Jake’s mom, Carin, gushed to me about North Park Sushi and Grill and told me that for the price, it was some of best and freshest sushi she’s ever had. I don’t have a lot of experience with sushi. The thought of eating raw fish makes me cringe and immediately puts a snarly look on my face. As long as they have other items in the sushi – things that are cooked – then I’m willing to give it a try. And no tuna. Ever. Carin invited Jake and I to go with her one evening to try the place out during happy hour from 5-7PM (4-7PM on the weekends). During happy hour, select rolls and appetizers are 20% off, plus they have $3 Sapporo draft beers.
I started off with a Sapporo draft. Quite refreshing.
Carin ordered two things, and this was one of them: the Crunchy Roll. I’ve heard of a crunchy roll, but I had no idea what it was. I was pleasantly surprised to find it had tempura shrimp in it with lots of crunchy tempura batter bits sprinkled heavily on top. I ended up liking this the most (besides my tempura shrimp – I had a serious shrimp theme going on that night). I liked that the seaweed was on the inside and the crunchy bits on top. It was a bit sweet, too.
Carin also got this, but I forgot what it was. It looked pretty though. Jake and I didn’t eat any of this.
Here’s my little Tempura Shrimp appetizer which came with four pieces of shrimp. My little plate was fish shaped, too, and I thought it was the cutest thing. I didn’t manage to get a good shot of the plate though. Crunchy, sweet, delicious shrimp. Love love love shrimp!
Jake ended up getting this as an appetizer (20% off, yay!) – the Fish and Chips. They use different fish depending on what they have available and on this visit they used orange roughy for the fish. Jake was immediately excited by this and enjoyed his dish. I had a bit and thought it wasn’t crunchy enough for my tastes, but the fish was good – white, tender fish. I also ate a bunch of his french fries.
I ordered the Chula Vista Roll. This has tempura shrimp, crab, cream cheese, and avocado and is covered in a light batter and fried slightly with crunchy batter sprinkled on top. These were rich little bites! Nice and crunchy, each one was really stuffed with the filling. I thought maybe there was just a little too much cream cheese in these since that was the dominant flavor I tasted, but still pretty darn good.
Jake ordered the Texas Street Roll. This has beef teriyaki and french fries in it, topped with teriyaki sauce. Yeah, it tasted as weird as it sounds. Jake and I didn’t think they were awful, but that the combination of flavors here – teriyaki with french fries and rice – was just a bit off. You get the sweetness from the sauce and beef, the crunch from the french fry and then rice…. and… yeah, you chew and try to wonder how it all goes together. It doesn’t really. But it was fun to try!
I’m happy to say that one of my first forays into eating sushi was a success! I like that North Park Sushi & Grill have a true variety of rolls to try – many of them named after different parts of town (I don’t remember them all anymore, but they do also have an “Idaho Street” roll with french fries in it). It’s a nice little spot in North Park if you’ve got a hankering for sushi.
North Park Sushi & Grill
3021 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
(619)297-0924
hi Mary,
Nice pics and great looking food. And the Texas Street roll sounds right up there with the California burrito.
Hi Michael – Thanks! It does pretty much sound like a sushi version of a California burrito. Kudos to them for making it and kudos to us for eating it. They have a bunch of ones named after various parts of town, I should have taken notes since they’re not listed on their website!
I think you’d be interested to know that North Park Sushi is owned, I believe by Ocean Harvest, a seafood wholesaler here in San Diego. They have access to some pretty good product, but I’m not convinced they use it at the restaurant.