Sushi Station

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Sushi station features new concept in ordering.(Neighbor)

Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) August 22 , 2002

Byline: Erin Holmes Daily Herald Staff Writer

Your favorite sushi may lie right around the corner. Don't move. It'll come to you.

Sushi Station, a restaurant that takes sushi directly to patrons' tables via chilled domes atop a winding conveyor belt, has chugged into Rolling Meadows, bringing a style already hip in Japan to the Northwest suburbs.

"The concept is very new here," said Andrea Mayer, who has helped get the restaurant off the ground. "You'll have to see it."

The restaurant, which opened this week, color codes its plates to correspond to prices. Those plates then rotate through the restaurant, allowing seated customers to simply reach over and grab the meal they would like.

There also are some items prepared by individual order - such as tempura, which could get soggy rotating on a conveyor belt.

"You can sit there and you can order off a menu," Mayer said. "Or you can, as the food is going by and you see something that you want, just open the door to the dome ... and take what you want."

It's called "kaiten," or revolving, sushi. The concept is typical in Japan, but as of yet hasn't become too common in the United States.

Mayer plugs it as an affordable meal - some plates apparently cost only a buck or two - and a good way for those unaccustomed to dining at sushi establishments to taste a little of everything.

Sushi Station was opened under the corporation Yama-Chan Inc.

It is the latest addition to the Marketplace of Rolling Meadows at Algonquin and Golf roads, which already is home to a number of eateries, including Quizno's Subs, Atlanta Bread Company, Panda Express and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill.

Sushi Station will host grand-opening festivities tonight for people who played a role in getting the restaurant up and running.

Normal business hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Kids' meals and carry-out - from handy menus that include pictures of every prepare plate - are available. Alcohol, including sake, also will be served.