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Sushi lunch deals can get maki in your mouth for less....just be prepared for something a little different.

Monday Oct 13, 2008.     By Erin Brereton

Lifestyle Feed

I've been dining out more frequently lately due to what is shaping up to be the longest kitchen renovation on record (man creating fire may not have taken this long). And I've discovered two things. One: I really don't ever get sick of pizza, even slightly. In fact, I want some right now. Two: Eating several meals out a week is expensive!

For the most part, I blame pinot grigio and its wicked, wicked ways. However, during the day, I'm not drinking—and I’m still often surprised at how much restaurant meals can add up to be. As a result, I've been keeping my eye out for lunch specials. And I've found that, while sushi is often outrageously expensive in the evening, it can be bought for a pretty reasonable price during the day.

A few weeks ago, a friend who had just moved back to Chicago suggested meeting at Tank Sushi for lunch. Neither of us had tried it before, but we decided to take a chance. The good news: It wasn't dodgy at all! The shiitake roll I had was quite good. The restaurant was clean, quiet and not overly crowded; it was even easy to park nearby. And—best of all—some of the rolls were half-price as part of Tank's weekday lunch special. But the thing is, some of Tank's sushi is kinda pricey. Quite a few rolls fall in the $14 to $16 rage, and not everything on the menu is half-price, which I realized after I ordered—and felt terrible about after my friend insisted on picking up the check. (I was so happy to eat off a surface that wasn't covered in a fine layer of drywall dust, I probably would have paid triple for lunch.)

Tank was tasty. But sometimes, you just don't want to—or can't—go out for lunch. And sadly, restaurants that will let you order their lunch deal as takeout can be tricky to find. However, Tamarind, located just south of the Loop, has a lunch special that can be picked up to-go starting at 11 a.m.—which is exactly what I did Thursday to reward myself for doing five loads of laundry.

For $9, you get a hearty serving of sushi—in my case, vegetable maki. At first glance, it looked like a good deal, because I'd gotten a lot of food. The meal comes with your choice of miso, won ton or hot and sour soup, five pieces of sushi and, to my surprise, a small salad. While I was excited that lunch came with a salad, the thick, grainy orange dressing that completely coated the roughage looked way too much like cat vomit for me to eat it (or even taste it and confirm that the dressing was not cat vomit. Which I'm sure it wasn't. But it's hairball season, and you can't be too careful.)

I had a fair assortment of sushi, including avocado, asparagus, tamago, squash and something that appeared to be topped with shamrocks. However, these were slightly different from the normal, seaweed-wrapped maki I've had before at Tamarind. What I got this time was more like vegetable nigiri, which I've never come across before. The avocado lunch maki piece was a clump of rice with slices of avocado laid on top; the asparagus piece was literally a piece of asparagus cut in half and tied to a rice ball. While perhaps fashionable, those thin seaweed belts didn't do much to adhere the sushi to the chunks of vegetable. (And to be fair, we can't expect them to when a big, thick asparagus stalk is involved.) The pieces fell apart pretty much as soon as you touched them with a chopstick. It was hard to eat, but the sushi didn't taste bad. However, with Tamarind's low vegetable maki roll prices (an avocado roll with several pieces is just $3), I probably would've been better off just ordering a couple of maki rolls and foregoing the special altogether. And while I at first felt like I'd gotten a great deal because I had so many small containers in my big white bag, I quickly realized I was missing what I really needed: They forgot to put soy sauce in the bag!

They're lucky that I have some at home—and that the refrigerator was operational, and no longer blocked by plastic sheeting, plaster-filled garbage bags and a utility ladder. At least there's been some progress in the kitchen.

Check out Tank Sushi at 4514 N. Lincoln, (773) 769-2600, or Tamarind at 614 S. Wabash, (312) 379-0970.

Erin Brereton is our resident urban cowgirl on a bi-weekly search for life on the cheap. If you know of the mythic happy hour that she missed, do clue her in.