Sushi happy hours are one of the best bangs for your buck: cheap drinks, lots of specially priced appetizers and of course discounted sushi. The best part is any risk you might be taking from consuming raw seafood is minimized by the copious amount of alcohol you're imbibing! It's science people.
Most recently I found myself meeting a friend at Crave Sushi (2900 Travis St) for some catching up over a few rolls and drinks. I have been to Crave on several occasions and often find my inbox full of their current specials and coupons, but had not yet made it to happy hour. A few months ago, they had a deal where ladies got free drinks on Wednesdays with the purchase of a specialty roll. Though that bit of fun was no longer happening, they still had plenty of specials to keep my hour happy.
We started off with a hot sake ($3) and some tempura shrimp stuffed mushrooms ($4.50). The sake was indeed very, very hot and probably not the best stuff on earth, but it hit the spot and made the world nice and fuzzy. The mushrooms were stuffed full of shrimp and the whole thing was encased in a light tempura batter. They were delicious.
Next, we split a few rolls. I was thoroughly enjoying the tempura, so I went with a Philly roll, which was a salmon and cream cheese roll that had been dipped in batter and fried. It was reminiscent of a stuffed jalapeño minus the kick. It was definitely tasty, but not the greatest choice calorie-wise.
I also tried the New York roll which was unagi, cucumber and avocado drizzled with unagi sauce and sesame seeds. It was very tasty. My favorite, however, was the dynamite roll, which was spicy hamachi, spicy tuna and spicy salmon with scallions, tobiko, kaiware sprouts, gobo and cucumber. It was seriously spicy and I loved it! These and several other rolls were discounted to $5 each and were superbly fresh and satisfying.
Happy Hour runs 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily. I recommend going on Monday when their decadent cheetah roll is discounted to $9. It is sushi filled and covered with crab and Flamin' Hot Cheetos.