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Find your way to Grayslake's SakeZake for chic sushi experience

We arrived at SakeZake in Grayslake at 6:30 on a recent Tuesday evening, shocked to find the restaurant devoid of diners. Considering the dark sign outside is pretty hard to see at night, and the parking lot can be a pain to get into when traffic backs up on Route 83, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

But we sat down all the same, and I encourage others to do so as well. SakeZake offers an enormous selection of sushi, as well as both hot and cold appetizers and a small selection of entrees. To match that, you'll find a couple Japanese beers, a short but standard wine list (including plum wine), both cold and hot sake, and an extensive cocktail list. You'll want to come back not just for the food, but also for the relaxed atmosphere and chic décor of rice paper walls, soft orange paint and dark wood.

For our appetizers, we ordered the seaweed salad, spicy tuna tartar, asparagus beef roll and chicken kani roll. Seaweed aficionados be warned — although the salad was fresh and crunchy, only one type of seaweed was represented. We would have preferred to see more of a variety. The asparagus beef roll (pieces of asparagus wrapped in steak and doused in teriyaki sauce) has become common at area sushi restaurants, and it's always good. The steak on this one was a little chewy, though that didn't stop us from ordering a second plate.

I had never before seen a chicken kani roll, and it was definitely worth the wait. This dish takes a crab stick, wraps it in sliced chicken, breads the combo with tempura, and deep fries the whole concoction. I was leery of the combination of chicken and crab, but I was pleasantly surprised with not only the taste, but also the excellent quality of the meat. The tempura added that perfect crunch, the kind you crave because it was so satisfying.

We were absolutely blown away by the spicy tuna tartar appetizer. Squares of crispy won ton were topped with spicy tuna, and wasabi sauce was drizzled over the entire plate. It was the perfect finger food — a solid base with a good bite holding the tenderest of fish, paired with a big kick from the wasabi that was somehow not overpowering. This is a must-try.

We ordered a ridiculous amount of sushi for dinner. Let's get the bad news out first: The sushi rolls were nearly as devoid of fish as the dining room was of customers. The Tokyo Roll had such a minuscule amount of eel layered with cream cheese, cucumber and salmon that I couldn't taste it. We ran into the same issue with the Shipwreck Roll, a soft shell crab, asparagus, avocado and cucumber roll with spicy tuna on top. The soft shell crab must have scampered away before making it into the sushi. It seemed like for every roll that had fish fillets on top, the fish inside was practically nonexistent.

Otherwise though, the rolls were great. The fish was super fresh and none of the flavors clashed. The prices for the rolls may seem a bit high, but you definitely get your money's worth on size alone. These rolls are huge. Aside from the Tokyo and Shipwreck, we also got the Rock and Roll (spicy tuna and baked scallop mixed with green onion, crab and masago), the Volcano (a variety of fish, cream cheese, crab, avocado, roe and cream sauce), the White Fire (super white tuna, shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, roe and tempura flakes), the Yellow Sea Stone (shrimp tempura, super white tuna, crab, avocado, scallop, masago, green onion, tempura crunch and sweet and spicy sauce) and the Four Season (tuna, salmon, white tuna, avocado, crab, cucumber, masago, teriyaki and wasabi mayo). That last one was the table favorite both for size and flavor.

We also ordered a chicken teriyaki entree, which came with soup, salad, and sautéed onions, carrots and broccoli. Just like the chicken from the appetizers, this was soft but good quality meat, the perfect vessel for the sweet and crisp teriyaki sauce. The vegetables were cooked to a perfect seared al dente. The miso soup was more or less standard, and there was an overabundance of ginger in the salad dressing.

Dessert options were limited to green tea and mango mochi ice cream. Both were pretty standard and thankfully not so frozen that we had to cut them with a knife.

Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.

  Ship Wreck sushi roll at SakeZake restaurant in Grayslake. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Chef Ceasar Saldana creates a sushi roll at Sake Zake restaurant in Grayslake. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  SakeZake on Route 83 in Grayslake can be hard to find, but the generously portioned sushi rolls are worth searching out. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  SakeZake's eponymous roll is a popular item at the Grayslake restaurant. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  SakeZake's dining room provides a chic, casual spot for enjoying sushi. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  SakeZake wrap appetizer at Sake Zake restaurant in Grayslake. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Spicy Tuna Tartare appetizer is one of the standouts at SakeZake in Grayslake. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Steve Ahn opened SakeZake in Grayslake in 2005. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com

SakeZake

1227 N. Route 83, Grayslake, (847)223-5052, <a href="http://www.sakezakesushi.com/home.html">sakezakesushi.com</a>

<b>Cuisine:</b> Sushi and cooked entrees

<b>Setting:</b> Uncluttered and welcoming with warm wood accents

<b>Entrees:</b> $11 to $45

<b>Hours:</b> 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday

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