Cafe Japon

The Husband and I tried Cafe Japon in Addison this evening. As a non-sushi eater, he enjoyed it, but I don't recommend it. It did have fairly cheap happy-hour prices - $1 for most pieces of sushi and $1.95 for hand rolls. I liked the hand rolls, but I had never had one before, so I have nothing to compare them to. A hand roll is a sheet of seaweed rolled into a cone and filled with rice and fish or shellfish and vegetables and stuff - sort of a sushi taco. Both of the ones I tried had cooked shellfish in sauce in them and were quite tasty.

It was the sushi pieces that I was unhappy with. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was raving about some squid I had from Central Market, so I was looking forward to eating it again. But, what I had at Cafe Japon did not taste fresh. They served it at a tepid temperature and it was really stringy. I also had some salmon roe, which I usually love love love. However, this didn't taste fresh either, and the eggs looked wrinkly and dull. I was also disappointed by the mackerel, which is served salted and marinated, so it's usually very flavorful, but this was too bland.

The Husband enjoyed his dish, which was essentially a sushi roll, but instead of rice and seaweed it was beef wrapped around vegetables. The only reason why I might recommend Cafe Japon is that is has more or less acceptable, inexpensive sushi, as well as dishes that non-sushi/seafood eaters would like - both vegetarian and carnivorous. However, I don't plan to go back.