Nashville Food Friday: Sonobana

I'm a sushi girl. If I had to eat one meal every night for the rest of my life, I would pick sushi. It is the ultimate comfort food, leaving you happy and full. And because sushi is relatively healthy, you don't get all that food guilt if you ate, let's say, mac and cheese. Living in a land-locked state like Tennessee, you would expect that our sushi options are quite limited, but you would be wrong. I was skeptical myself at first, coming from New York and Boston where the fish is fresh off the boat and there is an abundance of talented sushi chefs. So I tried a bunch of sushi places around town, some good, some terrible, some mediocre. But the one that I enjoy the most is Sonobana. It reminds me of my sushi joint back in New York. Everything is fresh and they have a mixture of traditional rolls and some very creative ones. Also, what I enjoy the most is their variety of traditional Japanese appetizers and non-sushi entrees.

The signature roll at Sonobana is the Cherry Bomb. It is a pretty traditional shrimp, cream cheese and avocado roll with a maraschino cherry thrown in. I know that sounds pretty bizarre, but it really is a delicious combination. I have convinced many a skeptic to try this roll and all have been pleased.

The photo above was a special roll that Steve ordered, but right now the name escapes me. It had crab, salmon and avocado and was deep fried tempura style. It even came with the traditional tempura dipping sauce and some good steamed veggies. This roll was way more than what we were expecting from the description on the menu.

One of the other things I really like about Sonobana is that they offer a good variety of rolls without rice and a nice variety of shashimi. Since I eat paleo most of the time, I like having the option of not eating rice, and that is much easier to do at Sonobana than at other sushi places I have tried. My favorite is the White Bridge roll which has tuna, salmon, egg, crab, and some mint rolled in radish. This roll is very fresh tasting. The other rice-less roll is the Big John #1 (be careful if you're eating paleo, because #2 has rice!). It has eel, avocado, and roe rolled in cucumber. 

And as an added bonus, Sonobana has a small Japanese market attached. So after you stuff yourself silly with sushi, you can go next door and pick up some Japanese candy, some manga, or a video!