Marutas

For years I had heard about Maruta's Japanese grocery store/to-go Sushi case/Chinese take out window in Georgetown and only recently had a famished lunchtime visit. I started in the store, where the pre-made sushi sits in refrigerated cases, and was disappointed to find that the only vegan options were cucumber rolls and inari. So I bought a bag of seaweed flavored chips and a package of melon chews and walked next door to the take out window to test my luck there.

Photo courtesy: http://livinginseattle.wordpress.com

Unfortunately the take-out area was no better. The only vegetarian option here was a sad looking tray of greasy veggies. There were many *almost* vegetarian options: MaPo Tofu with pork, fried rice with pork, noodles with chicken. Dang. Ended up leaving with nothing but my chips and candy, and it turned out that even my chips had both shrimp and bonito in them.

Cutting Board

I have always coveted Bento boxes, the Japanese delight that comes with multiple foods tucked away in separate compartments on a luxuriously divided plate, but they are almost always meat based and I had only partaken vicariously until a recent visit to Cutting Board Sushi in Georgetown where I was thrilled to find a "Veggie Bento" front and center on the menu.

The Veggie bento box came with spinach filled potstickers and veggie croquettes on a bed of mixed greens, fried tofu with pickled sprouts, salad with miso dressing, rice, and a couple slices of tough pickled vegetable. All of the main items were deep fried, which was tasty but not sustainable. I was pretty excited as I munched my way around the little compartments.

The sushi list was huge and had tons of interesting vegetarian options including all sorts of unusual items like fried yams, wasabi mayo, mango and apples, in addition to a variety of usual veggie things: tofu, asparagus, peppers, avocado, spicy mayo, etc. I would love to try some of the rolls sometime.

All that said, the meat eaters were less excited about their meals. Two of them ordered fish sushi rolls and weren't stoked on what they got. The other meat eater ordered the house bento box and was disappointed that everything in it was so greasy and fried and later complained about how heavy it all felt.

So I guess the verdict is still out. It may be the case that the huge vegetarian variety (lots of vegan options too... just tell the person at the counter and they'll tell you what's possible) wins it over as a sushi restaurant for vegetarians, but maybe the regular sushi isn't the greatest. I'd love to hear other opinions on the place.

Kisaku

Social restaurant feasts seem to involve sushi these days in my world, the most recent of which was a celebratory evening at Kisaku in the mysterious Tangletown neighborhood near Greenlake.

The group began with a bunch of appetizers, two of which were somewhat appropriate for a vegetarian: edamame and agedashi tofu, which came covered in bonito flakes. When I order agedashi tofu for myself, I'm always careful to specify that I'd like it without the bonito. On this occasion I simply scraped it off and continued to eat the lightly battered tofu.

While the rest of the table ordered platter after platter of creature based sushi, I secured myself a nice little supply of vegetarian goodies: Tofu Dengaku: tofu in a (surprisingly sweet) red miso sauce, a $1.50 Kobachi salad with a scoop of mashed potatoes, and a beautiful Devil's vegetarian role that had an outer skin of marinated, fried eggplant.

It can be tricky with Japanese food to get seemingly meat free options truly free of fish products, but these all seemed to be genuinely vegan (with the exception of the mashed potatoes, which might have had some mayonnaise in them). It was nice to have some unusual options!

Aoki

A recent cold, rainy evening inspired a night of sushi with some friends at Aoki on Capital Hill. Aoki has a couple of simple vegetarian rolls, but no real clincher on the menu and I decided to order non-sushi items for my dinner instead of requesting anything special from the sushi bar.

Many sushi restaurants have a delightfully low-priced simple salad on their menu, and Aoki is no exception. For $1.50, I received a nice size bowl of crisp ice burg lettuce with thinly sliced red onion in a delicious sesame dressing.
I also ordered my Japanese restaurant standby: Agedashi tofu. If you are a regular reader, you may have noticed that I tend to special order my tofu non-fried. This is because I generally find fried tofu to be a less delicious, unpleasing textured, excessively greasy version of what it could be fresh or steamed, not because I have an aversion to eating fried things. Agedashi tofu is an exception to my general tofu rule in that good agedashi tofu (and I've never had it bad) involves all the best of both worlds: fresh, custardy, smooth tofu on the inside with a delicate but crispy, salty, crunchy crust on the outside. It is an example of deep frying done with a a concerted culinary aesthetic rather than as a default, and it is exquisite.

I also ordered a plate of Yakiudon with tofu. The price for this plate was $6.50, and at that price I wasn't sure if it was going to be a tiny sampling, consistant with what $6.50 tends to get you at expensive sushi restaurants, or a full meal. I was extremely pleased to receive a huge plate of steaming noodles. It is unusual to feel that a sushi restaurant delivers good quantity value for the price (no doubt because all of the non-vegetarian items are so precious), but Aoki absolutely did. Nice.
It was a lovely evening out, just what I needed. Thanks P & B!

