Makimono

Makimono. Sushi rolls in America are mostly rolled "inside-out" with the rice on the outside like the typical california or spicy tuna roll. Rolls have become the introduction to sushi for most people, and the first step in a long path of trying new and unusual things on in the whole sushi world of food. 

 Sushi rolls have become pretty complex in the America, with lots of places adding more and more ingredients to make them larger and larger to please their every demanding customers. Huge rolls with names like "catepillar" and "dragon", some of these can sell for up to $20 each. 

 At Uchi, our roll menu is a much simpler selection of 10 rolls with focus on the ingredients and not too much "filler" or masking.  Sushi rolls make up for almost 18% of our sales, and play a vital part in getting the sushi novice into eating and trying sushi for the first time. 

Original sushi rolls in Japan were all made with seaweed sheets called nori, and rolled with the rice on the inside on top of bamboo mats. The point was to keep them dry and cut them into bite size pieces because they were originally conceived and made in bars and casinos for people to eat with their hands alone. 

Our most popular roll at Uchi is a tempura fried traditional roll of salmon and sun dried tomato called the "shag" roll.  I try to eat one roll a day at the restaurant just to make sure the rice is right....and because it reminds me of when i first started and was the sushi novice myself too! 

The pic is of our makimono station where 2 guys crack out hundreds of rolls nightly. I simplified the ingredients in the rolls for expediency, and most rolls are made in less than 30 seconds each.