California Rollin' is a sushi bar located in Rochester, NY that features traditional sushi as well as many not-so traditional sushi creations.

Located in the Village Gate Plaza at 274 N. Goodman Street, California Rollin has a great atmosphere for the new generation.

The outside of the sushi bar is painted in an aqua-blue color with various fish paintings. There are various fishnets that are placed to make the patio seating area (which is indoors anyways) look kind of like a wharf. When you walk into the door, the bar itself is straight ahead of you, where the various sushi chefs await your order. There is seating at the bar, or at various tables around the restauraunt. The ambiance continues insidethe restauraunt with a giant fish tank behind the bar seating area.

While the sushi chefs are preparing your order, you can see all the rolling action on an overhead mirror that is angled down to give a view of the preperation area to the whole restauraunt.

The menu features many traditional maki rolls, including the California roll, a spicy tuna roll, and others. Nigiri, including fish pieces are also available.

There are various specials avaliable throughout the week:

  • Tuesday: Sapporo Beer specials
  • Wednesday: All you can eat maki rolls (chefs choice)
  • Thursday: Sake specials
  • Friday: Sexy Sushi Chefs Night
  • Saturday: Wasabi or Plum Draft Beer specials
  • Sunday: 3 maki roll specials
I am personally fond of the Wednesday and Sunday Specials. The Plum Draft Beer is a special brew created for California Rollin' and has earned a number of awards at various beer competitions.

Some of my favorite rolls on the menu are:

Each week, California Rollin' sends out it's Fish Mail Newsletter, featuring the specials of the week and other happenings in the store and other special events at the Village Gate Plaza.

Special rolls are created that often contain non-traditional ingredients. For example, the BBQ Tuna roll contains Dinosaur Bar-B-Que sauce with the spicy tuna for a unique local taste. (Speaking of local taste, no, I haven't seen a garbage plate roll... yet.)

For dessert, I recommend an Albino roll. This delicacy has bananas and raspberries in a roll, then is tempura'd, and covered in chocolate sauce and coconut shavings. (A sushi version of Bananas in Chocolate Sauce perhaps?)

If you go, you may get to meet the owner, Tom Beaman, a cool guy who learned the art of sushi from his asian mother, and added his own distinctive style to the sushi.

Visit them on the web at http://www.californiarollin.com/ or http://www.makingsushi.com/ and view the web cam for a live feed of the art being made on the sushi bar.

"The familiar can be fun, but it is the unexpected pleasure that truly transforms us...give it a try, all you've got to lose is your limitations." - Tom Beaman, California Rollin.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.