Phoebe the Phoodie: Asian cuisine at Rice n Roll

Flavorful sushi; sides come off lackluster and in need of salt

By Phoebe Goebel phoebe.goebel@marquette.edu

It’s a Friday night at Marquette. Your roommate is busy with sorority recruitment, the streets are covered with snow and you’re hungry. What do you do? For me, I decided to treat myself to my favorite takeout meal: sushi.

At the start of the fall semester, some of my friends and I went to Rice n Roll, a fusion restaurant that serves Japanese and Thai food. That time, we only got crab rangoon and crispy rice, but I remember enjoying it.

I decided it was only right to put their sushi to the test, so I sent in my order for delivery last Friday night.

The restaurant is located at 1952 N. Farewell Ave., and the restaurant is a small but cozy atmosphere. Even though I chose not to eat there this time, I could remember that it was the perfect place for a date night with your signifi cant other or friends. As for the takeout, it took over an hour to get to me, which left my stomach growling as I was waiting at the door of The Commons.

No matter what sushi restaurant I order from, I always get an order of edamame. It’s the perfect way to start a meal with a little snack, and the dish itself is very hard to mess up.

The edamame was average and lacked salt, but it was still wellcooked and was a great portion for the price of it.

Another dish I enjoy ordering for myself is a light and refreshing cucumber salad. This was the most disappointing dish of the meal. Going into it, I expected the cucumbers to be marinated in a light sesame fl avor that seeped into them. What I got was some cut-up cucumbers with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top. This dish had no fl avor and ended up not being touched the whole meal.

While the appetizers I chose were very underwhelming, the sushi roll I got was packed with different fl avors, and I fi nished every last piece.

The roll was called the Sexy

Summer, which was fi lled with spicy tuna and mango and had thinly sliced salmon and avocado on the top. The star of the dish was the spicy tuna. I could tell by the way it looked that it packed a punch, and this did not disappoint. It was the perfect level of spice but did not overpower the fl avor which I fi nd in other spicy tuna rolls.

Paired with the mango and the avocado, the balance within the roll created a perfect harmony. On the fi rst bite, the spice took over, but the other components of the roll brought in varying fl avors that toned it down. This emphasized the fl avor of the tuna more and I felt like I could taste the freshness of the tuna.

While some components of the meal were not up to my standards, I would be willing to travel back to Rice n Roll to test out some more of their specialty rolls. As for my Friday, pairing the sushi with my favorite show, Love Island, brought a very comforting self-care night, and I can’t wait for more Friday nights like this in the future.

My overall rating for Rice n Roll is 3/5 stars.