Naked Tchopstix

Every year for my birthday, I must have sushi.  This birthday was no different as hubs and I found ourselves in Broad Ripple for an early dinner at Naked Tchopstix.  We had dined at the 96th Street location previously, but never at this location.  The restaurant was empty and the weather was beautiful; we were quickly sat outside in the sunshine.

We started off with an order of steamed potstickers.  These weren’t anything special – a blend of finely chopped vegetables (carrots, celery, etc.) steamed in a thick wonton.  They were bland and unfortunately, there was also a hair on the plate.  Our server was utterly apologetic and the manager addressed the situation and removed it from our bill, which was a nice gesture.  We weren’t planning on finishing them either way because we ordered three rolls and though they handled the situation fantastically, I was surprised that our server didn’t remove the plate.  But honestly, we weren’t even planning on ordering them, so I chalk it up as a wash.

The first roll we received was the fire roll.  Wrapped up in sushi rice was cream cheese, crab, unagi (freshwater eel), avocado and masago (roe).  I love the sweet crunch of the masago, and the subtle creamy texture from the cream cheese.  I didn’t really taste too much of the crab, to me it was too subtle and got lost in all the other flavors.

The second roll was my least favorite out of the three: crunch munch.  A slight spice due to the spicy mayo, the roll was very creamy, maybe even too creamy with the mayo.  Crab and shrimp were the main ingredients, but the one ingredient that made it the crunch munch were the tempura flakes.  I wasn’t extremely happy with the texture of the flakes, which ruined the roll for me.  It wasn’t an exciting bite for me, just standard (this roll is pictured to the right below, while the fire is on the left side.)

My favorite out of the three was the Playboy roll.  Wrapped up in aluminum foil, I was surprised to see all the components of the roll when it was served.  I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting the warm temperature (after all, the description did say cooked shrimp), but I wasn’t.  Though present in this roll, tempura chips didn’t ruin the texture for me.  I think they were not as noticeable because inside the roll was also shrimp tempura, crisp asparagus and spicy tuna.  I loved the creaminess of the tuna – it was my favorite of the inside portion.  Outside was a spicy & sweet sauce, which really tasted like a sweet barbecue sauce if anything.  Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but there wasn’t a kick of spice in the yellow colored sauce.  I would have preferred it to have a little kick, but I added some wasabi and I was good to go.

A bottle of birthday wine later, hubs and I were on our way home with a full tummy.  I loved sitting outside, and the service was pleasant.  But I know I can get the same quality of sushi at the 96th Street location (which is closer to my home), as well as other places in the city.

Naked Tchopstix * 6253 N. College Dr., Indy *317.252.5555