The Pride

Issue date: 3/10/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Matt Lewis Sushi 101's Alaskan roll

When thinking of what food to eat between classes, what immediately comes to mind? Hamburgers, pizza, fries, or perhaps some pre-packaged chips? The average student does not have to be a nutritionist to know that these kinds of foods will make them slow down in the middle of the day.

Fortunately, the Big Cat Food Court has many eating options, including Bamboo Stix (Chinese/Asian food), Lettuce Eat (salad bar), and Stack and Dash (Subway-esque sandwiches). In addition to these options, the most recent (and smallest) addition is right when you walk in: Sushi 101.

For those that are unaware of what sushi is, for the most part it is raw seafood, surrounded by white rice and a nori (seaweed) roll and can come in millions of different variations of these three elements. It is often served with a side of wasabi (a spicy mustard-like paste), pickled ginger, and soy sauce as condiments.

Sushi 101 offers a variety of different basic "Nigiri" sushi, which is usually the basic seafood ingredient served in the rice and nori roll. The seafood they have includes albacore, salmon, shrimp, crab, tuna, and even octopus. The prices of these rolls range from $5-$8, depending on whether or not you want the 4 or 6 piece meal.

The sushi rolls are different in that they include a number of different ingredients all wrapped into one. They are then cut into segments for easier handling and sharing, if desired. The rolls offered here are mostly of the fusion variety, or a combination of the ingredients of two different cultures.

The most popular example would be the California roll, which is made with rice on the outside and the nori roll inside, which contains cucumber, avocado and crab meat.

The Philadelphia roll contains cream cheese and the Alaskan contains imported Alaskan salmon meat, which shows the lengths to which fusion can be used. The prices on these rolls range from $6-$10, depending on what the ingredients are and how much is used.

For those who do not see the appeal of sushi, Sushi 101 also offers Bento, or to-go, dishes. Although salmon is offered, a person also has their choice of Kalbi (grilled beef), Bulgogi (barbecue), Tonkatsu (fried pork) and chicken, which can be served fried or grilled. These options are great for those who do not have much time to eat before classes, as they take less time to prepare and eat than sushi. Also, they are meat options that are filling but do not cause drowsiness like fried food options.

One misconception that people have is that food from school cannot taste good, or at least cannot compete with the quality of an outside restaurant. This is an unfortunate misconception that students carry over from elementary school, when abominations like "haystacks" and square pizza were the best options.

However, nothing could be further from the truth in this case. Want proof? If people really think outside food is better, they will be happy to hear that the chefs at Sushi 101 are from the San Marcos branch of Sushiya, a popular sushi bar chain.

In fact, much of the menu that regular Sushiya customers love remains intact for this tiny but delicious sushi spot in the Big Cat Food Court. So why not try something new for lunch that does not require microwaves or fryalators? Sometimes new experiences can lead to life-long love affairs, even in the case of raw fish.

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