You can lead them to sushi... but you can't make White Sox fans eat it
White Sox sushi.
It just sounds wrong. Like Bridgeport Republican.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
Or Cubs mullet.
But that doesn't stop the Blu Coral Contemporary Sushi Lounge in Woodridge from believin'.
Around opening day, the west suburban lounge debuted its White Sox Roll, a combination of spicy tuna, shrimp tempura and vegetables capped off with a layer of white tuna and black tobiko (a caviar). The White Sox theme comes from the team's black and white colors. Executive sushi chef Soon Park created the White Sox Roll.
But the White Sox working-class legacy of Moose Skowron, Dick Allen and Greg Luzinski does not rock with this roll.
The last time the White Sox and Cubs captivated this city with simultaneous first-place runs was in the summer of 1977. White Sox fans were bouncing about old Comiskey Park, chugging from a pint of Johnnie Walker Red and cheering with a bedraggled red-nosed clown named Andy. If White Sox fans had to eat, it would have been a churro and a hot dog.
Sushi had not hit the scene.
"We've been getting a lot of customers who order the White Sox Roll," said Hannah Yi, Blu Coral manager. "Now we started the Fukadome Martini. They are given a choice between the roll or the martini. We are selling more White Sox Rolls."
Also called the "Ozzie Maki" (maki is Japanese for a sushi roll), the roll sells for $14. It is discounted to $7 the day after a White Sox win. The roll is served with soy sauce, wasabi and ginger, all of which sound like baseball groupies. The crunchiness of the shrimp tempura does provide a tough-guy texture.
The grape-infused vodka, blue curacao, grape juice with splash of lime juice and champagne float Fukadome Martini is $12, discounted to $6 the day after a Cubs win.
White Sox fan Mike O'Donnell has been a bartender at Blu Coral since it opened in 2006. He has not seen any White Sox players stop by, although the sushi lounge is popular with the ultimate fighter circuit and some Chicago Bears.
O'Donnell defends his South Side sushiness.
"People don't realize that there's food for everybody at the Cell," said O'Donnell, 23. "There's beers of the world. A lot of ballparks have sushi now." A White Sox spokesman said the team used to sell sushi in ballpark suites, but that practice has been discontinued.
O'Donnell picked up his chopsticks and gently began picking at a black and white roll. It was difficult to believe that Peoria-born slugger Jim Thome would do something like this. "It's very healthy," O'Donnell said while sitting in the sleek, 200-seat lounge. "And from an athlete's standpoint the raw fish makes your body work harder to digest. I only had sushi once before I worked here. I didn't know how good it was. And we get fresh fish daily in Chicago, since the airport is a hub for both the coasts."
That still doesn't impress Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick, who was born a White Sox fan. "The idea of White Sox sushi is an abomination," Fitzpatrick said from his North Side studio. "The only time I eat sushi is when I'm out with girls to appear like I'm worldly. I don't think any self-respecting White Sox fan would eat sushi -- period. We eat beef sandwiches. Hot dogs. I put lots of beef on my beef."
The point has been made.
The White Sox Roll is not for everyone, even if at $7 it is a na-na-hey-hey good buy.