Mashikos

Recent out of town company inspired an indulgent dinner at Mashiko's Sushi Bar in West Seattle. Mashiko's had me charmed right off the bat with three things done delightfully: pretty water glasses garnished with cucumber slices, table set with a bowl of rice cracker snack mix, and a claim to be Seattle's first fully sustainable sushi restaurant.

The menu is large and has a variety of vegetarian items mixed in (marked with a radish icon) with the fish, in addition to a dedicated vegetarian sushi list. There is even a vegetarian "Chefs Choice" sushi assortment that includes a couple vegetarian rolls and a selection of vegetarian nigiri.

I started my meal with a "Deep Forest" roll, which included tempura asparagus, avocado, tomato and Cajun spices. I really enjoyed the flavor and spice of this roll, but found the overall texture of the innards to be a bit on the homogeneously soft side.
Next, I ate Agedashi Tofu, special ordered vegetarian (menu indicates that it can be made veggie upon request). The order included a hefty quantity of fresh tofu in a surprisingly thick, deep-fried crust bathed in some delicious savory broth.
As the meal continued and more details emerged, the restaurant revealed itself to be even more awesome. I found our waitress to be especially wonderful. For starters, she acted neither bitchy nor judgemental about having a vegetarian to wait on (not always the case at sushi restaurants). Second, she seemed to really know her sushi and used an impressive array of descriptors (including swimming speed) when describing what a certain fish might be like.

I was also really impressed with the bathroom, which was complete with high tech Japanese toilet seat that was not only exquisitely electrically prewarmed, but had multiple bidet/shower options that came with a multitude of adjustment to suit any mood.

Really everything about this place was fantastic: food, ambiance, spirit, staff. Not exactly cheap, but there was no reason it should have been.

Sam's Sushi

Sam's Sushi in Ballard has a vegetarian sushi option that strays from the standard avocado, radish, tofu, carrot type: The Green Leaf Maki, which includes asparagus, avocado, cream cheese and shiso leaf. Much as I enjoy more typical veggie rolls, it was exciting to try something different and variety is a sweet gift for a vegetarian at a sushi restaurant.

Sam's didn't seem to have a tofu roll, so I ordered agedashi tofu for a little protein. I specified that I wanted it without bonito, and they were happily able to prepare the meal vegan. Woohoo!

The gently fried tofu with the smoky delicious dipping sauce came with a couple of exciting bonuses: a little pile of finely shredded radish, and a large piece of fully battered and fried broccoli. Yum.

J Sushi

Nighttime comes early these days in Seattle, and my dining companion recently found himself craving a big steaming bowl of udon to stave off the cold. We decided upon J Sushi in the International District, a relatively new sushi/udon restaurant that had been recommended by a friend.

I don't tend to have very high expectations for vegetarian fare in Japanese restaurants since so much of the food is fish based, but there were a few vegetarian items to be had: vegetarian roll, agedashi tofu, a salad. The very very friendly but perfectly hands off waiter also informed me that the sushi chef could prepare a variety of special vegetarian rolls if asked. I started with a vegetarian roll from the menu.


There was something interesting in the roll that I initially thought was fish, but ended up being pickled gourd. Interesting! I liked the variety.

I also ordered the agedashi tofu in a savory sauce, and unfortunately it came with big pile of bonito flakes (fish) on top. I wasn't feeling particularity finicky and just scraped them off (unfortunately also scraping off much of the delicious light, crisp batter) and ate it anyhow. And it was really good: fresh, soft creamy silky tofu squares lightly battered in a most delicious airy but crisp coating and lightly fried, and served hot with a light smoky sauce (maybe there was fish in it... I couldn't taste any, but am not positive..). Got to remember to order it without the bonito next time!


My dining companion's udon bowl was exquisite. With a rich savory, oniony beef broth, perfectly chewy thick cut square noodles and nice size slices of beef, it was exactly what he was jonsing for and I was a wee bit envious.


He generously fished out a few udon noodles for me (and I continued my safari of near-omnivorism) and ate them sprinkled with one of my favorite Japanese condiments, S&B Nanami Togarashi, a vegetarian granulated pepper mix that includes chili pepper, orange peel, ginger, sesame seeds, pepper and seaweed. Omg the noodles were good. It made me all the more mournful when I found out that the vegetable udon bowl on the menu uses a fish broth. J Sushi, if you are listening, I would be a loyal and frequent customer if you made a vegan broth udon bowl!!


