Here To Eat: Ace Eats America 10 Plates at a Time

Price: Philly Roll $8.95, Las Vegas Roll $9.50
Rating: ***** / *****

I never actually had sushi until I was well into my teen years. I would scoff at the notion of paying a premium for a seemingly small amount of basic food. My logic, of course, was based on being a cheap ass. I figured a roll of sushi was the equivalent of a small bowl of rice with some raw fish thrown on top. But like most things from my early years, it was a grossly misguided opinion.

Zip Fusion is a trendy little sushi restaurant with an eclectic mix of techno dance songs and candlelit tables. They are candlelit because the room is absurdly dark, even during the day...so much so that I actually wanted one of those stupid Owl wallet lights I keep seeing on television. Oh well, all part of the ambience I guess. And for the record, any waiter that pulls out a flashlight on me is getting a swift kick in the balls.

My friend Ariana reccomended that we come here while I was up visiting her. I thought it'd be a nice change of pace from our usual "I don't care, what do you want to eat?" conversations that generally just lead to burgers and a broken heart. So we went, but we also brought along her little sister Ally. I don't know what's worse, knowing that I'm deep in the death pit known as the "friend zone" or having to deal with her sister constantly flipping me off and cracking terrible jokes. Despite these things, the food more than made up for it all.

The rolls were amply sized and quite simply stunning to look at. Like the saying goes, it was almost too pretty to eat. But like my high school art project, I ended up eating it anyway. The Philly Roll is an American invention, named after the Philadelphia cream cheese that turns the already melt-in-your-mouth salmon into velvet. So even though it is not exactly authentic, it is still rather divine. Inside the rice and seaweed is avocado, asparagus, carrot, and the aforementioned cream cheese. The contrast of crunchy and smooth tickled the proverbial fancy. It was topped off with delicately cut salmon slices, which kind of made me wish I was a bear so I could eat salmon this fresh every day. A weird thought to have, yes, but it's really good! I dipped it into some soy sauce which I mixed some wasabi into, a perfect compliment for a wonderful roll.

Up next was the Las Vegas Roll; a sushi roll with a name fitting for its decadence. Consisting of avocado, crabmeat, cream cheese, and 3 different kinds of fresh fish, the ingredients managed to all meld together under a crisp tempura shell. That's right, it's deep fried. And like all things deep fried should be, it is served with a bold sauce that was both sweet and spicy. The best thing about the roll was that even though it was fried, the fish inside remained raw and tender to the tooth while the outside was the epitome of battered indulgence. Filling and delicious, the rich Las Vegas Roll made a great tag team partner for the lighter Philly Roll.

It has been a long time since I had a review where I wasn't a cheeky little bastard, but Zip Fusion has managed to make a saint out of me today. It's almost worth the drive to Corona(and that's saying a lot) and is definitely a place to check out with good company.

Posted by Anthony Nguyen on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 10:32 PM | Permalink