Photo by Shelli Poole
You’ve probably seen the sign on the building where Sweet Tea Cafe used to be (and where Grampa’s Catfish used to be and where Bigmouth Burgers used to be and a few others). It says “SUMO” in big red capital letters. That was enough for me to know I wanted to check out what was inside. My friend Billie Jean Shoemaker offered to buy my lunch there and you know what that means – we definitely had lunch there.
And the following pictures are what ate – some of which I remember the name of. If it looks great to you, then just show them this post on your phone when you go.
The first thing that happened is they gave us these menus with 8 pages of items to choose from. Yes, I know I’m ending sentences with prepositions. Let’s focus on the food right now.
You can click on the menu pictures and make out some of the words, but they have eel, octopus, shrimp, squid, crab, sea urchin, clam, salmon, yellowtail, scallops, albacore (which makes me feel like yelling “Baltimore”), tuna, smelt roe (which sounds like how the floor looks after all the welders are done working for the day – but that’s totally not what it is), quail egg, tacos, hibachi, and so many other things that it would take you forever to get through ordering everything on this menu. Even beef sliders with kimchi and sweet potato fries. No lie.
Photo by Shelli Poole
Photo by Shelli Poole
You can see there are a gazillion things to eat, and looking through the names of dishes is half the fun. I guess they know people will need a minute to figure it out so they bring you a couple of free dumplings to try. That’s pretty smart because if people are really hungry, it takes the edge off without filling you up.
Photo by Shelli Poole
After checking out maybe 1/3 of the items on the menu, I found the Bento Box in the lunch section. You pick a couple of types of sushi and you also get soup, salad, fruit and gyoza (dumplings) with that. It’s about $10 and there so much food that I nearly napped in the booth afterward. Thank goodness Billie Jean was there to supervise me (and also to pay).
Not long after ordering, they bring out the soup. I’m no expert, but this looks like miso to me. It’s a little appetizer to get your mouth watering for more. Some tofu, some savory seasonings and some kind of greens. Good stuff. Next.
Photo by Shelli Poole
Man, these folks are fast. And I love the presentation. This little sectioned box comes out with my food in it and it’s so cute, I feel like I need a Barbie doll to be present while I eat it. Actually, I felt like I was eating out of a drawer from a jewelry box. It’s fitting because I treasured this meal. I know, bad jokes.
“Do you want chopsticks?” our server asks.
“Yes, please.” Because any chance I get to impress the community with my ability to stab a sushi roll and eat it like the end of a bass drum mallet is a good time. What I’m saying is, like with bowling and golf, I’m terrible with chopsticks, but I still like to try.
I don’t know if the picture below does it justice, but that scoop of rice is about four inches wide. It’s a lot of food here. I got the California roll and the avocado roll. They have lots of rolls – even a Bryant roll!
Photo by Billie Jean Shoemaker
If I was super educated about food and fancy words to describe it, I would be doing that during this section of my review. What I will say is this was very good food, very fast and friendly service and at $10 with lots left over for later, this was also a great value. I know you’re going to ask, and I’m not sure if they serve alcohol, but I didn’t see any on the menu. Maybe soon.
I will suggest you check out this new restaurant and support local business. I hope they stick around like the other restaurants in that spot couldn’t. Find Sumo at 5311 Highway 5 North in Suite 250 in Bryant. They’re open Mon-Sat 11 a.m – 9:30 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also, see them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sushibryant/.