The fish-filled bundles at Sumo Restaurant are worth the trip.
Worth a trip: Sushi burritos ($5-$7.50) at Sumo Restaurant
1751 N. Sheffield Ave. 312-576-4989
I’m a sucker for a good food mashup. Cronuts restored my faith in humanity, Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos made my knees weak and the fabled ramen burger is still on my bucket list. So when I saw a banner advertising sushi burritos at Lincoln Park’s Sumo Restaurant, I knew I had no choice in the matter. What’s become a fusion staple in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York has finally landed in Chicago.
Sandwiched between a Subway and a mattress store, Sumo is relatively unassuming. The menu boasts run-of-the-mill essentials: miso soup ($3), spicy tuna roll ($6.95), salmon poke ($10), veggie tempura ($12) and chicken teriyaki ($14.95). The walls are covered with murals of sumo wrestlers, and the Yelp reviews are just above average at three and a half stars. In a city dotted with sushi joints—both hole-in-the-wall gems and uber-pricey spectacles—you have to get creative if you want to stand out.
Sumo owner Ganzorig Amgalanbaatar did just that when he hung a banner in his restaurant’s window: “Introducing the first-ever new sushi burrito in Chicago,” it read. Game, set, match.
“We saw it before in California, and my customers told me about it,” Amgalanbaatar said. “A lot of people just love the sushi burrito in California.”
For now, the BYOB-friendly spot offers two variations on the treat: fresh salmon and spicy tuna. Both are prepared with the same accompaniments—cucumber, crab salad, crab sticks, tempura sweet potato and special sauce. The ingredients are padded with rice and encased in seaweed and rice paper. Each roll is then wrapped in foil and cut on a diagonal right down the middle to create two palm-size pieces. In my mind, there was only one thing that could ruin a sushi burrito: too much tough, chewy seaweed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the seaweed wrapper only covered half of the burrito—the other half was wrapped with clear rice paper.
“The burrito is bigger than the special rolls, so the seaweed is too small,” Amgalanbaatar said. “You can eat it anywhere. The rice paper makes it very easy to take to go.” Though the seaweed alternative became a bit sticky and gummy toward the end, the tinfoil wrapper acted as a reinforcement to keep everything intact.
During lunch, the fish-filled bundles are available for $5; after 2 p.m., they go for $7.50 each. Though they’re not overstuffed like San Francisco’s famed Sushirrito, these guys aren’t lacking. Tender cuts of salmon and spicy tuna meet their match with crunchy cucumber, tender sweet potato and messy crab salad. I admittedly removed the jumbo crab sticks halfway through because I wasn’t a huge fan of the crab-on-crab combo. Everything else worked together in perfect sushi harmony.
One sushi burrito probably won’t fill you up. My rule of thumb: Think of it as a full specialty roll and plan the rest of your order accordingly. Yes, these burritos are a perfect snack, but one isn’t going to hold you over like a Chipotle burrito would (but really, does anything?). I’m all about keeping the peace, but here’s hoping Sumo’s creation incites a sushi burrito showdown in Chicago.
Reporters visit restaurants unannounced, and meals are paid for by RedEye.
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