Summer of Lunch: PJ's Rice Bistro

Although I’ve lived in Wheaton for a year, I’ve fallen back into familiar eating patterns and haven’t scratched the surface of the wide world of food options in town. This summer, at lunchtime, I’ll be seeking out a place that I haven’t stepped into at all, and trying their signature items.

While I've stopped by on occasion when the sushi craving hits (so accessible! so cool and calm inside!), today's Summer of Lunch comes to you from a slightly different sushi location. .

PJ's is a combination Chinese restaurant and Sushi bar (hence the focus on rice), but the heat dissauged me from trying out what was certainly a heavy, hot pile of otherwise appetizing Chinese food. I've been expanding my sushi horizons out from California rolls for a while now, so a new sushi place fits the bill.

At PJ's, the sushi menu is robust, but its Chinese menu seems endless. I decided on a spicy tuna roll and, something I've never tried before, an eel and avocado roll. 

While it's located at a cramped corner of the mall, PJ's inside is very comfortable. I sat in a booth with a big window facing out on the parking lot. The air condition was pumped a little too high, although after the series of post-90s temperature days, that was understandable.

The spicy tuna is a good standby in sushi. The spiciness mixes well with the rice and the tempura around the middle gives it a little crunch. If anything, there was too much tempura inside the seaweed wrap, almost as if it was stuffed in there to account for less tuna. 

I definitely had a mixed reaction to the eel and avocado. First off, it is much sweeter than most maki rolls, on account of the thick brown sauce poured on with a heavy hand. When I did find the eel underneath all that sauce, I found the texture interesting, and the taste far more "fishier" than the classic salmon and tuna. 

Overall, I'd be interested in trying PJ's other sushi offerings or even climbing that Mount Everest of Chinese food, but I probably won't be getting the eel and avocado again.