Plan a little extra time to navigate Taste of Tokyo’s behemoth of a menu with a list of special rolls that spans pages. While New Orleans metro area has plenty of sushi restaurants, this spot in River Ridge has some rolls that make it worth a drive, like the playboy roll, an ample portion of avocado filled rice, half topped with tuna, the other half, salmon. The owner is so proud of his creations that there are no descriptions of the rolls online to keep copy cats at bay.

Located near the AMC Elmwood Palace movie theater in an inconspicuous strip mall, the casual and colorful Kyoto 2 delivers consistently fresh seafood in generous servings. The best deal of all is the chirashi lunch special — a heaping bowl of fresh fish over fresh daikon radish and sushi rice for under $15. It’s big enough to split.

This Elmwood newcomer offers a variety of sushi and sashimi entrees, including the Love Boat, a Mizu specialty that includes 25 pieces of sushi and six unadorned pieces of sashimi, a true boatload for two at $45.95. There’s also a la carte options, stir fries and noodles, and a $6.95 menu of chicken or shrimp tempura for the kiddos.

Flouting “California style sushi,” Metairie’s Kanno proffers the usual, along with an entire section of skinny rolls sans rice and soy paper. Available in half and full roll portions, these pared down rolls include the likes of the Elvis roll (named for the chef), made with salmon, avocado, and both snow and blue crab, and the protein roll, with spicy tuna, snow crab, avocado and salmon. A hefty sake menu includes sparkling sake, though it’s not always featured. Too bad about the Barefoot house wine.

Hand rolls and dressed nigiri from chef Huy Pham are the stars of the show at Yakuza House, which recently celebrated its relocation to a bigger Metairie space. One of the area’s best new sushi spots in years, a new, bigger menu still offers temaki in 3, 4, and 5 roll sets — the last one for the “hangry” — in addition to a slew of individual rolls, solo sashimi pieces and dressed sashimi sets, intricately dressed nigiri, and more (not to mention an omakase option). This is a place to celebrate and splurge — though with reasonable prices, splurging here is a good return on investment.

Oak Street’s revival continued with the debut of this modern Japanese restaurant from Jacqueline Blanchard, the founder of upscale culinary shop Coutelier. Blanchard’s ode to a traditional izakaya, Sukeban is a sleek shop that serves a succinct menu of sashimi specials, rotating handrolls, and a handful of traditional Izakaya sides, like Japanese potato salad and ohitashi (spinach, dashi, and bonito flakes), in addition to robust beer and sake offerings. Don’t expect a typically vast sushi menu here, and the price point is a bit higher than most.

Set in a renovated home with an outdoor deck on funky Freret Street, Origami has lineup of specialty rolls with names like Godzilla our way and throw me somethin’ mister, the latter including snow crab, avocado, and tempura shrimp inside, a drizzle of spicy mayo and sweet and salty eel sauce on top. The fish is pristine and chopped with the kind of expertise that comes from years of experience. Cold soba noodles are a refreshing dish for summer.

Sake Cafe Uptown is swanky sushi at its best. The place, in a former K & B drug store, is pretty in a 1990s sort of way with design wows like bright, multi-colored, Chihuly-esque blown glass chandeliers and bi-level white tablecloth dining. The sushi menu melds traditional Japanese dishes and New Orleans ingredients (see jazz roll, Uptown roll, and New Orleans roll on the menu) along with bento box lunch specials and a full bar including an extensive sake list and specialty cocktails. The happy hour is a steal, with tons of eats and drinks under $5.

This CBD restaurant opened during the pandemic serves eight to 10 course tasting menus in the Japanese dining style of omakase Thursday through Monday evenings. Yo Nashi is from owner Kyle Payer and chef Mackenzie Broquet, who spotlights local ingredients and flavor with Japanese technique and presentation. The $89 menu usually includes a variety of sashimi and sushi along with a seafood entree from the kitchen.

Tsunami started in Baton Rouge and expanded to New Orleans in 2017, unleashing a playful menu of rolls (like the Dorito-encrusted “munchie” roll) and other Japanese fare. Radiating an upscale, corporate vibe, the restaurant is expansive with high ceilings and an open kitchen with a menu to match: loads of over-the-top, super-size rolls.

This Marigny storefront is light and airy with lighting that changes colors, friendly servers, and consistently good raw seafood offerings. It’s hard not to love Royal’s generous portion of tuna tataki and the “geisha kiss” roll stuffed with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, snow crab, asparagus, avocado, cucumber, and masago. There’s also an extensive array of ramen bowls, with pick-your-own protein, broth, and veg for a bowl of custom noodle love. Soy-wrapped and rice-free rolls are also available. The same owners are behind Haiku on Magazine and Geisha on Tchoupitoulas, so the menus are similar.