Update Review, Sept 2022
In the middle of the pandemic, I re-discovered Sushi Taka, a place I had first visited in 2013. I got a bit obsessed in those pandemic days with their ridiculously good masubi, available in a range of flavors (teriyaki salmon, spicy beef, crispy chicken, spam and egg, etc). I found basically every variety strangely delicious, extremely comforting, and an amazing value at only $3.50 each, as they are quite large, easily double or triple the size of any other masubi I've seen. Slightly smaller than a sushi burrito, but, barely. I also learned that I could get several at a time, eat one fresh (they are made to order, served hot), save one for the next day and either throw it into my panini press to transform into a crispy wrapped thing of joy (still moist and soft inside) or even pop in the microwave on a napkin to steam it back to life with no problem, and, even freeze them. Who knew?
But Sushi Taka is only open during the week, during daytime hours, so once I was back in the office, I never went back to Sushi Taka. I still sometimes thought to myself, "Why didn't you stash and freeze more of them?". Honestly, they just hit the spot so well sometimes.
This time around, I didn't actually venture there during my workday, but rather, decided to have it delivered. I ordered on Door Dash, and my order was quickly prepared, and delivered still quite warm. A very easy ordering process, and I even put in special requests that were honored.
Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services? Here are some codes for free money!
- Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
- Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
- Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
- Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
- Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
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Spam Masubi. $3.50.
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First up, I got a masubi, as those were what I always adored. Sadly, they had only spam available as an option. I did like the spam ones before (although I preferred others), so I was still happy to get this.
When I saw it, I'll admit, I was sad. It was just ... spam and rice. A year ago, the spam one had a big hunk of tamago, teriyaki sauce, and tons of mayo. Yes, it was the sauces that made it fairly delicious, but the spam + eggs thing really was key too.
It was fine - I still find the Sushi Taka rice *really* good, and I am totally not a rice person. When I go for sushi, I get sashimi not nigiri because I don't want the rice, my poke bowls come on greens not rice, my burritos don't have rice, my curries I just have with naan or other bread, etc. Unless rice pudding, or mango sticky rice, I'm just totally not a rice person.
But Sushi Taka makes glorious rice - its soft, slightly sticky, and very well seasoned. I can't explain it more than that, but I've never had rice I enjoy so much, and it surprises me every time. The rice was still quite warm when this arrived, and just as incredible as I remembered. The spam was just spam, and without the generous slather of mayo and teriyaki it was a bit plain (luckily I had some teriyaki and kewpie mayo on hand, so, I fixed that up no problem!). So, overall, fine, but nothing like the ones I had had previously. I'd still get it again in the future though, because it is a perfect size, and I just love that rice so much.
***+.
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| Salmon Teriyaki Burrito. $15.95. |
"Salmon teriyaki, teriyaki sauce. Served with avocado, romaine lettuce, pickled radish, crab salad, and tamago. Cooked item."
Next, I finally actually tried a sushi burrito. Since I long ago dubbed the masubi just smaller burritos, it seemed quite likely that I'd love the full size ones even more. Sushi Taka has a range of sushi burritos, including all the standard raw fish/poke options (salmon, ahi, spicy tuna, California, etc) plus a range of cooked ones (unagi, shrimp tempura, tofu nuggets, bbq beef, spicy beef, chicken teriyaki, salmon teriyaki). I had tried many of the cooked fillings before in masubi, and even though most aren't things I like in normal life, I really liked them (even the odd catfood-like chicken teriyaki - see my review below!), so I opted for one of those again, picking the salmon teriyaki. Yup, the girl who never really likes cooked salmon, always loves it in their masubi.
Like the masubi, it arrived warm, the rice steaming hot still, and the salmon quite warm. It had a little teriyaki inside, but more provided on the side, along with a packet of soy sauce. I had expected mayo in this too, like the masubis I had previously, but, it didn't have any.
