Springfield's best sushi rolls

Ninja Roll from Fuji

OK, so deep-frying a roll doesn't exactly score authenticity points (although, if you've ever been to Japan, you'll know that rolls aren't terribly authentic either. Nigiri and sashimi are the norm), but dang it all if it isn't delcious. At each restaurant, I secretly hoped that their recommended roll was one that spent a little time in the Fry Daddy. Fuji, this hot grease-loving Midwesterner thanks you.

The very friendly server / hostess recommended the Ninja roll -- a hefty tube of cream cheese, eel, crab stick and avocado, deep-fried and topped with masago. The menu said it's topped with tempura flakes, but the server copped to using masago, as it's more photogenic. Either way, it probably didn't need the tempura flakes; the deep-frying provided more than enough crunch.

The pieces were substantial, and I wound up eating the end sections with my hands (my favorite part -- more fried goodness) because they were a little too unwieldy for chopsticks. I'm normally not wild about cream cheese in my sushi, but this was added with a light hand and made for a nice textural foil to the tempura coating. The avocado was fresh and ripe, and melted into the rest of the ingredients. This roll was very good on its own, but a dab of wasabi really set it off.

Grade: B
Price: $7.99