Downtown Sarasota restaurant features a variety of vegan sushi rolls

I’ve loved sushi for a long time, but stopped eating as much of it since becoming a vegetarian for what should be fairly obvious reasons — most of it is made with seafood.

So when I saw that a Sarasota restaurant featured several intriguing-sounding vegan sushi rolls, I made a note to visit it.

Tsunami Sushi & Hibachi Grill is located at 100 Central Ave. in downtown Sarasota near Selby Public Library and Whole Foods. In addition to a variety of meat and meatless sushi rolls, the restaurant also offers tempura, hibachi and other Asian entrees, some of which are vegetarian.

When I visited, there was a lunch special where you could order three sushi rolls from a list for $14, among other options, served with a miso soup with soft tofu and house salad with ginger dressing. Some of the rolls I wanted to try weren’t on the list, but there were enough non-meat options, and the deal was good enough, that I decided to go with that.

One sushi roll I’d planned on trying that was on the lunch special menu was the Lucy, which is tempura sweet potato and avocado served with a sweet brown sauce. The fried sweet potato gives it a pleasant crunch, as well as a sweetness amplified by the sauce.

I also ordered the Kiss, which is a mango and avocado roll with mango sauce drizzled over it. It’s another sweet roll, with the mango providing a tropical twist.

Even the most simple sushi roll I ordered — the Evergreen, featuring asparagus, avocado and cucumber — was fresh and flavorful. I added some dabs of wasabi to give it a kick and add even more green.

Some of the vegan sushi rolls I wanted to try but didn’t have an opportunity to on my initial visit included the Gandhi, which comes with fried tofu, peanut sauce and sriracha, or the Hippie roll with tempura purple sweet potato. Yet I was impressed enough with what I did have that I'm likely to return soon and make up for my lost time with sushi.

Have other suggestions of Sarasota-Manatee restaurants with tasty vegetarian dishes? Email me at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com.