Sushi California is a chain of Korean-run sushi restaurants that offer pretty decent portion sizes for not a lot of money. It’s one of AngryRussian’s favorite places to eat actually. We always go to the Coquitlam location on North Road.
They remind me a lot of Sushi Garden in a lot of ways. The pricing, portion size, and also the line-ups. Both places get super busy real quick. However I think I might have come to like Sushi California just a tiny bit more.
The Spicy Agedashi Tofu ($4.50) is a must-order item for AngryRussian. Sushi California’s version is always lightly crispy on the outside and always comes hot (if you eat-in that is). The spicy sauce tastes very similar to the common red spicy sauce used for any of this Japanese-style of spicy anything.
Sharing a half order of the Assorted Tempura (full-size: $7.95), it came with two pieces of prawn, and one each of zucchini, carrot and yam. I never liked carrot tempura…never understood it.
The batter is light and crisp and overall the tempura wasn’t overly oily. The dipping sauce was also perfectly sweetened.
So back to why I think Sushi California trumps Sushi Garden- because of these two rolls here, the B.C. Roll ($3.25) and the Crunch House Roll ($4.50).
First of all, Sushi California uses actual grilled-till-crisp salmon skin in their BC Roll, which is how they all should be in my opinion. Many other restaurants just use pieces and scraps of cooked salmon in their version and I really don’t care for that.
As for the Crunch House Roll, well, it’s basically your basic Korean house roll but wrapped in nori (seaweed), then deep-fried till crispy and then drizzled with teriyaki sauce. It’s that added crispiness that got me and this roll maintains its shape extremely well despite how large each piece is, so you don’t have to stuff the whole thing in your mouth, if you don’t want to =)
AngryRussian seems to always get the Double Spicy Tuna Roll ($4.50) and the Chicken Teriyaki Roll ($4.25). Here’s a tip from him: if you can’t fit the bigger rolls in your mouth, you can always ask for them in “bite-size” and they’ll make them smaller. I personally feel like “hey why get less food for the same price?!” so I never do 😉
The Double Spicy Tuna Roll is your typical spicy tuna roll with more mashed up spicy tuna on top, then smothered with crispy flakes.
And the Chicken Teriyaki Roll is well….a chicken teriyaki roll!
Ultimately Sushi California is a great place for a quick and cheap bite to eat!
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