I’m trying something different with the photos today since they aren’t displaying properly on my end (pushing to the left and overlapping the text). I promise I am working on finding a solution!
No fried fish for me this Friday! Despite my best intentions a fish fry was not in the cards for me. Work came in the way, and I had too much on my desk to be able to clear an hour or two for a fish fry. Luckily I had made plans with a friend for lunch, and we were meeting at Ice or Rice Cafe to introduce her to the place (she lived in Japan for many years, so she needed to try it). So I still had fish, but it was raw instead of fried.
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I was greeted like a regular by the owner and waited for my friend to arrive. We ordered at the counter and sat there chatting as our food was being prepared. I noticed they had several new onigiri on the menu – a crab salad and a raw tuna, so I definitely had to order them. I love onigiri, and Ice or Rice is the only place that serves them here in Cleveland. They are a must for me. Onigiri (おにぎり) are Japanese rice balls made of steamed rice that you compress into a triangular, ball, or cylinder shape and are usually wrapped in a nori seaweed sheet. The filling here is very generous – with lots of crab salad and a really nice chunk of tuna. They are individually packaged to keep them fresh, and they were still slightly warm when I enjoyed them. They were both delicious.
I was tempted to order the Seared Salmon roll again, but I wanted to try something new. I ordered a Rainbow Roll, because I am trying to eat through the sushi menu. The roll was smaller than most Rainbow Rolls in a sushi restaurant (just six cuts instead of eight), but it suited me just fine because I ordered enough for two meals as it was. A Rainbow Roll is a roll that is filled with imitation crab, cucumber, and avocado, and topped with salmon, tuna, and yellowtail. Their Rainbow Roll was fresh and tightly wrapped, draped with thin slices of raw salmon, tuna and avocado. They don’t have yellowtail on the menu so they use what they have, but I didn’t miss it. It was a tasty roll. I had half (3 pieces) in the restaurant and put the lid on the other half to take home for later. It was just as good later as a snack/light dinner instead of the fish fry.
If you want something tasty and hot (but not fried), order the shrimp okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients cooked on a teppan grill and topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, powdered seaweed, scallion and bonito flakes. My friend ordered the pork belly okonomiyaki and loved it. She used to make it all the time for herself and her kids, and she really liked this version. She lamented it didn’t have pickled ginger, but she really enjoyed the flavor of the cabbage, scallions, batter, pork belly, and toppings. I’ve had the shrimp version before and loved it. I enjoyed the bite she shared with me.
I ordered the lychee kumquat sparkling lemonade, which was really refreshing and had a couple full-size lychees and kumquat zest and juice in it. My friend very much enjoyed her iced boba matcha. I ordered one for myself to go and even though I don’t like boba all that much I enjoyed the flavor of the brown sugar boba they use.
If you haven’t given Ice or Rice Cafe a try, be sure to check them out! I’m looking forward to next Friday when I will be enjoying a tuna melt at Chelo’s for lunch and a fish fry! Have a great week.
Contact info:
Ice or Rice Cafe
3713 Payne Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 539-9092
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Eats 