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| Salmon Teriyaki Burrito: Close Up. |
The burritos are considerably bigger than the masubi, and just half of one of these was more than enough of a meal for me (with a seaweed salad and Asian style salad on the side). They all normally have avocado in them, but, as I'm allergic, I was able to ask to have that left out in the order notes, and this request was honored. They also normally have romaine in them, but, mine didn't seem to. And, crab salad, which I asked to have on the side (which was honored), because I knew I'd want to re-heat it later, and didn't really want the crab salad warm.
So, because I had the avocado left out, the crab salad on the side, and the lettuce was missing (maybe they assumed I didn't want that if I was going to reheat?), the insides weren't quite as exciting as they would be if you ordered this unmodified. The portion of salmon inside was substantial however, between the two halves there was really more than a normal restaurant size serving of salmon - as in, not sushi salmon, but, when you order salmon as a main dish, there was more than that just stuffed inside this thing. The salmon had some teriyaki on it, and was a bit dried out. It seemed more fully cooked and just not as good as previous times. It wasn't fishy, it wasn't bad, but, just not as moist and flaky as I'd had before. I did add most of the provided teriyaki sauce to it, and, a very generous slather of my own kewpie mayo. The sauces worked wonders on the dryness.
The tamago portion was generous as well, and it was above average quality, again, I think they make it in-house. I liked the pickled radish, but there wasn't much of it.
And then, of course, the rice. Still glorious in this form too. I just love that rice.
The other half reheated easily later on my waffle iron to get a nice crisp exterior.
I liked this, but actually, I think the masubi (particularly in their previous form with tamago, sauce, mayo) was better, and although half or 1/3 the size, they are a far better value at $3.50 vs this $15.95. I'd consider getting another one of these to give them another try, but, really, I'd like more masubi, ones with the better fillings.
***+.
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| Crab Salad (on the side). |
I asked for the crab salad on the side so I could heat up my burrito, and my ask (just done in the "special requests" notes) was easily accommodated. I was surprised when I saw it though - I expected, well, crab *salad*. I expected crab stick, so that wasn't the surprising part, I just thought it would be mixed with mayo. This was just the shredded surimi. It was fine, but, um, yeah, just surimi. You can guess what I did with it - I added plenty of kewpie mayo and furikake, and threw it on to a homemade poke bowl the next day.
***.
Update Review, 2021 Visits
Sushi Taka actually changed ownership, changed chefs, etc in the meantime. My orders were always ready very quickly (ordered online in advance via Seamless.com), and the staff were quite friendly. Easy-peasy.
Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services? Here are some codes for free money!
- Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
- Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
- Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
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| Chicken Kara-age 3 pieces. $3.50. (Jan) |
Impulse order, no question. I, uh, don't like chicken.
But I ... actually kinda liked it. Yes, the chicken I did't quite care for, dark meat, tough, but ... the coating was flavorful and crispy, and I liked the drizzle of sauce on top. A point for the greens it was served on top of too.
Um, I was in a mood. It satisfied.
***.
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| Masubi. $3.50. (Jan) |
I was in the mood for just a snack, and saw masubi on the menu, and got excited.
"SPAM!!!!" I gleefully exclaimed (in my head of course).
I placed my mobile order, and gladly walked over to pick up my "prize". I was excited for some grilled spam, perched on rice, wrapped with nori. I was a bit confused when a mini, warm sushi burrito was handed over, but I do know that it is sometimes *inside* the nori. So I just re-set my expectations to that.
But, alas, I was still not right.
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| Masubi: inside. Karaage Chicken & Tamago? |
Inside was ... not spam. Ooops. Silly me, thinking the only kind of masubi out there is spam masubi.
This turned out to be fried karaage chicken and tamago inside.
I was disappointed, but this was actually tasty. The rice was nicely sticky, the tamago was a bit too yellow and seemed likely not housemade but was still fine, and the chicken was fatty and kinda gross ... but in a tasty way, if that makes any sense.
I enjoyed my warm snack in the end, loading it up with soy sauce, and only discarding a little of the chicken.
***.
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| Masubi: Spicy Beef, Salmon Teriyaki, & Tamago? (Feb) |
Yeah, I know, I got another masubi.
