Domo Arigato, Give me Rollbotto!!!

Kevin:  My wife Aimee & I went to visit my one of my best friends Scott and his wife Autumn in St. Petersburg, Florida.  After a great morning at The Florida Aquarium, we went to pick up Scott from college and decided to go for lunch.  They had a few suggestions, but the one that stuck out for me was Rollbotto Sushi.  I love sushi, and I was told they had choices for folks that don’t like sushi (Scott is allergic to seafood and Aimee doesn’t like raw fish).  I thought it was a great idea.  So we headed to Rollbotto Sushi.  It is located on the east side of St. Petersburg Downtown BayWalk (Now called The Shops at St. Pete).  Upon first glance at the place, you see the light metal chairs and the Subway-esque food service line and think “what in the hell did I agree to?”  But after a minute of thought, I see that it is genius!  The menu has about a dozen different rolls that are standard fare, or you can customize your roll and pay al a carte.  The average price is around $6.50 which is not bad for fresh sushi.  You can even have your sushi in a bowl.
I chose to make a roll with Yellow Tail, Salmon, and white rice wrapped in traditional seaweed (Nori).  I added cucumber, avocado, and green onion.  For texture I also added sesame seed and Tempura chips.  For garnish and flavor I added eel sauce. (Not sure if actual eel is in the sauce).

Kevin's sushi roll at Rollbotto Sushi

The roll was amazing!  So fresh and cold, two things that are good factors in sushi in my eyes.  All the flavors were distinct and the eel sauce did not overshadow the fish. 
After eating the sushi roll I had a bit of mochi ice cream.  It is great tasting dessert.  It is cold, sweet, and chewy.  Upon my first bite, my mouth was confused. 

Mochi Ice Cream

I tasted the thin layer of cornstarch to keep the balls separated in the freezer. Then I bit through the rice dough layer.  It was not as cold as expected, but it was chewy.  Then I reached the strawberry ice cream center.  It was very cold and tasty.  The flavor of the ice cream was not spectacular, but in the way it was served, it was perfect.  It worked completely.  Next time I am in St. Pete, I will be heading to Rollbotto Sushi for lunch.  Great food served right, without breaking the bank!

AIMEE:  First of all, I HATE SUSHI.  I don’t like fish and even if I liked fish, I would never eat it RAW – yuck!!  When Autumn & Scott told us about this place I was like.. WHAT?!  And even though they swore there would be something I could eat here, I was extremely skeptical/. Trying to roll with the punches, we agreed to go.  I made my own sushi roll with soy paper (basically tasteless because the thought of Nori/seaweed scared my plain-jane taste buds).  I had white rice, teriyaki chicken, carrots, cucumbers and tempura chips for some crunchy texture.  I opted out of the ‘eel sauce’ because being a sushi joint, I kinda figured it was made of real eel – LOL – upon further inspection of Kevin’s sushi roll, I think its just a funky name for some kind of sweet soy sauce based garnish.   I ate my entire sushi roll and loved every bite.  The Strawberry Mochi (rice ice cream) was very good too. It was chewy and oddly dry on the outside but soft and creamy on the inside.  I really enjoyed this place, 100%.  Wish there was one in NY!