What to Eat in Birmingham

Friends, do not be deterred by its location in a newly revitalized but slightly dingy strip mall. Sushi Village 2 is the real deal.

Look for this sign, in the back of Crestwood festival across from the Edge movie theater and behind the ever-classy Bargain Hunt (we once bought a tandem bike there, don’t ask):

For the last year since it opened, Sushi Village 2 has been our go to weeknight place. Their sushi and kitchen appetizers and entrees are consistently good, and really cheap. What makes this place really great is the people who run it-when it first got popular, they seemed genuinely thrilled (and quite frankly a little surprised) at their success. They are exceptionally warm and friendly, and a little quirky, as evidenced by the t-shirt they all wear and also sell at the register. I double checked, because I wondered, but they are definitely in on the joke:

We go there so often, the staff know us. A few times recently, I’ve eaten there alone without Mr Foodie. The staff always ask me where he is and if he is ok (almost as if, what have you done with our favorite customer?). They know our order and known when we deviate from our “usual.”

Several months ago, they began offering a lunch special. For awhile it was just weekdays, then weekdays plus Saturdays. Now, it is EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, including Saturdays and Sundays. This is quite possibly one of the best lunch deals in town. Today, Mr Foodie and I stopped by.

Here’s the menu:

Just as a heads up, they are one of the only restaurants I know that serves diet Dr. Pepper, which does taste just like regular …. from the fountain dispenser. I’m off caffeine right now or else I would have spent considerable time photographing that most awesome of beverages. But I digress.

Today, we started with a bowl of miso soup. They have fantastic miso, with just the right amount of tofu, seaweed, scallions, and swirly cloudiness:

Then came the complimentary salad with a tangy ginger dressing:

Next was the edamame, served very salty (a plus for me):

Fried food is my weakness. Especially fried healthy food. Their veggie tempura includes broccoli, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms, served with a sweet tempura sauce. I love how the tempura batter gets in the crevices of the broccoli …. Crunchy and soft at the same time.

For dinner, I usually order the special rolls (and I promise to blog about that very soon). But for lunch, I stick with the rolls included on the special. You just can’t beat the value. We ordered 3 rolls-two spicy tuna (our absolute favorite) and a spicy crab (a close second):

This place is cheap. Maybe this is tacky but I’m so proud of my achievement, so here’s the bill for a 2 person sushi lunch with 3 appetizers plus a free salad and 1 drink:

UPDATE!! UPDATE!!

Sushi Village is definitely one of our favorite places to eat dinner. In fact, as I write this, I’m about to leave the house to eat dinner there tonite. Here are some of my favorite non-lunch menu items:

Tuna tataki. Yummy bits o’ tuna in a spicy wasabi infused soy sauce, with avocado. Healthy and delicious, how could this possibly be bad? It is so simple, and always spot-on delicious. This might be objectively the best thing on the menu.

Pepper tuna. Seared with a peppery crust. In my opinion not quite as amazing as the tataki but still way up there. I have friends who like it even better than the tataki. Try both and let me know which you prefer. Or maybe you’ll love them both.

My 3 favorite rolls at SV2. On the top, we have the sushi village roll. This is in my opinion the best roll on the menu. It is made up of crab, shrimp, salmon, fried crunchies on top, and who knows what other kind of goodness. It is extremely filling and so good that I eat whatever crunchies and sauce remain with a spoon afterwards (how uncouth!). Then we have the out of control roll, which is funny because that’s a little how I feel when ordering this much food. The sweet mango plays off of the white fish and yellowtail. And finally, the crazy tuna roll, with pepper tuna and avocado. These 3 rolls are enough for 2 people for dinner if you add an appetizer.

Why stop with dinner when you can have dessert. This is a very authentic Japanese dish-tempura fried banana with ice cream, caramel sauce, green sauce, and whipped cream. Don’t judge me.

ANOTHER UPDATE!!
January 2013 – at this point, we are regulars at SV2. We struck up a conversation with the manager last nite about the picture in the menu of him with 2 other guys. That guy in the middle looks familiar because…. He’s Morimoto, of Iron Chef and restaurant fame! The manager told me that he trained/worked with Morimoto at his famous Philly restaurant, where I ate years ago when I lived there. Morimoto taught him how to roll sushi. Small world!! Training with Morimoto is a big deal. Next time I’ll have to get more details!