Sakura

My friend Tory wanted to meet up for lunch yesterday and suggested just coffee and a light something, but by the time I got in her car, her mind was on sushi and there was no changing it. I saw a sign on Sakura that they had some sort of lunch deal Tues - Fri so we decided to check it out. Sakura is located on Broadway right by Hannon's and Waukesha State Bank. We walked in and there were two people eating at the bar watching the sushi chefs at work (sorry not up on technical sushi chef terms). We were greeted with some sort of saying but not being familiar with sushi restaurants or the language I just said HI!

The decor inside Sakura is very basic - white walls with different sized boards in black on the walls that resembled trees to me in a way. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the ambiance and I am not a good describer, so I guess you just need to check it out. There was a funky chandelier in the entryway that was different than all the other lighting in the place and I don't know if that is tradition or not. Time to start reading up culture norms. Photo below courtesy of Scott Ash and this WaukeshaNOW story.

Anyways, we were seated at a table and told of the lunch special placard on the table (Tues - Fri 11am - 2 pm). We immediately went for that. The deals were 1 California roll and 1 additional roll from the list for 8.95 or 1 California roll and 2 additional rolls from the list for 12.95. We weren't really sure how large the rolls were but decided to get the 12.95 deal. We went for the eel roll and the philadelphia roll. As we waited for our rolls to be prepared, we scanned the rest of the menu. I'm not that familiar with sushi/sashimi foods so it was very foreign to me, but I think if I went with a large group, it would be a great time to try many different rolls at once. There were some deals in the back of the menu for large group ordering, so if anyone is ever interested just let me know!!!

The waitress brought over two small salads for us and a bowl of miso soup. I'm not familiar with miso soup and wasn't feeling soup yesterday so Tory tried it and said it was ok. The salad was really good and I loved the soy/nutty dressing on it. It did take a bit for me to figure out how to use chopsticks again, but once I figured that out, I dug into the salad.

Then the rolls came. We were surprised at how much food we got and probably could have gotten just the 2 roll deal. I believe each roll was cut into 8 and was served with something pink (later determined to be ginger) and some green paste. Upon oral investigation, I realized it was Wasabi paste and I'm still apologizing to my taste buds for that instant heat and pain. (not a fan of wasabi). After looking it all over, we poured ourselves some soy and dug in. I started with a California roll and it was pretty typical to what I had in the past. YUM. Then I went for a Philidelphia roll which was salmon, avocado and cream cheese in the roll. I really enjoyed this one. Tory isn't a big fan of cream cheese so she let me have my share of those. Then we went for the eel rolls which had eel sauce and toasted sesame seeds on the outside. I could definitely taste the difference and was a little nervous as I haven't had eel before, but it was so good! I really enjoyed that one and didn't need soy at all for those.

Our eyes were def bigger than our stomachs and we had a lot of leftovers. We were given a to-go box and Tory let me take home the rest. I was so excited to have them, but unforatunately I left the box at work overnight and, well, day-old sushi isn't my idea of a way to experiment with possible food sickness. I'm sure it would have been ok, but I don't want to tempt it as I don't know the temp of my work fridge and from what I read online, it should be consumed within 24 hrs at the longest. Eel is on the right, cali is at the bottom and philadelphia are on the upper left.

I posted that picture of my leftovers on Facebook yesterday and got a ton of responses that people wanted to know where I went and what I thought. I definitely think people should try this place and I believe off my recommendation, one friend did today. I think this could be a weekly/bi-weekly lunch stop for me. Splitting with a friend, its really not that pricey. Hope you take a gander there soon and enjoy it as well. Happy Eatings!