice. They just want you to relax and enjoy yourself.
There’s an abiding sense of guilelessness here that’s missing from many of the sushi places around the neighborhood. Aki Sushi isn’t trying to convince you that sushi is the new cutting edge cuisine. It realizes you’ve probably seen it before. And then it gets down to serving you decent sushi, sincerely prepared, generously apportioned and earnestly delivered. And that, by itself, is worth stopping by for.
Aki Sushi
2015 W. Division
773-227-8080 / Reservations Accepted
Hours: M-Th 5pm-12am; F-Sa 5pm-1am; Su 4pm-11pm
Features: Outdoor Dining, Late Kitchen, Carryout
Avg price of a meal for two including drinks and tax $90
Website: http://akisushichicago.com
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