Sushi / Food Porn

Nikko Japanese Restaurant 282 E. Algonquin Rd, Arlington Heights (NW of Chicago, IL) Tel: (847) 364-9546 approx. $25/person for *tons* of sushi

review.

Shayna:

Were we inspired by "Desperate Housewives"? Or just craving good sushi -- whatever our urges, let the myth of suburban banality be shattered. Sushi in the burbs is seductive enough to lure five graduate students away from their proper and responsible study habits. Who says that sushi is an urban affair?

Yea, Nikki's was worth the trip and a return one if you have friends or fam in town. Mike and Sheila dove into the affair with an appetizer of fried soft-shell crab that proved tempting enough for Shayna to overcome her lifelong phobia of the creature. Customary edamame and miso soup appetizers spread the red carpet for the evening's roll call, featuring spider, kamikaze (this roll deserved an encore), red dragon (not to be confused with dragon, also delicious), caterpillar, siberian tiger (rolled in nifty soy paper), yummy yummy, 911, and many more. Orders of nigiri - including octopus, tuna, *real* crab, salmon - helped us bide our time as the sushi chef paced our rolls on par with a twelve-course meal. And to our delight, green tea ice cream was offered as service, a regal cap to our sushi extravaganza. But this laundry list of a meal cannot do justice to the visual quality [see pictures], which was definitely upgraded when the chef realized 54FF were his customers!

Besides going camera-happy, other tips for an extra-ordinary meal include fluency in Korean. Young hijacked the evening and significantly improved the quality of our meal by addressing the waitress in Korean, who turned out to be the wife of the Japanese owner. "Gam-sa-Hammi-dah," we intoned on departure, rather than the customary "Sayonara."

And, Luis and Sheila found themselves performing tableside karoake to the mind-numbing repertoire of American pop that was played on a volume just faint enough to cloud the song and just loud enough to suggest that it was what it really was. [actual reference?] The best was when Korean pop blared at maximum volume as we finished our last roll and closed up shop.

Our faves: anything avocado, spicy tuna, kamikaze, siberian tiger, softshell crab, rolls custom-spliced into five sections, Korean grocery store next door

minutes.

1. I said the review is pending!
2. Sometimes, I feel like you never listen to me.
3. Why do we have to fight?
4. Don't look at me in that tone of voice!
5. Fine.You're always right.