I actually was, um, craving the chicken? And the rice. I was in a mood.
So imagine my surprise when I was given my masubi this time. Warm, just like previously, and with tamago, just like previously, but also ... two mystery meats? I was so totally unsure what it was.
A few tentative bites in, I was quite happy. This was quite flavorful, both of the mystery meats were sauced, and it all came together really quite nicely. I believe it was flaky teriyaki salmon and spicy beef, both of which are available in their bowls or sushi burritos normally. Really, the masubi is just a tiny sushi burrito with fewer fillings ...
Anyway, I liked it. I liked it warm, really comforting, and, as I said, quite flavorful. I also liked slicing it and grilling it when I got home, making the rice crispy.
I'd, um, get it again. ***+.
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| Masubi: Spam (& Tamago) (March) |
When I arrived early to grab my order, my masubi was not yet made. So the merchant actually asked this time which kind I'd like, and offered salmon teriyaki or spam. I went with spam, since I hadn't tried it before, and after all, it is what I thought I was ordering that first time.
It was quickly made to order, and handed over warm, the spam glistening with teriyaki sauce.
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| Masubi: Spam inside. |
I did unroll it quickly to see what was inside. Inside we had ... yup, a big slice of SPAM! And small spear of tamago.
There also seemed to be a smear of mayo, and teriyaki sauce. Always teriyaki sauce it seems.
The spam was spam, which I do like but certainly wasn't anything special or unexpected. Their teriyaki was tasty, and I do quite like their rice, so, it all came together very nicely.
The warm tamago & spam was a bit like bacon and eggs and I can almost imagine it being a fun breakfast (for a hangover day? Do people still have those?) .
***. But I preferred the teriyaki beef/salmon one, and maybe even the karaage chicken.
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| Masubi: Salmon Teriyaki. $3.50. |
Another day, another masubi :)
This time went for salmon teriyaki (choice of that, or another spam).
And, yeah, me, the girl who doesn't generally like cooked salmon, doesn't really like rice, etc, um, adored it.
The salmon is entirely coated in sweet teriyaki sauce. There is a smear of mayo. A hunk of tamago (which, honestly, I could do without). But the salmon + sauces are just so good, the rice is perfectly seasoned with vinegar and is appropriately sticky, and, well, these have just become such perfect comfort food for me.
They are great when hot and fresh, but also I like putting them into a panini press at home to make the outside all crispy. A totally different "eating experience" but I enjoy them that way too.
****.
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| Matcha Panna Cotta. $3. |
Ok, as a
dessert lover, I was *thrilled* to see panna cotta on the menu. I *adore* panna cotta,
hence the label on my blog for it. The menu even said this was house made!
Cute presentation in a little plastic domed container with an itty bitty spoon.
This was decent, actually.
Creamy consistency, well set. The matcha flavor not very strong, and the base layer did seem a bit plain (e.g. not buttermilk), but the sweetness level good. A nice little panna cotta, and it too hit the spot.
***.
Original Review, 2013
Wow, it has been a really, really long time since I've eaten
sushi. I've seriously missed it!
Back when we were even more spoiled, we had sushi daily at work for lunch. That was a long time ago. I also used to go out to sushi for dinner very regularly, but I honestly don't know the last time I went.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had to order nightly dinner for a group of co-workers, and used
Seamless for the first time. While browsing through the options available, I saw a bunch of sushi places. Sushi seemed like a good idea for take out, since it wouldn't suffer from getting cold. But at the same time, I'm a snob and assumed that there was no remotely good sushi actually available on Seamless. So I cross-referenced all the options on Yelp, and found one that actually had 4 stars: Sushi Taka. I was excited to try it out, but unfortunately, it is available only for lunch, so I didn't try it out for my team dinners, and I eat lunch at work most days.
However, on Fridays, lunch at work is always insanity (not in a good way), so I've been looking for an excuse to avoid it, and go out instead. (I know I shouldn't complain, but our office population literally doubles at lunch on Fridays, and our cafe just can't handle it. They try valiantly, but the food is usually subpar, and the lines, full of everyone's 10 best friends and strollers, move at a snail's pace). So, I decided to (gasp!), leave the office for lunch, and sushi seemed like just the answer.