I really liked the ambiance of the place, which was modern and artsy and kind of hip with beautiful large paintings of koi and other sea creatures directly on the walls. The staff was also awesome: The sushi chef, behind the sushi bar, was obviously a very friendly, inclusive, fun, outgoing, funny guy who was happy to chat it up with his customers, yet I was feeling more reclusive and private and involved in conversation with my dining companion. The beautiful thing was that he graciously and tactfully sensed this and didn't overly engage us. I was so grateful and it made me feel so warmly towards him.


Especially if you eat fish, I suggest you give this place a go! We didn't have a huge sampling of the sushi (dining companion at a tuna roll), but the tofu and veggie roll were good and the udon (if you eat fish or meat) seemed to be divine.

Sanraku

Followed the recommendation of a local member of the San Francisco clan and went to Sanraku for a sushi dinner.

The menu was as vegetarian friendly as a typical, no concessions Japanese sushi menu is. There was agedashidofu, edamame, miso soup (with bonito), avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, a tofu salad, and a veggie roll. Missing was the "this is a little something special for the vegetarians" tofu roll. I ended up ordering a veggie roll and a spicy tofu salad to get some protein.

The spicy tofu salad was a beautiful, carefully arranged spread of steamed vegetables and a small brick of fresh firm tofu smothered in a salty, spicy black bean sauce. I found the sauce to be too salty, but the artful arrangement compensated for that deficiency.
The veggie roll was nice enough. It was a large roll (a challenge for the one bite per slice routine) full of green beans, steamed carrot, sprouts and miso. No complaints.
As a vegetarian eating sushi, it is hard to get into the "OMG, this is AMAZING" mindset that fish eaters can get into when eating a piece of really exquisite sushi. I think this is because the qualify and freshness of vegetables and tofu isn't quite so varied as the quality and freshness of fish. Sometimes veggie rolls are better or worse in one place over another, but it is hard for me to declare that one place has AMAZING sushi the way that fish eaters can when they come upon something really spectacular.

The waitress brought out two unexpected plates of fruit to finish the meal, which I thought was a nice touch. Of course the remaining 5 folks at the table had so stuffed themselves on beautiful fish, eel and softshell crab rolls that I more or less ate it all myself.
Sanraku
(415) 369-6166

SOMA
101 4th St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Kozue

Suddenly hungry for sushi, a dining companion and I were recently lured into Kozue in Wallingford by a street sign advertising $1 rolls. The waitress presented us with a paper listing their $1 options, and we were to mark on it how many of each we wanted.

There were quite a few vegetarian options, and we ordered avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, pickled radish rolls, inari, and a tuna roll for my friend. There were no tofu rolls on the $1 menu.

When the sushi came it was impressive looking on a large platter. But it really wasn't all that great: the rice was sort of too wet, and as a result the nori was chewy and tough and gummy.

I appreciated the un-dyed ginger

The avocado rolls were the clear hit because the avocado was the dominant ingredient. The cucumber rolls were overwhelmed by the mouthful of hard-to-chew nori, and the radish rolls were inconsistent: some were just fine, others were filled with very woody textured, hard to chew innards. The inari was so-so, again, I found the rice to be too wet and overall too sweet. My friend had a hard time eating the tuna rolls in the hot sun. It didn't help that I accidentally ordered her 2 rolls, or 12 pieces of this particular type.

Of course the price was right. I wouldn't expect a great pride taken in the $1 rolls, and I appreciated the deal aspect of this place. We both agreed that it would have been an awesome deal and experience had we just stayed with the avocado rolls.

Kozue

1608 N 45th St
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 547-2008
www.kozue-on-45th.com

Blue C Sushi

First I should say: I don't eat fish.

But I really like sushi, and am always on the hunt for a good vegetarian roll. I really enjoy eating at Blue C because they have many vegi options:

1. Tofu roll: has all of the regular stuff you may expect from a vegi roll... tofu, avacado, cucumber, sprouts, etc. I think it compares well to the fancier vegi-rolls of the more expensive sushi joints.

2. Tempura Vegi roll: I haven't found this any place else, and it is super good... fresh hot greenbeans lightly fried in a tempura batter and then rolled. The contrasting textures are really pleaseing.

3. Avacado and Cucumber rolls: old standbys that are cheap... I think that an avacado roll (6 pieces) is around $1.50.

4. Lots of non-sushi items... sesamie noodles, cucumber salad, potatoes katsu, spinich gomai (I'm not sure how to spell that... it is a ball of steamed spinich in a sesami soy sauce), soft tofu in a chili sauce, etc

Like just about everybody who eats there, I was curious about the "how long does it go around the belt?" factor, and asked one of the waitresses. I learned that there are bar codes on the back of each dish on the belt, and that each dish is scanned each time it passes around the belt and plates not taken in a certain amount of time (I don't remember how much time exactly, but it was a surpriseingly short time) the dish is removed.