Tanuki is the Best and Cutest Sushi Restaurant in Lakeview

This is Tanuki. It's a small sushi restaurant by the Wellington Brown line stop. For those of you who do not take public transit, it's around the corner of Sheffield and Wellington. It opened on February 13th, 2013, and occupies a space that once housed an aggressively mediocre late night/hangover pizza restaurant.

Tanuki is my favorite sushi restaurant in Chicago. I first visited the restaurant a week after it opened, before it had the sign you see in the picture above. I didn't go there because I knew the food would be good: I went there because it was close to my apartment and because tanukis have huge balls. Yes, I'm a child.

This is what my friend Sarah and I had the first time we were there. No, Instagram did not do the food justice. In addition to sushi, Tanuki served robata, which is basically a collection of delicious morsels grilled on skewers. I was so impressed by the food and how nice the place was I went back there for my birthday.

However, as much as I was enamored with the food, I still didn't know why anyone would name their restaurant after a raccoon dog with giant testicles.

This is Warren, owner and head chef of Tanuki. I asked him why his restaurant was named Tanuki.

When Warren was taking a field trip in Japan, he happened upon a sushi restaurant with a tanuki statue in front. Curious, he went inside and asked the owner about the tanuki statue.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki are shapeshifters. One day, a tanuki caught the scent of delicious food emanating from a sushi restaurant, so he shapeshifted into a man and walked inside. He ate and drank and ate and drank and ate and drank until he could eat and drink no more. When it was the time to pay, the tanuki didn't have any money, because his only assets were his giant sacks of family jewels. So, the owner angrily chased the tanuki away. However, after the tanuki's freeloading spree, the restaurant became very popular and was frequented by many patrons.

So, tanuki was both part of Warren's history and a symbol of good luck. Warren was originally trained at Indie Café in Andersonville, but wanted to run his own restaurant. So, he opened Tanuki with the support of his friends and family, many of which work at the restaurant!

Eringi (king oyster mushroom) and bacon-wrapped enoki (golden needle mushroom) robata

Silver sushi platter (chef's choice)

Spicy tako roll

Terah's Fire Cracker roll: spicy tuna, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, almond, and sweet soy sauce. The roll contains no rice, and the whole roll is fried before serving. Because it contains no rice, it's very light for a fried roll. Chef Warren believes it's a great summer-time roll: the flavors are fresh and crisp, and it won't weigh heavily on your stomach.

The hamachi pearl nigiri: seared yellow tail with truffle oil soy sauce, caviar, spicy mayo, and scallion.

The salmon ceviche nigiri: salmon, mango slices, chili, and lime zest vinaigrette. The acidity from the vinaigrette balances the richness of the salmon's mouth feel quite nicely. To give you an idea of the attention paid to detail, observe the "strip" of mango above the salmon. Each "strip" is actually composed of strips of thinly sliced mango so the finished product articulates with the natural curvature of the nigiri.

Even the salad looks meticulously made.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dragon Pearl. It's a giant ball of tempura-battered and deep fried lychee ice cream. There's nothing not to like about this dessert.

It's not just the food either: the entire place is adorable.

From the decor...

to the super cute t-shirts...

to the lucky tanuki statue.

So yeah, the next time you're in Lakeview and want some sushi, visit Tanuki!

This post is not sponsored. You should feel bad for even entertaining that notion.