Wild Fish - incredible sushi in the Chicago 'burbs

Every time I'm back home in the Chicago suburbs 'Wild Fish' is a must-go food destination. Luckily my entire family loves stuffing their faces with sushi just as much as I do, so finding someone to go with is never an issue. I've tried many a sushi place in both the city and suburbs and Wild Fish still remains my number one.


For appetizers we typically try to do something other than sushi, given that there is a plethora of it on the way, but sometimes we just can't say no to a new sushi or sashimi appetizer creation. Both the seaweed and normal japanese salads are excellent, and you really can't go wrong with an order of the tempura - vegetable, chicken, shrimp, or whatever combination you'd like. This past time we opted for the soft-shell crab appetizer, which was "lightly floured and fried soft-shell crab served with citrus-soy dipping sauce". It was a nice dish for sharing given the easy-to-pick-apart legs fried to perfection.

For our main dish we split three of the maki rolls. Perhaps the most interesting was the roll on special, the "santa baby roll". This consisted of mozzarella cheese and pico de gallo over spicy tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and shrimp tempura with an eel and wasabi mayo. Our second roll was the "ocean drive", fresh yellowtail, big-eye tuna, cilantro and green pepper wrapped in soybean paper and with a splash of chili oil and lime. Last but not least was the "original dragon" - eel over shrimp tempura with avocado as well.

Unagi, or freshwater eel, is hands down my favorite of any cooked sushi component and is always brushed with an incredible sweet sauce. We also shared a bowl of the chicken fried rice at my sister's request. Though not something I typically enjoy with sushi (rice overload) it did taste very fresh and didn't seem to be laden with half the chemicals and additives, not to mention gallon of grease, that you typically find with take-out fried rice.

Having been in Arlington Heights for a number of years now it seems that Wild Fish is here to stay. Thankfully I have somewhere back home for sushi that never disappoints, someplace I'd highly recommend for anyone who finds themselves in the Northwest Suburbs!