Monday, March 11, 2013

Oysy

Location: 888 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60605 and 50 E. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60611
Oysy on Urbanspoon Oysy on Urbanspoon
A Quick Word:
Sushi has always been my "go to" cuisine whenever I am craving something somewhat healthy, yet with huge flavors.  Oysy has become a frequent restaurant to visit mainly because of its creative rolls with reasonable prices.  Most of the rolls are under $10 with signature rolls peaking at about $15 (but are significantly larger than other places). Rather than devouring rolls at an all-you-can-eat sushi house, you can order a roll or two here and be satisfied.  Unfortunately, one huge drawback of is Oysy that they have become what I call "cream-cheese happy."  Almost all of their signature rolls have huge chunks of cream cheese which can be delicious, but also overwhelming.  It outshines all of the fresh fish, but don't get me wrong, it is amazing when the rolls are tempura fried.  Because of this cream cheese mishap, I decided to give them a 3.5 mile rating.

What We Ate:

Rock Shrimp Tempura

The rock shrimp tempura appetizer is excellent at Oysy.  It comes with over 10 pieces of shrimp that are lightly battered and flash fried to give that light, delicate, and crispy shell.  It is served with a "spicy golden sauce" which has a nice tanginess to it.  These are served extremely hot, so be careful, but definitely eat them when they first come out.  The tempura crunch is perfect and the shrimp have a sweetness.  It is not oily at all.  I just wished for more and more as we kept eating.

Flaming Dynamite

Appetizer or gimmick?  Definitely the latter...  The flaming dynamite dish is a mix of the spicy seafood mixture that appears in some maki rolls.  I think it is a mixture of the spicy tuna, spicy scallop, and any other spicy whatever that is served on a scallop shell and topped with avocado.  The flaming description is accurate because the plate is lit on fire which I guess is supposed to char the top of the seafood along with charring the avocado.  All together, the dish has one-note... spicy mush.  The avocado adds even more creaminess to an already mushy dish.  The only reason we ordered this dish was for the fire.  It isn't worth it.

Assorted Special Maki Rolls

Godzilla Maki - smoked salmon, eel, kani kama, cucumber, kumpyo, oshinko, masago, cream cheese, wasabi mayo, unagi sauce, and tempura crunch
White Dragon Maki - super white tuna, shrimp tempura, yellow tobiko, cucumber, avocado
Spider Maki - soft shelled crab tempura, scallions
Miami Maki - shrimp, kani kama, masago, avocado, cucumber, mayo, cream cheese, entire rolls is tempura battered and deep fried
Fire Cracker Maki - shrimp, eel, cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, masago, jalapeno, entire roll is tempura battered and deep fried, topped with spicy sauce

When concerning the maki rolls, Oysy has a huge selection of both simple and special maki.  They have the classic spider and spicy tuna rolls and also some of the more contemporary rolls filled with cream cheese.  Unfortunately, I think Oysy is a little "cream cheese happy."  I understand that we choose the rolls, but it seems like most of their special maki rolls contain cream cheese or are tempura battered and deep fried.  These are delicious, but the cream cheese tends to overpower the freshness of the fish and vegetables in the sushi.  Also, I was a little disappointed in the inconsistency of size of the rolls.  I swear, the Godzilla roll had easily 10 pieces of huge 2.5 inch diameter sushi, while the miami roll had 5.  The price are much better than some of the other restaurants in the city, which gave it a little higher rating.  Good amount of wasabi and ginger... just be careful which rolls you order because I found a lot to be very similar.

The DOs/DON'Ts:
DO:
- Make sure you have plenty of time... the service is slow and sometimes it takes almost 45 minutes to order maki.
- Do share the sushi.  Trying several rolls is much better than having just one type.

DON'T:
- Don't order the Flaming Dynamite if you wanted a good flavored and substantial appetizer.  I think this dish is all show.


How far would I walk for this food?


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