I remember the first time I ever ate sushi. I was 21 and had just moved to California. I had been asked out on a date, and he took me for sushi. I was scared and mildly disgusted by the idea of raw fish (I didn’t have a lot of culinary experience growing up in rural NH) but it turned out I liked a lot of the rolls. Living in LA, and later, San Diego, I had access to a lot of fresh sushi and continued to eat it even after moving to Colorado.
Then, 9 years ago (!) I went vegan and didn’t have sushi for quite a few years. These days there are lots of vegan sushi options for those of us in veg-friendly cities (or in your own kitchen if you’re dedicated enough to roll your own), and I definitely have a new favorite sushi spot: the Blue Sushi Sake Grill in Lodo!
They have an entire section of their menu that is vegan/vegetarian (but mostly vegan!) and very clearly marked. They also have a full bar with some delicious sounding specialty cocktails- although we stuck with the sake. My little brother and I have had lunch there twice now, and I’m so excited to share it with you!
Our first visit was a couple of months ago. We shared a carafe of sake, although I don’t recall what kind (except that it was cold). You can see from the menu that they have plenty of options!
We started with a Spicy Chili Edamame to share… always a good choice.
Then we chose three rolls to share as well. From left to right: Spicy Ahimi (spicy vegan tomato tuna, cucumber), the Eden Roll (sweet potato vegan tempura, grilled asparagus, edamame hummus, sundried tomato, brown rice, soy paper, olive oil, maldon sea salt), and the Cowgirl (pickle vegan tempura, sriracha-fried onion rings, vegan mayo, bbq paper, tonkatsu).
We both agreed the Cowgirl was our favorite! It looks a little oily in this closeup but it really wasn’t. There was a lot of bbq flavor in there, and I loved the pickle. Not traditional sushi flavors of course, but fantastic nonetheless.
The Spicy Ahimi was also amazing! The texture and flavor really made me think I was eating spicy tuna (one of the actual fish sushi I used to eat back in the day). It’s made by a company called Ocean Hugger Foods, and you can actually look on their website to see where their ahimi is served near you. In Denver, it’s Blue Sushi and Whole Foods, FYI.
It looks so real, right?
Our third roll, which we also really enjoyed was the Eden Roll. There were a lot of flavors going on in there but I will never not love something that includes tempura sweet potato.
Then, fast-forward to last week when we made our second visit. Again, more sake… this time it was Joto One Cup (which we split- it was actually just a small carafe that came in its own cardboard cup). Very good!
For our rolls, we absolutely had to try the Cowgirl again because it was (and still is!) our favorite, but we also tried two new ones.
This was the Shojin (bbq seitan, grilled asparagus, pineapple, shallot, bibb lettuce, nori, brown rice, soy paper, sweet soy) and I couldn’t eat it fast enough. Although it also had bbq sauce, it really was nothing like the Cowgirl. It had pineapple! And asparagus!
Last, but not least, was the Crunchy Cabbage (cabbage and napa cabbage vegan tempura, spicy vegan mayo, scallion)… but weirdly ours also had tofu in it. I’m not complaining because it was really yummy! Just not quite I expected. This was the least exciting of the rolls, but still good.
There are still a handful of vegan rolls I’ve yet to try, so I’ll be eating there again soon. And if you live in Denver, or in TX, KS, IL, KY, IN, OH or IA definitely check out their website and see if there’s a location near you!
Want more Denver-area restaurant reviews? Check out my Mile High Vegan Eats page!
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