Sushi Taka is not a standard sushi restaurant. It is located in the financial district, and as I mentioned, is only open for lunch, only on weekdays. It thus caters to the business lunch crowd, takeout only.
The concept is all rolls, neither nigiri nor sashimi are available. The rolls are cut only once in half, rather than into many pieces. This works for the grab and go style, as you just unwrap each half and eat it, rather than requiring chopsticks. When I first read about Sushi Taka, I expected it to be more like
Sushirrito, the other big takeout sushi roll place in the area. But while the idea is similar, they are executed very differently. Sushirrito really is far more sushi-as-a-burrito-style, with huge, very large diameter rolls, whereas Sushi Taka is standard diameter, just longer than usual. Both give you a full meal in a single roll.
The menus are also quite different. Sushirrito also has a limited menu, offering only 4 seafood rolls, a chicken roll, a pork roll, a veggie roll, and a salad. All have lots of components, including creamy flavorful sauces. Sushi Taka has 15-20 pre-configured seafood rolls, and of course teriyaki or buffalo chicken versions to satisfy your crazy co-workers who dislike seafood. And just like Sushirrito, some of the rolls have crazy sauces, ranging from sweet like the aforementioned teriyaki to spicy, with some mayo based sauces in the mix. So, if you really want a buffalo chicken "sushi roll", or something dripping with mayo, you can get it, but for the most part, Sushi Taka is more traditional, whereas Sushirrito is more Americanized.
But Sushi Taka's main concept is customizing your own roll. In this way, it reminds me of U-Sushi. In fact, their options are fairly similar, but of course U-Sushi serves them as standard cut rolls, albeit cut by a "robot".
Anyway, first, you pick a main protein (or go half and half if you can't pick just one). The choices are fairly plentiful, including cooked options like buffalo chicken, teriyaki chicken, teriyaki salmon, and shrimp tempura, and more standard salmon, tuna, spicy salmon, spicy tuna, unagi, and tofu. Not tons of variety, but enough.
Then you pick 2 premium sides (or more for an additional fee). The side items were the most interesting components. Some were fairly standard like roe or kanikama. But you could also add tomago or seaweed salad, both things I am used to seeing in sushi restaurants, just not inside my roll. They also offer takuan, kimchi, pickled jalapeño, and guacamole. Yes, guacamole. Since I'm allergic, I couldn't add that, but I almost wanted to just to see what they meant. Avocado is common, but guac ... not so much. Wasn't I just saying that they were more traditional sushi? Whoops.
Continuing along the not so traditional lines, you can then pick as many sauces as you want. They have mild miso, teriyaki, and unagi sauces, or soy mayo. Or go spicy, and pick from wasabi, buffalo, sriracha, and spicy miso sauces, or chili mayo.
And then, for veggies. Standard cucumber, and optional green onion, carrots, spinach.
Unfortunately, the DIY rolls, most of the pre-configured rolls, and the sides are not available when you order on Seamless. Only the "Signature Rolls" are, which is a selection of 3 versions of their namesake "Taka Roll" or variations on a California Roll. When I asked about this, the owner explained that the other items were in limited quantities so he couldn't put them on Seamless. This makes sense for some of the sides, but I don't really understand it for the rolls, particularly as the rolls are all available on OrderAhead and GrubHub. Shouldn't Seamless be the same? I know Seamless supports DIY style, as I used it at U-Sushi. And some of the sides are available on OrderAhead and GrubHub too (seaweed salad, edamame, soup). Why not on Seamless? This was pretty disappointing, as I really wanted to create my own!
