Week 31: Sushi on the Run - Cumberland Terrace (1.2 km)

Well hey, this sounds familiar, doesn't it? Yes, I've already been to a Sushi on the Run, 5 months and 0.8 km ago. This week's location is in the food court of the perpetually doomed Cumberland Terrace mall in Yorkville. As you can see, I didn't get a photo of the store, but it's not much to look at anyway.

Like its sister store down at College Park, the Cumberland Terrace Sushi on the Run seems to mostly focus on the lunchtime trade, and by the time dinner rolls around they're busy selling off their remaining stock at half price.

One of the few items remaining in the case at quarter to 6 was a nigiri + maki combo containing freakishly pink tuna, salmon, shrimp, and the other thing, along with some somewhat withered California Roll.

The other roll I got didn't have a label on it, but it basically looked like a slightly thicker California Roll ("crab", cucumber and avocado) with rice and tobiko on the outside. It was alright.

After last week's deluxe feast, Sushi on the Run was obviously not very exciting. Then again, at $10.60 (not including the miso soup from my own personal stash), I believe we set a new record for Cheapest Sushipalooza. So that's something.

Week 28: Bento Nouveau - Sick Kids Hospital (1.1 km)

I'd like to begin this week's Sushipalooza entry, if I may, with a brief discussion of the Rules of Sushipalooza.

The Official Sushipalooza Rule Book (a handsome leather-bound copy of which is beside me on my desk as I write this) states that in order to qualify for Sushipalooza, an establishment's primary line of business must be sushi and related cuisine. Other places that happen to sell sushi but mostly sell other stuff -- such as supermarkets -- don't count. Sure, you can get little trays of sushi at Metro, but Metro is not a sushi place. The same goes for branded sushi counters colocated in grocery stores... but standalone kiosks in mall food courts and whatnot are fair game.

And that's why the Bento Nouveau location in the atrium of Hospital for Sick Children is included on the Sushipalooza list, but the Bento Nouveau location inside the Valu-Mart at Manulife Centre is not. It may seem silly and arbitrary, but hey, those are the rules, and without rules there is only chaos.

So I went to Bento Nouveau at Sick Kids yesterday after work, around 6:30. The counter was empty, and the staff were busy cleaning up and cashing out. Drat. Just missed 'em. Today I ducked out of work as early as I reasonably could, and got to Bento Nouveau around 5:45... and the staff were busy cleaning up and cashing out. On my earlier mission to case the joint and take pictures during midday weekend hours, they were also closed. Clearly they had no intention of being open when I was in the vicinity... and yet they weren't ambiguously out of business like Sushi-Q. I had to find a way to include them.

So I decided to cheat like a mofo. Rules are made to be broken, right?

I hiked up to the Bento Nouveau at Manulife Centre (which, incidentally, is almost the exact same distance from Sushipalooza home base as Sick Kids is) and picked up my sushi there. Nevertheless, the sushi place of record for this week remains the Sick Kids Bento Nouveau. I figure all the sushi came from the same Bento Nouveau factory this morning anyway, so what's the difference?

Well then, that story was so long, I'm pretty much out of time and inclination to talk about the food. I got something called a California Sushi Combo, which included 3 different types of maki of varying similarity to California Rolls. They were all perfectly decent, though there's nothing earth-shatteringly original here. And I got some shrimp nigiri, just because it's been a while.

Although, speaking of originality, one thing they did have (I should have taken a picture!) was some sort of weird sushi/sandwich hybrid: looked like smoked salmon and a slice of bread, rolled up into a vaguely maki-like presentation. So don't let it be said that Bento Nouveau doesn't think outside the bento box! (har.)

Extra: Sushi-Q - Toronto Life Square

Well I think I finally figured out why I could never catch the Sushi-Q franchise in Toronto Life Square (a.k.a. Metropolis, 10 Dundas East, That Monstrosity at Yonge and Dundas) when they were open: it seems they never are.

Every time I dropped by, they appeared to be closed for the day. It didn't look like they were out of business; there was food in the fridge, papers on the counter, cleaning supplies by the sink, and a general air of "ooh, you just missed us, try earlier next time". I thought perhaps they were only open for lunch or something. But in my last attempt today, I noticed that everything was sitting in the exact same place it had been on Thursday. Closer inspection revealed a small stack of notices from the landlord, citing them for not being open during mall hours. They dated back to November 7, so presumably the owner hasn't even set foot in the place since then.

So it does not bode well for Sushi-Q. If by some miracle the owner returns from his/her vacation before the landlord evicts them, I'll pay them a visit, but until then I'm going to consider Sushi-Q to be kaput, which means once again we must carry on down the list to the next place... and quickly, it's already Saturday!

Week 10: Sushi on the Run - College Park (0.4 km)

Sushi on the Run is not a restaurant. There's no sushi chef on premises, and they don't (so far as I know) serve any hot food. It's just a little shop equipped with a cooler full of pre-made items. They have a number of locations (er, the number might be two); this one is in the passage connecting College Park to the subway station, across from the Cinnabon. Fine dining this ain't.

I think Sushi on the Run mostly caters to the office drones at lunch time; by dinner time all their sushi is "buy one get one free", which makes it a pretty economical meal.

I got myself a "Golden Dragon", with fake crab salad or something on the inside and slices of salmon on the outside. Given that this was end-of-day food court sushi, I wasn't surprised to find that some of the salmon was a little discoloured and fishy-smelling. Most of it was OK, but I tossed a couple of pieces.

My "free" box contained 4 pieces each of California roll and BBQ eel nigiri. Both were serviceable but unspectacular.

I also got a box of gyoza. Nobody likes cold gyoza, so I warmed them up in the microwave, which worked out slightly better than you might expect. They were labelled as "veg.", but they certainly appeared to contain meat. If I were a vegetarian I might be annoyed, but I actually saw it as a bonus.

I'm sure Sushi on the Run must be seeing some stiff lunch competition from Sushi Shop, which offers a much wider variety (and better quality, based on my unscientific survey) in about the same price range. But if you're looking for sushi at dinner time, and want it fast, and want it cheap, Sushi on the Run's BOGO deal is pretty hard to beat.