My son recently came to visit me in Florida during his spring break. He’s a freshman in college in the Midwest and was looking for warmer weather when we booked the trip. I should’ve known one of his motivations in coming to the coast was also to enjoy the fresh ingredients in one of his favorite meals: sushi.

My son was introduced to sushi at an early age, and it stuck. For years we celebrated birthdays, good report cards and gotcha-days with meals of sushi. (Every once in a while, a Facebook memory photo pops up to prove it!)

Lucky for him, there’s no shortage of sushi to choose from in Sarasota. For this trip we landed at two different restaurants: JPan Shushi and Grill and Drunken Poet Café.

JPAN SUSHI AND GRILL
JPan has two different locations in Sarasota, and we chose the one on Tamiami, near the shops on Siesta Row. Although the atmosphere at University Town Center is a bit chic-er, the food was still on point.

My son started with the Aloha Roll with shrimp, mango and coconut flakes; a traditional spider roll; and an Oishi roll. The Oishi roll was the most interesting—served with no rice, it’s shrimp tempura wrapped in salmon and tuna, then topped with baked krab salad, green onions and roe. I enjoyed a few bites here and there, knowing we were likely to see a second round. After my son cleaned his plate, we then ordered a Mexican Deluxe Roll with spicy tuna and fresh jalapeños and an Origami Roll with cream cheese, avocado and spicy tuna. A strong start for our sushi adventure.

DRUNKEN POET
Located in downtown Sarasota, Drunken Poet isn’t your typical sushi joint. Celebrating more authentic Thai flavors and a bookish, professorial, dark-academia vibe, Drunken Poet has been a Sarasota staple for 17 years. I’d only been once before and I hadn’t enjoyed the sushi on my previous visit, so we booked a reservation and waited to see what would come of the evening.

We started with an appetizer of shumai (stuffed ground pork with mushrooms, water chestnuts and scallions). Then I ordered the yellow curry with chicken while my son ordered three different sushi rolls.

I’d read reviews about the Sexy Man roll and encouraged him to try it. He also landed on a Super Crab roll with snow crab, cucumber and spicy mayo, along with a Fruitville roll offering mango, scallop, white fish and avocado.

By far the winner of the evening was the Sexy Man roll with tempura eel, tuna, avocado and “sexy sauce.” I believe my son was heard saying, “Next time, it’s three Sexy Man rolls for me,” and I agree! The tempura eel had almost a bacon-like quality to it, causing the whole roll to melt in my mouth, dripping with flavor.

Apparently, introducing sushi to my son all those years ago was a tradition we didn’t know we were beginning. Since his very first bite, it’s been nothing but smiles and a desire for more. Lucky for me, it’s a tradition we can continue for years to come.

— Carrie Cox, account executive