Food find: Sushi Para's second look

Sometimes a place is so good, it deserves a second look. And I love my sushi. So what could be better than all you can eat sushi? That's right, nothing.

So let's talk more about Sushi Para in Palatine, which I reviewed once before I lived in Washington, D.C. This establishment offers all you can eat sushi for $15 during lunch and $17 for dinner. Here's the catch -- order all you want but eat all that you order, or be prepared to pay the big bucks. Also, they charge you for soda refills and let me tell you, that's a scam. You can get 1,500 sodas for $50, but they charge me twice for a refill? Crap, I tell you.

This place reminds me of that Seinfeld episode about the soup Nazi. People don't particularly like the guy, but the soup is just so good you must go and adhere to whatever rules they put forth.

The staff is rude. Don't expect anything -- a hello, prompt seating, asking you how the food is ... you know, the stuff that you expect at IHOP. But you get what you pay for.

And what you pay for is delicious, incredibly cheap fresh sushi. I got two rolls and three pieces -- salmon roe, crab and red snapper. The rolls were called the Palatine and the American dream and they were quite similar, it turned out.

Tim also got a few rolls and a few sushi pieces. Again, they were impeccably prepared with tender sushi rice and fresh fish pieces. The rolls that were marked as spicy were just the right level of heat so as to not overwhelm the fish. My pieces also had tempura shrimp inside and I was impressed that the pieces were universally crunchy with tender meat inside and that they were also cooled before assembling. I'm always suspicious of sushi that's warm. Ick.

Anyhow, another great visit. If you can, stop by for lunch, it's much less crowded. But even then, the staff won't pay any attention to you. If I could only find out how to tip only the sushi chef ...