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Exterior of the don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it sushi hut at 8950 Manchester in Brentwood.
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Co-owner Song Liu inside To Go Sushi
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Co-owner Chaoying Liu with the bill of fare
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The Rainbow Roll, with automotive backdrop
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Typical examples of the rolls available at To Go Sushi.
There is a special level of forbearance only understood by those who work with their spouses. For married co-workers Chaoying and Song Liu, that annealed bond is more remarkable still, considering the tiny space where they slide past each other hundreds of times each day.
To Go Sushi is a Fotomat-sized kitchen that serves lunch and dinner to diners who never leave their cars. For the past two years, the Brentwood eatery has pioneered the concept of drive-through sushi, made fresh to-order.
The Lius serve the basic, popular Americanized sushi: the California roll, a spicy tuna/avocado roll, the Philly roll, an "eel dragon" roll, a small assortment of nigiri (tender, uncooked fish on planks of sticky rice), and so on.
They prepare the food in a remarkably confined kitchen space with a to-go window to the east, and another to the west. The building once housed the Famous Szechuan Pavilion noodle shop. Before that, it was a drive-through coffee dispensary.
The cuisine, as sushi goes, is not terribly fancy. The simple menu offers no edamame, gyoza, sake, or many of the other hallmarks of Occidental sushi joints. (The shop's latest menu addition is a seaweed salad.)
What the Lius have going for them is price, convenience, freshness, and cuteness. At To Go Sushi, the most expensive item on the menu is the Spicy Rainbow Roll at $10.49. The Shrimp Tempura Roll is $7.49. The California Roll is $5.49. They give away quite a few of those California rolls, by the way; they throw in a free one for every purchase totaling $16 or more.
But let's face it: It’s just so darned fun to order sushi from your car. Large photos of the most popular rolls line the windows, making it that much easier for the neophyte. The photos have numbers, like the Value Meals at McDonald's. After you order, you'll wait at the window, and that wait might be a bit longer than that at McDonald's, but there's no comparison.
Incidentally, the fare at To Go Sushi does not exactly pass the eat-it-while-you-drive test. Technically, you could shove bites of sushi in your maw with one hand while you steer and offer the occasional Italian salute to fellow drivers with the other. You could even stuff some pickled ginger in there, too, and use plenty of napkins. But if you like soy sauce and/or wasabi with your maki and nigiri, it is not advised that you attempt anything as complex as dunking a solid into a liquid while driving. At the very least, after you arrive at your destination, your shirt will bear the sort of heavy food stains that imply your parents failed to teach you the basics. At worst, the accident report will mention the sticky rice inexplicably coating every surface of the vehicle's interior.
To Go Sushi
8950 Manchester
Brentwood
314-968-3944
11 a.m.–7 p.m. Mon–Fri; noon–5 p.m. Sat; noon–3 p.m Sun
