Damn, here’s an unfortunate attempt at a clever name: C Rolls Sushi/Café, a small family-run Japanese-sushi place at Preston & Frankford in No. Dallas. It appears to be an unassuming neighborhood place w/ a big menu of rolls (many of which they say are “on sale” — a term you might use for clothes & other merch the day after thxgiving, but an odd one for food). But oh the name. the rest’s website sez it has 3 meanings – it stands for 1. calif rolls, 2. rolls from the sea, and 3. rolls you want to see. Oh dear. Cuz, C, the first assoc I get is C-section

18101 preston rd #300. 972-447-4900

look out for Avocado California Roll & Sushi, sweeping the remote suburbs like a … let’s see, what’s a non-trite metaphor? Hmph. Anyway, the point being, there’s branches galore opening in plano, denton, irving, southlake, & frisco, w/ richardson, allen, & houston on the horizon. owners are Natalie & Alex Lim, a Korean couple w/ an admiration for the franchising concept. Their chain being TX-based, they’ve worked to quell the locals’ fears w/ non-raw items including a “fried chicken roll“. they have some trippy stuff on their website, including this puzzling entry: “12.2005: California roll and sushi research center established.” Vot ees zees research center?

1501 Preston Rd Plano , 972-733-3388
8600 North Macarthur Blvd #132 irving, 817-633-3009
2600 E. Southlake Blvd. # 100 Southlake, 817-749-0900

Say what you will about the northern territories, but they are brimming w/ new restaurants, many of which seem to be asian. Like, for ex, sushi sakana, which took over what used 2b a place called café miso. sushi sakana is co-owned by sue cook, which is how she said to spell her name, possibly cuz she thinks the transcribers at NYCE are incapable of typing out a more complicated asian name and if that’s her concern, well, she may be right. Anyhoo, sue cook previously worked at benihana & shogun, but there are no cleaver-wielding show chefs, just plain old teriyaki, tempura, & sushi. The sakana roll has tuna, yellowtail, salmon, lettuce, and mango. no rice! go figure. (Sakana, btw, means fish. maybe the transcribers at NYCE aren’t so stupid after all, boo hoo)

3000 Custer Rd (at parker) 972-398-1790

am mulling a theory here: that you can’t get good sushi if the restaurant’s too big (sq-ft-wise). (which conversely does not imply that all small sushi places have good sushi.) Geisha Steak & Sushi Lounge, up by CM in plano, has 4000+ sq ft., and it tries to do everything: sushi bar, robata grill, benihana/hibachi area. a coupla places have tried to do this very thing and failed, incl 9 Fish in frisco and Japon in plano, tho hibachi rock up in allen is still trucking along. do you think maybe out in the sticks, where rah fee-ish is still a challenge fer some folks, that they feel like they hafta offer multiple concepts in a single place in order to survive? But hey this should seal it for geisha: it has a VIP loft. cuz where else would you expect VIPs to hang out but a plano shopping ctr

3801 W George Bush Hwy, plano. 469-467-3944

Do U love sushi? That’s what you call a totally lame lede. Lame, cuz it 1. cheaply echoes the name of the restaurant and 2. comes in a question format. If you ever wonder to yourself, “is the story I’m reading well written or izzit a piece o’ crap?”, just check and see if it has a ? lede, cuz that almost-always = piece o’ crap. Anyway, I Love Sushi is a new place in no. dallas which offers all-u-can-eat sushi. all-u-can-eat sushi is another signpost, not unlike the ? lede. For some, “all-u-can-eat” provokes frenzied palm-rubbing and lip-smacking; for others, it indicates that the sushi might not be good. As ever, no personal testimony here, xcept to say that the presentation is said 2B eye-catching, w/ revolving trays in which you point to what you want; and that the brother-&-sister Korean owners, who have a same-named sushi spot in denton, seem very sweet.

18101 preston rd. #101, 972-248-2100

*doesn’t the name seem like it should have a heart symbol instead of “love”?

While not as fervent or fecund as other cults (such as those who go nuts for BBQ), sushi has its followers, and they’re the ones who’ll care most deeply about Café Japon, a new spot in restaurant-crazed Addison. Café Japon (no relation to the more recently spawned, some might say derivative, Japon Steakhouse & Sushi) comes from Houston, where it has 3 branches & lotsa raves for being good + affordable from grass-roots diner food sites. For further validation: Japon supplies sushi to Rice Univ as well as the Eatzi’s-like Rice Epicurean Mkt.

4933 Beltline Road (near tollway) 469-374-9928