Speaking of Seamless issues, the first time I went to order, they were closed at 12:15pm. I thought they must just be closed that day. Then, I tried again another day at lunchtime. Closed. I was pretty confused, as I was sure I'd seen them online when looking earlier in the day. And their own website said they were open until mid-afternoon. After several failed attempts, I figured out what was wrong. Seamless had them listed as closing at 10:45am. While I appreciated that they were offering sushi so early in the day, that wasn't quite when I wanted it :) So I contacted the owner asking about it, and he quickly replied, even on a Sunday. It turns out it was a mistake, and he had it corrected the very next day. I'm glad I spoke up! I imagine his business will do much better on Seamless now that he is listed during actual lunch hours!
Speaking of the owner, Nick, he was amazingly nice and friendly. Prompt to reply to my e-mail, and when I went to pick up my order, he was welcoming and friendly. You can tell that he cares deeply about his business, and really made the pick-up experience pleasurable. A nice break from my crazy work day.
The overall experience was quite smooth, ordering online with Seamless ridiculously easy, and my roll was waiting for me with a friendly smile by the time I got there. I'll be back, but I really wish I could design my own roll, or get a seaweed salad!
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| Nicely packaged up, with soy sauce, wasabi, ginger. |
My roll came very well packaged. The outer wrapper held the whole thing together and gave me a surface to lay out when I was ready to eat it. No tablecloth needed!
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| Inside the outer wrapper: Miso Sushi Taka Roll. $8.99. |
Once I unrolled the outer paper layer, the contents were revealed. The roll was wrapped in several more very tight paper layers, and cut in half. It held together very well. Excellent wrapping job.
I ate my first half by just peeling down the wrapper, burrito style. I added soy sauce and wasabi as I went, but found it a bit awkward to eat. Maybe my teeth just aren't sharp enough, but I had a hard time biting through the seaweed wrapper, kinda making a mess. So I brought the other half back to my office and cut it into standard pieces.
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| Inside the Miso Sushi Taka Roll. |
Since I could only pick from the "Signature Rolls", and I'm allergic to avocado, so I couldn't get a California Roll, my only option was the various "Sushi Taka" Rolls. All featured salmon and tuna, and came in standard, spicy, or miso varieties. I decided to gamble and go for the most interesting sounding, the miso: "Salmon & Tuna (Half & Half), Miso Kanikama, Marinated Seaweed, Takuan, Cucumber, and Miso Sauce".
The cucumber and takuan (pickled daikon) added a great crunch to pretty much every bite. I always love takuan, so that was a big selling point for me.
I always get seaweed salad when I go to sushi, but I've never had it inside my roll before. It turned out to be a great addition, and I would have welcomed even more of it.
The tuna was good quality, and there was a decent amount of it. Again, standard sushi roll amounts, not like Sushirrito where it is insane diameter. I was impressed at this point.
But then I pulled out a chunk of salmon to try it own its own, to really evaluate the quality of the fish. It was not good. It was stringy. I could barely bite through it, it was so chewy. It would never be served as nigiri. It was really quite bad, and I removed the rest of it from my roll. This was really disappointing, since every other aspect of the roll was good.
Back to the good. Rice is always an important part in judging sushi. The rice was sticky and nicely seasoned. It turns out Nick uses green tea powder in the rice itself, sorta incorporating tea service into the roll. The tea flavor was subtle and I probably wouldn't have identified it, but I think it did enhance the overall flavor.
One thing that often goes wrong with rolls with sauces is that they are crazy over sauced. But this wasn't. Miso sauces can often be way too sweet. But, again, this wasn't. The sauce really just added some additional flavor and enhanced the entire roll.
So, besides the chewy salmon, everything in this roll was a success. But, the astute reader will realize I said it would have kanikama, aka, crab stick. No, I didn't forget to review it. I think the person who made my roll forgot to include it :( It isn't visible in any of the photos I took, and when I cut the second half up into pieces (and when I removed the salmon), I looked for it, and it certainly wasn't there. Boo. I actually like kanikama!
Anyway, this was overall satisfying, and the $8.99 price tag is good for a lunch in the FiDi. Cheaper than Sushirrito, although it did have much less fish than Sushirrito. For an additional $2.50, I could have gotten the deluxe version, with double the fish. I'll probably go back sometime, particularly if they add the DIY options!
