Pretty Sushi

Before going to the Joffrey Ballet’s opening night of Eclectica on Wednesday (find the review in Clef Notes' Summer Issue), Im and I stopped at Oysy for sushi. I’d never been before, and I have to admit that the atmosphere is a little on the sterile side (which I guess is both good and bad for a restaurant), but the sushi is pretty good.

When it comes to raw fish I’m mainly a maki-only kind of girl (not for lack of trying other types of sushi and sashimi, I might add). There’s just something about the seaweed, and the rice, and the fish all rolled up tight and dipped in a touch of soy sauce that excites my taste buds. We ordered the Godzilla, Rainbow Dragon, and Dynamite maki (Im ordered the fatty tuna, too, which I’ll eat once in awhile, but am quite happy to forgo on most occasions). Now, I’m pretty sure that you can’t go wrong with a Godzilla roll anywhere—I’ve loved it every time, and everywhere I’ve ever ordered it. In my opinion, you can’t really go astray with tobiko either, which is part of why I loved the Rainbow Dragon. The roe adds that nice little crunch, without significantly changing the taste (well, at least I don’t notice much difference in the taste).

But when it comes to Oysy’s Rainbow Dragon roll, I think I loved the presentation even more than the taste. You’ve got to hand it to Oysy for presentation. Check out how awesome our Rainbow Dragon roll looked:

Oysy's Rainbow Dragon Maki

You’ve got to love the colors of the wasabi-, chili-, and black-tobiko, not to mention the eyes and tail. Then of course it’s stuffed with all those kinds of fish: salmon, tuna, white tuna, eel, shrimp… Yum! (That's part of the Dynamite maki to the right.) Our dragon was even cuter in real life.

Oysy was the perfect place to go before the ballet. It wasn’t insanely busy, so we were able to get in and out pretty quickly and make it to the performance with time to spare, which I really appreciated. If you’re headed to Auditorium Theatre and need a place to grab a bite before the show, Oysy’s not a bad choice.