So I’ve been incredibly busy all day! I literally thought I’d just go home and have an early dinner but out of nowhere I started craving sushi. I use to eat sushi all the time, and within the last few months I’ve really cut back. Today, I decided to walk down the street from my office, and one of my favorite rolls, the Crunch Munch.
It was almost 3pm, so the place was completely empty! Major win for me, considering I didn’t really feel like waiting long. I knew exactly what I wanted, but because I’m me, I looked at the menu just in case I decide to try something new. As I stated in previous posts, if I eat out a lot during the work week, I try to keep my meals around $10 or less. When I’ve packed or skipped lunch most days, I’m okay with splurging a little. Well, this week I’ve only been a work one day, and decided this will be the one time I eat out this week, I’ll pack my much needed salad tomorrow and Friday.
So I open up the menu look right at the Crunch Munch, and then start looking at other sushi rolls. I flip the page a few times, ask a few questions and end up back with my eyes on the Crunch Munch. It’s $9 dollars and comes with 6 pieces. I started thinking, yep that won’t be enough, so I decided I needed another roll. I wanted something with cream cheese, I just wasn’t sure what. I was close to ordering the California Tempura, then wanted the Spicy California, then changed to the California Cream Cheese. Everything had something I wanted so I was having a hard time making a decision. I was soon reminded that duh, cream cheese could be added to any roll. After another 5 minutes of changing my mind, I decided on the Shrimp Tempura Roll, with cream cheese and spicy mayo. I requested low sodium soy (because as you should know by reading other articles, I hate salt) and extra wasabi, because I love spice!
I have come here many times in the past and often send people here when they request sushi downtown. This is a family restaurant that’s been around the last 12 years and the owners are from South Korea. Everyone is so friendly, I’ve never had a bad customer service experience. On this particular day, I found myself having a conversation with Yun. It began about a commercial promoting some diet pills and protein bars that she said tried and didn’t work. We laughed and agreed those things were scams. After the commercial, we were both glued to CNN reporting the tragedy happening in Houston with Hurricane Harvey. The image on the screen was of a white van submerged in water, then it flipped to two small children. The news was reporting that two adults and 4 children died after not being able to escape.
In this moment, we both looked at each other and held our hearts. It was such a sad sight to see and without verbally communicating we were both touched by this tragedy. Yun begin talking about the fact that there are so many Koreans who live in Houston, many of which have loss their businesses, she was sad and I wanted to hug her. In this moment… I think we both felt blessed. With all the craziness going on in the world, while waiting for my sushi, I had a moment with Yun– a complete stranger. It was a realization that we are all human, we all have emotions, and we all have hearts. She doesn’t know me, and I don’t know much about her, but despite our differences, our paths, our race, our backgrounds… we connected and not about sushi.
We continued our conversation until my food was ready. I spent $17 in total and tipped generously what was based on my heart. I probably ate both rolls within 10 minutes because they were amazing! As always I love to support the small locally owned businesses and I encourage everyone who reads my blog to do the same! This place is small inside, and if you’re walking fast you might pass it. I’ve had the pleasure of eating in when I’m alone or with a friend or two, but I usually order my food to go. It would be hard to fit a large party but they do offer catering options. If you call during the lunch rush, the phone will definitely be busy, so I suggest just walking over. I think they are pretty quick, I’ve never waited more than 20 minutes for multiple rolls to be ready.
So… if you’re looking for a great, amazingly fresh, family owned sushi place in downtown stop by Sapparo Sushi on East 6th, and tell them you read about them on #CourtneyCoversCleveland
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