Temaki

“Temaki is the equivalent of a taco party. Family and friends come over and build their own.” and that’s just why we think there’s a future for temaki, both here in New York City and beyond. But first, we ask, what exactly is temaki? In its most basic form, temaki is a sushi hand roll; a single large, cone-shaped piece of seaweed on the outside, with a variety of ingredients — almost always including a type of fish — spilling out of the wide end. It is most commonly eaten with one’s fingers, as it is cumbersome to pick up with chopsticks. Hand rolls are on offer at most sushi restaurants in the city, though cut-up rolls (basically, hand rolls cut into six to eight small, circular pieces) are decidedly more recognizable. In the past year, however, two specialty temakerias have opened brick-and-mortar locations in the Big Apple, even though they differ in their approaches to both preparation and presentation.