It's a Sushi World

It’s sushi nirvana at Sushi World of Cypress, which is celebrating its grand opening with chef Jason Levine introducing the house specials and spicy sauces galore. Rare is the opportunity of finding great food and friendly service in one location, but here you can discover both, along with an entertaining and upbeat energy.

Some of Sushi World’s unique dishes include the Anaheim Chili Tempura Roll for $14, a brilliant creation using hollowed-out Anaheim chilis to wrap around sushi rice, avocado, and marinated and smoked salmon. The entire roll is then tempura-fried and treated with “Sushi World Sweet Sauce.” There is also the Seared Hamachi Carpaccio, which is dressed in a yuzu ponzu sauce, for $12.

Inside the Anaheim chili shell, the salmon definitely tastes fresh and smoked, and contrasts wonderfully with the fried batter exterior. The sweet brown sauce marries well with the piquancy of the chilis.

According to Chef Jason, all sauces and desserts at Sushi World are made from scratch. Displaying containers of sauces ranging in spiciness level from hot to torturously hot, he explained that each habanero-and-tomatillo-based sauce has a playful name: “Please Don’t Sue Me,” “Hot Molten Lava,” and “Devil’s Vomit,” the last of which is mostly orange in hue because it contains the most habanero, and therefore is the most hellaciously hot.

Rather than starting slow, I jumped straight to the extreme end of the spice spectrum by ordering a yellowtail and tuna hand roll with the sauce that would burn the brightest, and as my tongue felt the excruciating pain, I wondered why I hadn’t heeded the chef’s admonishment to begin with the milder one, questioned whether I was a glutton for punishment. I cried; I laughed; and then to quell the fire, I chased the hand roll with a delightful, melt-in-your-mouth piece of albacore sushi, followed by a delectable baked blue crab hand roll with garlic aioli enveloped in soy paper.

Sated, I left Sushi World to go back to Real World, and I am left with the feeling one has when exiting a movie theater in which the feature film had been so engrossing that reality seems a bit harsh to return to afterward—and that is how you know when beyond food and service, a restaurant has also delivered transport.

Sushi World

10953 Meridian Drive, Cypress

714-828-FISH